Looking for a seasonal job this year? A handful of retailers are starting the search for workers earlier than ever in 2018.
RELATED: Top 30 companies hiring for work-from-anywhere jobs in 2018
Major retailers announce seasonal hiring plans
2018 has been a strange year for retail so far. On the one hand, we witnessed the death of a major retail veteran as Toys R Us closed all its locations. Yet other retailers are adapting and surviving by reducing store count. They’re then optimizing remaining stores to accommodate both shoppers who favor clicks and those who want to stick with bricks.
The latest wrinkle in the retail story is that there’s an early bidding war for seasonal labor among some big department store chains.
Kohl’s
Kohl's was the first to start the seasonal/holiday hiring back in late June, as it looked to staff more than 300 stores throughout almost every region of the United States.
- Midwest: Chicago, Ill.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas City, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Madison, Wis.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Minneapolis, Minn.; St. Louis, Mo.
- Northeast: Boston, Mass.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Burlington, Vt.; Harrisburg, Pa.; New Haven – Hartford, Conn.; New York Tri-State area; Philadelphia, Pa.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Providence, R.I.; Washington, D.C.
- Northwest: Denver, Colo.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Francisco, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Wash.
- Southeast: Charleston, S.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; Tampa, Fla.
- Southwest: Austin, Tex.; Dallas, Tex.; Houston, Tex.; Los Angeles, Calif.
More hiring is on tap, too. The company says future openings will be concentrated in stores, in distribution and e-commerce fulfillment centers and in credit operations.
Visit Careers.Kohls.com if you’re interested in applying.
J.C. Penney
Not to be outdone in the early hiring department, J.C. Penney has now announced it plans to add 18,000 seasonal workers to the payroll this year. That’s effective immediately for the back-to-school shopping season.
Open positions will include cashier, replenishment specialist and working the SEPHORA counter as a beauty consultant, among other jobs.
Visit Jobs.JCP.com to see available positions near you.
JCPenney plans to hire 18,000 seasonal associates for the back-to-school season this year. Available customer service and support positions include cashier, replenishment specialist, SEPHORA inside JCPenney beauty consultant and more! pic.twitter.com/iVAeJ2ENLs
— JCPenney News (@jcpnews) July 3, 2018
The beauty of part-time seasonal work is that it can help pay for your Christmas shopping and often turn into an offer of full-time employment down the road!
And this year, because of the intense and early hiring, the department stores need you desperately. You may even be able to pit one potential employer against another to get a higher hourly rate, according to money expert Clark Howard.
As more companies announce their holiday hiring plans, we’ll keep this page updated with details and links!
More Clark.com job search resources:
- Work From Home Guide: A list of legitimate work-at-home job opportunities
- MTurk review: How to make money online with Amazon Mechanical Turk
- Top recruiters share 5 strategies for landing a work-from-home job
Clark.com