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Restaurant worker Alma Montes wants to find a second job during the holiday season.
Montes, of Kennewick, who applied for a customer service position Friday at JCPenney at Columbia Center mall, said her weekly work hours have been cut from 32 to 25 at Panda Express and she needs to find extra work to pay her bills.
Montes, 27, also plans to apply at Macy's and other retailers to make sure she gets a job soon.
"I've got customer service experience and good communication skills. And I'm patient with people," she said referring to skills that might give her an edge in the search for a seasonal retail job, which is becoming more competitive than ever.
The number of applicants for holiday positions has increased this year, and so has the scrutiny to select the best possible candidates, said Nellie Harshman, executive team leader of logistics at the Kennewick Target store. The store has been hiring up to 10 sales and customer service associates weekly since October.
Each applicant is being interviewed twice, Harshman said, adding that the number of final hires may be about 40 or so, the same as last year.
At JCPenney, potential workers go through two interviews, said Lee Boman, store manager. He's said he's seen more college students apply for jobs this year.
Nationally, the holiday hiring outlook is dim, almost 40 percent below the actual holiday-hiring levels reported two years ago, according to a recent survey by SnagAJob.com, an employment website for hourly jobs.
It's natural in a soft economy, said Ellen Davis, vice president of the National Retail Federation. Many retailers have cut back on inventory and are trying to keep their costs down to be able to pass on the savings to consumers, she said.
But the relatively stable economy of the Tri-Cities has kept seasonal employment going.
In September, Columbia Center mall held a job fair in which 20 stores participated, offering more than 250 seasonal jobs, said Kim Harvey, the mall's marketing director. And stores like Old Navy, American Eagle Outfitters and Eddie Bauer are still looking for seasonal employees, she said.
Grigg's Department Store in Pasco plans to hire about 15 extra workers through November and December to supplement its work force of about 100, said Charlie Grigg, vice president of the company. That's the typical number of seasonal workers the store hires annually, he said.
He said the store generally looks for people with good work ethics and attitude and a pleasant personality.
Jon Elliott, 19, a philosophy student at Columbia Basin College, recently began working for JCPenney. He works 25 hours a week, earning minimum wage plus a commission on the sales he makes, he said.
It helps pay the bills, said Elliott of Richland, who previously worked at Old Navy. It took him two months to find the JCPenney job, Elliott said.
Retail jobs can help people develop communication and customer service skills, Boman said. Employees also are eligible for special discounts, he said.
JCPenney has "doubled the training time" this year for new recruits to help them "hit the ground running," so that they know the products and how to provide exceptional shopping experience to store visitors, Boman said.
Research shows that 7 out of 10 highly satisfied customers will come back to shop at the store, Boman said. He said about a third of the 40 new hires may be retained depending on their performance during the holiday season.
A few positions remain, he said. "We're looking for bright, smiling, happy people, eager to please customers," Boman said.
At Target, the focus is on workers who are "fast, fun and friendly," said Harshman. They should be able to respond quickly to customer needs, be adaptable and nice to others, she said. They should also be flexible with schedules.
Gadgets & Goodies on Kennewick's Clearwater Avenue has hired two extra workers, like it did last year, said store owner Teresa Musser. They'll work through December, she said.
People come to Gadgets & Goodies to work because they like the small specialty gift store, she said. And invariably, it's word-of-mouth advertising for open positions at the store, which employs seven workers, Musser said.
The UPS store at the corner of Highway 395 and West Kennewick Avenue also recently added a worker to its staff of five in anticipation of increased business during the holidays, said Monica Smith, store manager.
Business was slow initially, but it has picked up since October, Smith said. She said she isn't sure if the seasonal hire would be retained beyond December. That will depend on business in the months ahead, she said, and she's keeping her fingers crossed.
-- Pratik Joshi: 582-1541; pjoshi@tricity herald.com; Business Beat blog at www.tricity herald.com
SEASONAL HIRING
In the Tri-Cities, the pace of seasonal retail job growth has slowed down over the years, said Dean Schau, regional labor economist. In 2006, more than 700 positions were created between September and December to bring the number of total retail jobs to 11,720.
Though the yearly retail job total didn't change much in 2007, the number of possible seasonal jobs increased only by about 400 between September and December, he said. In 2008, the number of seasonal retail jobs barely grew by about 300, from 11,167 in September to 11,463 in December.
The availability of 11,000 plus positions in the local retail industry, year after year, reflects the growth of new retail businesses, Schau clarified. But it doesn't make job search for potential job seekers any easier, he said.
