Update the holiday hiring scene

Note to elves: Don’t call us … we’ll call you.

That seems to be the unspoken national trend in seasonal hiring again this year. Consulting firm The Hay Group reported recently that retailers it surveyed plan to hire from 5 percent to 25 percent fewer temp workers this fall than last.

Chain Store Age cites the aptly named consultancy Challenger, ray & Christmas in predicting a possible uptick over 2008’s dismal holiday jobs market, which employed 384,000 extra workers, or little more than half of the temporary help hired in 2007.

Either way, as the fall and winter festivals loom, a good percentage of your audience likely is wondering: What holiday jobs are out there, and is it too late to snare one? Ever the eavesdropper, I’ve overheard such queries from customer to clerk in no fewer than three stores recently. So before the Halloween goblins fly, you can’t go wrong with a localized update on holiday hiring.

SnagAJob.com, the employment Web site for hourly positions, hosts a seasonal jobs Web page; its tips are aimed at workers but can help you generate story angles too. For example, the site notes, stores aren’t the only target for people seeking temporary work.

Restaurants, resorts, banquet halls and other catering facilities need extra helpers, too. Shippers such as UPS and FedEx may hire more people to process packages. Extra traffic at shopping and entertainment venues means more work for greeters, cleaners and other low-skill jobs.

Other angles:

How the hiring process is shifting. Many retailers have made online applications mandatory; thwarting talented self-promoters and people without reliable computer access. Talk with hiring managers and temp firm counselors to create a tips box for job seekers. How likely is it that a seasonal job will lead to a permanent post?

Perks and discounts. Which workers reap the best benefits – wages, markdowns, free meals and entertainment. Which jobs are most fun and which are the most thankless?

Day-in-the-life. While trite, these stories can be a scream, enhanced by audio, video and slide shows. I once was forced by my editor to work a 6 a.m. shift the day after Thanksgiving at a local Target, then rush to the newsroom and whip up a 40-inch feature about my one and only retail experience to date. I nearly got stampeded handing out the freebies at the start of the stint and later got so caught up in finding a “Doodlebug” stuffed animal for a frantic mom that I forgot I really didn’t work there.

A couple of years ago, a chagrinned young co-worker reluctantly donned the stylish yet practical brown uniform of a UPS driver – complete with watch cap and boots – to spend a day hefting packages aboard the open delivery trucks. It made for quite a read.

Any jobs story should have long-term context; for historical jobless data, refer to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report. For forecasts, check with your region’s Federal Reserve bank or check out this National Association for Business Economics study, released Monday, predicting national unemployment rates at or near 10 percent through the end of 2010.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.

Covering retail tactics along Main Street

Chain store closings, like the recent demise of Circuit City and Starbucks’ coffee-shop contraction, make national headlines.

But small shops and eateries, with fewer resources and lower profiles, are even more likely to suffer in a recession. Their plight, going into the ever-crucial fourth quarter retailing season, is well worth a second look.

If you cover an area with a venerable shopping district or small biz cluster, consider planning a standing feature to run from early October to year-end, with a weekly check-in, multimedia (interactive maps, interviews, behind-the-scenes video) and other elements that chronicle the season as it unfolds.

A growing angle: “Shop local” campaigns sponsored by business associations, chambers of commerce and other stakeholders. The marketing spins prompt area residents to head to neighborhood shops instead of chain stores to support the local economy.

One such effort getting a lot of attention this year is called the 3/50 Project.

It’s a simple premise: Participants ask residents to pick three locally owned businesses and spend $50 a month in them. Campaign organizers claim that if half of American shoppers did so, local merchants would benefit by more than $42 billion.

Kriss Rogers is president of the Uptown Merchants Association in Westerville, Ohio, which features a quaint maze of 19th Century storefronts north of Columbus. She started displaying 3/50 signage at her garden-themed gift shop, Outdoor Envy, last spring. A few months ago, she started signing up other local storekeepers and says the community is responding.

“I would say one out of three customers will read it and comment in a positive way,” said Rogers. “Lately they’ll come in and say ‘I thought I’d see if you have what I wanted before going to the mall.”

The 3/50 Project site lists retail participants by state; for other initiatives in your area dig around or contact the Chamber of Commerce.

Some noteworthy efforts nationwide:

• “Keep Louisville Weird” in Louisville, Ky. http://www.keeplouisvilleweird.com/
• Baltimore’s neighborhoods ran a “Miracle on Main Streets” campaign last year. http://www.miracleonmainstreets.com/
• Hancock County, Miss. plans again this year to run its “Holiday at Home” http://www.hancockchamber.org/HolidayCampaign/HolidayGoodCheer1.asp campaign urging residents to shop and dine at grass roots businesses this fall and Christmas season.

Other things to keep in mind: Neighborhood and downtown districts this year will try to gin up resident interest with festivals, special shopping events, sidewalk sales and other promotions – dig into the cost/benefit dilemma merchants face when being asked to sponsor these community relations events.

And be on the lookout for innovations. Rogers says her association has issued a gift card good at 16 local shops, to compete with the convenience of universal mall gift cards. Other cities issue scrip or vouchers good at local stores.

Round out your story with analyst commentary and statistics. For nationwide perspective, try the Main Street center of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. The center’s site also features its State of Main Street 2009 report.

Many of the campaigns claim that dollars spent locally benefit the community with a “multiplier effect,” meaning they are recycled through the local economy in the form of wages and spending by the area merchants, compared to cash that is whisked into corporate coffers.

Many of the citations regarding the multiplier effect are vague; I’d suggest checking for real-life data from a consulting firm such as Civic Economics, which does nationwide studies out of offices in Chicago and Austin, Texas.

For data, explore the U.S. Census Bureau’s retail portal. Among other things, it’s got a ZIP-code searchable database of business establishments by type and size; that will give you a look at how local shops are dwindling or multiplying. Census Bureau analyst can help you mine the data further.


Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.