23 days ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - On many a holiday wish list this year is one item in particular: a job. The most likely place to make that dream come true may also be the most unexpected.
Retail is where the jobs are right now, but to find them, you may have to think outside the mall.
Patricia Harding of Sacramento is doing all that she can to avoid be out of work during the holiday season. "It's been really hard because a lot of them have said they really aren't hiring right now," she said.
She's been trying department stores and the malls to find a retail job and hasn't seen many "now hiring" signs. But she got a pleasant surprise Tuesday when she stopped at Michael's in Sacramento which is hiring for the holidays.
"I was like, 'oh cool, they're hiring.' And I thought, 'go find out, and at least get an (application) in,'" said Harding.
A smart move, according to Rick Reed of Pacific Staffing, a Sacramento employment agency. His company surveyed 71 companies. Those in the retail sector expressed the strongest optimism of turning a profit this fourth quarter, Reed said.
He said job seekers should especially check out discount and specialty stores like Best Buy, Michaels, Wal Mart, Ross and Marshalls.
"If you have good interpersonal skills, if you know how to enter information into a computer, if you can handle a telephone, in most cases you're going to find work in the customer service realm and that was the top skill, customer service sales being sought by companies in the fourth quarter in the Sacramento area," said Harding.
Leah Davis of Best Buy said the electronics and appliance retail giant is making substantial hires for the holidays as well. "We intend to increase our seasonal hiring this fall, with more positions for this holiday season than we hired in 2008," she said.
by Dana Howard, dhoward@news10.net
News10/KXTV
