FRESNO, Calif. - It's not even Halloween yet, but holiday hiring is in full swing for many retailers -- and the prospects are downright scary for stores and job-seekers alike.
Anxious retailers are gambling on the right number of employees to hire, and a huge number of job applicants are desperate for work.
Holiday sales are expected to be down 1 percent from last year. That means retailers must find the right balance: hiring enough seasonal workers to serve customers, but not so many that paying them eats up profits.
Web site snagajob.com found that retailers on average plan to hire 3.1 seasonal employees this year -- 16 percent fewer than last year, according to a survey the company hired Ipsos Public Affairs to conduct.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based consulting company, is more optimistic. The company said retailers might hire more workers this year than last year simply because 2008 had the lowest seasonal employment growth in nearly 20 years.
Stores like to hire early so workers are trained and ready by Thanksgiving. Many -- such as RadioShack, Brookstone and Sur La Table-- are well into their hiring processes.
Other retailers trying to control costs aren't hiring at all: About 53 percent of managers in the snagajob.com survey said they don't plan to hire any seasonal workers.
But other retailers are forging ahead with optimism.
Sur La Table, a store that sells kitchen and dining products, is one of them.
The Seattle-based company announced last week that it plans to double its staff for the holidays by hiring more than 2,000 seasonal workers. That is "significantly" more than last year, spokeswoman Susanna Linse said.
Other retailers are reporting more applicants, too. Snagajob.com said applications in September for seasonal jobs were up 25 percent when compared with last year.
For stores, that's a good thing, allowing them to pick the best workers and save on advertising.
For job applicants, it's depressing.
Sherrill Amey of Fresno, Calif., has been looking for work since she was laid off from her job as an in-home health aide last year. She's applying for permanent work -- and seasonal work, with the hope it could turn into a permanent position.
She is hoping retail experience she had over a decade ago as a teen can help her get a seasonal job. She's applied at Dollar Tree and other places, but finds that either they're not hiring or the competition is too stiff.
"A lot of people are accepting whatever they can get because the economy is so bad," she said.
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