Kyrene Corridor residents hoping to make extra money this holiday season should start looking for their assignments now. The number of jobs available will be less than last year – and more people are expected to be vying for them – according to a nationwide survey.

For the area’s biggest potential holiday employer, Chandler Fashion Center, the economy may not seem so worrisome. Calls to the center’s marketing department reveal that rather than cutting jobs, one large retailer just had a grand opening and has hired more than 100 employees to serve the company’s customers.

The center is teaming up with the Tempe Union High School District to allow retailers access to a job fair that will be held at Marcos de Niza High School on Oct. 29. Job listings for the center are also available at the center’s website, www.chandlermall.com, and the guest services desk located inside the mall.

Elsewhere, a sampling of 1,000 American hiring managers who have responsibility for hiring hourly workers finds that each manager, on average, plans on hiring 3.7 seasonal employees, roughly 33 percent less than the 5.6 seasonal workers they each hired during last year’s holiday period. 

This figure includes the 57 percent of managers who say they don’t plan on making any hires this year, which is up 8 percentage points from 2007.  

Managers who plan to hire at least one hourly holiday worker say they are looking to bring on nine seasonal workers on average, down 20 percent from the 11.2 employees they report having hired last year.

In addition, four in 10 (39 percent) of hiring managers expect the number of applicants to rise this year over last, with about one half (52 percent) expecting the number to stay the same.  Only nine percent expect fewer applicants.
“While the economy is obviously having an effect on hiring, there are jobs out there,” said Shawn Boyer, CEO of SnagAJob.com, a Web site for part-time and full-time hourly jobs that commissioned the survey. 

“You just have to be aggressive and use all the tools at your disposal to separate yourself from the crowd, starting off by applying now. 

Job seekers will have to do their homework, be willing to work flexible hours and go in with a great attitude because that’s what employers most desire.”

In fact, the survey indicates that October is the month that the most employers who are hiring this year will start the hiring process. Thirty-six percent of those hiring managers will begin looking for workers in October, while a combined 39 percent said they started hiring in August or September. 

Most managers said they expect to wrap up their hiring duties in November, with some finishing in October and others hiring as late as December.

The average pay for a seasonal employee is expected to be $10 an hour