E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
UPS
'I don't see myself doing anything else,' Andrew Sullivan said about his job at UPS.
By Eve Tahmincioglu
In 2008, Andrew Sullivan lost his job as a sales and customer service supervisor for a telecommunications company and decided to take a temporary seasonal gig as a driver for UPS because he couldn’t find work in his field.
Sullivan, 34, eventually landed a full-time job with UPS and is now a road supervisor for the company, training other seasonal drivers that will hit the road later this week.
“It was something I never considered or thought of,” he explained. “Honestly, I took the job thinking, if anything, I could get out two months, earn money and then continue to find something. I didn’t expect to have this as my career.”
This holiday season thousands of seasonal workers will be taking on temporary work. Some will use their experience as fodder for their resumes; others will just be happy to get a few paychecks and go back on the job market after the holidays.
And then there are those like Sullivan, who could end up in new careers if they’re lucky enough to turn their temporary gigs into full-time positions with benefits.
An increasing number of job seekers who were once office dwellers are looking to land these holiday jobs -- everything from warehouse worker to retail clerk. Many of these jobs were once thought to be less than desirable, perhaps because they seem to have little future, offer no benefits, pay low wages or and feature tough holiday work conditions. But now these positions are attracting greater interest.
“Retailers are seeing more qualified professionals who are interested in these temporary, lower-end jobs,” said Casey Chroust, executive vice president of retail operations for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).
Chroust adds that there has been an uptick in applications this year: “It’s a frank reflection of the state of the economy.”
While many companies have already hired the bulk of their seasonal staff, there are still jobs available.
“We see companies bringing folks on board up until early December,” said Todd Bevol, president and CEO of Integrity Staffing Solutions, adding that some retailers need workers even after the holidays to handle returns.
UPS expects to hire about 55,000 seasonal workers this year, up from 50,000 in 2010, and the company is still in a hiring mode.
SimplyHired.com still has about 90,000 holiday and retail job listings, said Dion Lim, the job search website’s president. Average pay for seasonal store clerks, he said, is $8 to $10 an hour and $15 to $20 for temporary store managers.
“Wage improvement in the United States has been pretty stagnant in last couple of years,” he pointed out. “A lot of people will be happy to have a job.”
If workers are asked to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas, many employers pay time and a half, said the RILA’s Chroust, but it depends on each company’s policy.
Many retailers have been gradually extending holiday store hours, with some opening at midnight Thanksgiving, or even earlier this year.
One large employer that has come under fire recently for this practice is Target, which announced recently it intends to open its stores nationally at midnight on Thanksgiving Day. Employees have protested the move because it would eat into their turkey time, but the retailer maintained it’s a business decision.
“Black Friday is one of the busiest and most competitive shopping days of the year,” said company spokeswoman Molly Snyder. “We have heard from our guests that they want to shop Target following their Thanksgiving celebrations rather than only having the option of getting up in the middle of the night. By opening at midnight, we are making it easier than ever to deliver on our guests’ wants and needs.”
Workers who clock in on Thanksgiving Day will be paid time and half, she said.
In addition to working long and unusual hours, employees who end up in retail stores often face grueling conditions during the holidays because that’s when most retailers make their biggest profits of the year.
Several years ago, a seasonal worker at Walmart was crushed to death by bargain-hungry Black Friday shoppers; and this year the Occupational Safety & Health Administration has posted a crowd control fact sheet on its website warning store owners to keep an eye on worker and shopper safety during the holiday season.
Seasonal jobs can be physically demanding, especially those in warehouses and distribution centers, stressed Jon Gelman, a New York attorney who has represented injured seasonal employees.
“They’re clueless out there,” he said of seasonal workers who are often asked to “operate machinery, forklifts and scanning equipment, and are pushing and shoving boxes. They’re going to have accidents.”
Unfortunately, most temp workers don’t have medical benefits, he said, and their workers compensation claims will be limited monetarily because wages are so low.
To bypass some of the holiday work agony, Rob McGovern, CEO of Jobfox and founder of CareerBuilder, suggests that job seekers who haven’t landed a seasonal job go after employment at high-end retailers instead of the standard chain department stores because the pay and conditions tend to be better.
“Companies that are servicing the 1 percent,” he explained, are doing well financially and may have jobs available. He pointed out that while Walmart missed its earnings forecast recently, Tiffany & Co. announced higher-than-expected earnings in its last quarterly report.
“A job at Tiffany’s is more lucrative than a Walmart greeter,” he noted.
Indeed, according to Glassdoor.com, an hourly sales associate at Tiffany’s takes home about $15 an hour, while the same job at Walmart pays $8.82 an hour.
No matter where you end up, the biggest benefit for many is when a seasonal position leads to a full-time job, just like what happened for Andrew Sullivan at UPS. He says he’s glad he responded to a holiday job listing on Monster.com nearly three years ago.
“I don’t see myself doing anything else,” Sullivan said about his job at UPS.
Related articles
- Some retailers pull back from Black Friday arms race
- ‘Christmas creep’ annoys, but sadly, it seems to work
- Collin Morgan: Best deals are on Cyber Monday
Leave a Comment:
If Bush was still president, the headline would read "Under Bush economy, familes forced to work over the holidays". The Obama cheerleading here never ends.
Would you like some cheese with that whine? :) Obama's name was never mentioned in the story, get over it.
Good point Obama Lies. The BS MSNBC spews is enough to make a person sick.
The job creation is still not enough. Most of the jobs available are low paying jobs, which means the person with the job can pay their rent, but still not have enough to pay for food or other bills. Black Friday is expected to rake in over 440 BILLION dollars! and yet we still can't pay people more for what they are worth. To me it says people aren't worth crap, so we will pay them crap-Even though CEO's are worth crap, and they get millions.
'...temporary job, a gift?
What balls! Why do Americans accept this treatment from Corporate American profiteers?
I don't get it, but then again I'm almost 70 years old.
Perhaps this type of propaganda might delay the revolt, but it wont prevent it.
Either the have Not's are going to be offered a better deal in life, or they are going to rebell.
The French had it, the Russians had it, and soon America will have its own people in the streets, calling for blood.
We have always seen a large numbe of temporary jobs during the holiday season. If some turn into regular jobs, so much the better. I see no reason to complain about companies in the private sector since they are only reacting to weak economic conditions. The real problems are in our federal government in Washington DC.
The snow plowers and sidewalk cleaners do well during the winter holiday seasons. People can also volunteer at their local food pantry if they get bored.
What a robust economy huh? Happy days are here again for the unemployed. Yippie....2 months of part time 8-$10 an hour work and then it's back on the government dole.
2012 is going to be a very long year.
to Rick 1974: I wrote a while back that I would not vote for a single comment writer "so far", to replace any Congressman. Having read your comment, I want to repeat and emphasize that comment of mine. When will there be some new thought, some better anaylysis? The same old dribble, coming right from the Communiity organizers and the Democrat Seminars. Do some studying, for Pete's sake. Clear your heads of that meaningless chanting, and hatred, and try,, at least try, to sound like you know what you are talking about. Example: Rick, have you ever met the man you so malign? I have. He's a good friend and neighbor of another good friend of mine, Ollie North. They think for themselves, God bless them. I've found them both to be openminded, but smart -- smart as H---. Nordquist is a nice man, a friendly, clear-headed chap. And it is interesting that neither one of these guys would say anything bad about anyone, including you. Koch brothers? You have got to be kidding. All I can add at this point is that Nordquist was giving us good advice 10 years ago, and look what happened when we didn't follow it. Balance our Fed Budget, or else. Wake up and smell the roses.
Thank you, MSNBC, for letting all of us "comment." Your non-censorship has been a shot in the arm to many of us. Clearing the air is always a good idea, and you have allowed us to do just that. Responding to your politeness, I have made an effort to limit myself to reasonable and respectful comments. It has not been easy, either. But I really do wish, at this juncture, that the members of Congress would read all of these commentaries, and take them seriously. Yes, and even the Obama office help should read these comments, and take them very, very seriously. His staff could learn, before it is too late for Obama and the country.
From my own experience, this article is spot-on. I started a seasonal $8 an hour job a week ago in one of the big chain stores mentioned in the article, and the department supervisor has already said I could stay on after the season is over. It's somewhat physically demanding, and I haven't made a decision yet. But I have a management degree, and I've already learned of future managerial openings, and I've been able to start networking and building my "personal brand" with the store's managment. In this tight job market, these seasonal jobs just might be the foot in the door to compete for a better posisiton.
BOYCOTT BLACK FRIDAY
stop giving your money to the corporations who work to suppress/oppress. don't buy stuff you don't need.
Having a holiday job is a GIFT.
Wow. Great. And to think, I was raised with the idea that having a holiday job was an option--another potential to make money and one that you could choose as a take-it-or-leave-it possibility--rather than something that companies permit to be accessible to the working class. If someone had only told me when I was growing up how grateful I should be that I was deigned worthy of wrapping presents or telling customers what aisle to go down to find the baking soda!
Who needs college? Who needs internships and work experience? What's the sense in setting higher goals for yourself when, hey, you should just strive to get that GIFT of holiday employment and be happy with that!
Andrew made a good decision there. I used to work for a telecom out fit as a CSR and it sucked, there really isn't any where to go in that. And the people that one had to deal with was more then enough to drive some one to drinking.
The above also dealt with telemarketing. If you got calls from a telemarketer, then you know where I am coming from on that.
At least this guys not trying to steal from me with taxes like our comunist gov. he's doing something for himself unlike most of the money suckers out there livin off my dime. Stop taxing us to death it might change. I think all those up there in congress need to open their billfold and pay that bill they are leaving my kids.