Please enter a Job Title and/or City.
-
Seasonal Hiring Projected to Increase Holiday Season
September 24, 2012 by Steven Rothberg
While solid back-to-school sales boosted the confidence of retailers heading into the all-important holiday season, the possibility of increased sales this year may not be enough to spur a significant increase in seasonal hiring, according to the outlook released Monday by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.In its annual holiday hiring forecast, Challenger estimated that seasonal job gains are likely to be slightly higher than a year ago but still below pre-recession levels. Those hoping to take advantage of the seasonal hiring should act early, as several sizable hiring plans announced by major retailers in September suggest that recruiting may start before October.
Last year, retail payrolls saw a non-seasonally adjusted net gain of 660,200 workers from October through December. That was up just 1.9 percent from 2010, when retail employment increased by 647,600 workers during the holiday hiring season. Prior to the recession, from 2004 through 2007, retail employment grew by an average of more than 722,000 over the final three months of the year. Continue Reading
-
7 Things Not to Do After Graduation
August 16, 2012 by William FriersonIf there’s one thing you can count on after college graduation it is that there will be a long line of people waiting to give you career advice. However, their advice usually revolves around what you should do after you graduate, but there’s plenty of advice on what not to do after school.
Some of us are better prepared for real life after college. Students who earn a professional degree (i.e. engineering, education, nursing, accounting, etc) or who get their first job through a college internship usually have an easier road to travel after they walk across the stage with their diploma. The rest of us, though, often need a little more time to get our careers off the ground.
This extra time can be both a blessing and a curse for recent grads. It is a blessing, because it’s an opportunity to find your best career route. It is a curse, because anxiety and fear about the future can lead to the following post-graduation no-no’s. Continue Reading
-
29% of Retailers Plan to Hire Extra Employees for the Holidays
November 05, 2011 by Steven RothbergEmployers expect seasonal hiring in 2011 to be on par with 2010, according to a new, nationwide survey. Companies across industries expect to hire a similar number of seasonal workers for key areas such as sales, customer service, shipping, administrative support and other positions. Nearly three-in-ten retailers (29 percent) plan to have extra hands on deck around the holidays, a moderate decline from 2010. One-in-ten (10 percent) hospitality companies will add seasonal staff, the same as last year. The survey was conducted among more than 2,600 employers between August 16 and September 8, 2011.
“Employers are keeping the status quo for holiday hiring as economic uncertainties shake consumer confidence,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. “While retail has the lion’s share of seasonal jobs, you can also find opportunities in various industries and corporate roles. Hiring managers continually tell us that they will transition some seasonal workers into permanent employees, so you want to apply early and let the employer know up front that you’re interested in long-term employment.”
Matt Ferguson of Careerbuilder
When looking at functional areas within an office or store, popular areas for recruitment this holiday season include: Continue Reading
-
Those without Pennsylvania Jobs Get Benefit Extension
August 03, 2009 by joel cheesmanWhile many states across the country saw a rise in unemployment during June, Pennsylvania’s jobless rate stayed flat at 8.3 percent. Although this is below the national average of 9.5 percent, it is significantly higher than the rate the state reported a year ago. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 5.3 percent of people could not find jobs in Pennsylvania in June of 2008.
Despite the fact that the state has a jobless rate that is lower than the national average, people are still struggling to find work in Pennsylvania. According to a recent press release from the governor’s office, approximately 18,000 people in Pennsylvania were scheduled to exhaust their unemployment benefits earlier this month. Thankfully, a bill passed in the Senate, which will stop this if it becomes law.
Under this bill, those who have already used up their jobless benefits will receive another seven weeks of unemployment compensation. The bill passed in the House of Representatives on July 7th with a vote of 197 to 1. After this, it moved to the Senate where it passed with the addition of a technical amendment, which will now cause it to need one more vote in the House. If it passes once again in the House, then Gov. Ed Rendell will be able to sign it into law.
“Through December, nearly 60,000 people could receive the additional seven weeks of benefits with no additional costs to businesses,” Rendell said. “This bill will put money in people’s pockets and put $145 million into the economy this year.”
If this bill passes into law, then the federal government will cover the full cost of extending these benefits for all individuals who used to work in either the private sector or for non-profit employers. Because of this, the bill will not impact the state’s unemployment compensation trust fund in anyway.
At this time, Pennsylvanians who have lost their job for reasons out of their control are eligible to receive 72 weeks of unemployment benefits. The bill will only offer an extra seven weeks of payments, but this may be all some need to find a new job.
So far, 29 other states have signed similar legislation in order to extend unemployment benefits to help out those who have been affected by the national economic recession.
