Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Thursday, November 16, 2006. While that day will offer various meanings for those who honor it as well as those who don’t, it will have one undeniable meaning for everyone living in the United States. Thanksgiving, as it does every year, represents the official beginning of the consumer-driven Holiday Season. And regardless of your religious or cultural leanings, the Holiday Season will affect you in some way. For some, it is the joy and/or dread of family gatherings. For others it is the stress of finding the perfect gift for that special person that has everything. For others it is the nausea of having nothing to celebrate while everyone else seems so inexplicably festive. And for a large contingent of employers and job seekers, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday employment season.

From large department stores to virtually every sector of the travel, hospitality, and restaurant industries, employers require additional labor to make it through the consumer demand spike of the U.S. Holiday Season. And while the typical 9-to-5er won’t be wooed to work the late shift at Macy’s, there are huge numbers of teenagers, students, stay-at-home parents, immigrants, and others that will fill in the temporary employment gap and enjoy some of the perks of seasonal employment.

As with virtually every form of employment, seasonal employment is driven by the need and desire for additional income. But the holiday employment season is unique in that employers are often very aggressive in their hiring practices and, because of the intensity of the demand, tend to offer slightly higher wages than would normally be available. The additional cash is very attractive to job seekers that would otherwise struggle to earn the wages that are offered during the holiday season. For college students and even some high school students, the extended break they enjoy as a result of Christmas and New Year’s affords an opportunity to work a large number of hours over a very short period of time. Students who are paying their own tuition or any portion of their living or educational expenses typically are eager to secure a holiday job. In addition to the extra in-pocket cash, it also helps to off-set the additional expenses that are incurred through gift purchases and the inevitable increases in entertainment expenses that come with being temporarily free from all academic obligations.

Because of the general increase in demand for certain products and services during the holidays, employers usually increase their working hours significantly to help keep up. This means that additional shifts become available and seasonal workers are sometimes able to coordinate desirable working hours with their employers. Although this may mean working at a department store until midnight or later, not having to report to work until the early evening may be a more important advantage for someone who has other interests during “normal” business hours. Employers may also offer targeted working hours and shifts, sometimes limited to specific days. Because there are several specific holidays that are observed during the holiday season, individual holidays themselves often become very important time slots to fill with seasonal employees. Regular employees often request to be off on specific holidays far in advance. And because there will be numerous employers in a given area that are affected by the holiday season, a savvy job seeker can take small shifts with several different employers and ultimately create an ideal working schedule around any other activities that they have planned during that time period.

In addition to attractive short-term wages and flexible scheduling, most retailers offer holiday employees significant discounts on products purchased from their stores during the duration of their employment. In many instances, 25% to 50% discounts are available on an array of merchandise. When coupled with the wages earned, such discounts can theoretically eliminate any out-of-pocket expense for holiday gift purchases. Not every employer will offer discounts as employment incentives, but most will and they are never more attractive than during the holiday shopping season. And regardless of your gift purchasing intentions, short-term employment with any company that offers discounts can be of enormous benefit to the job seekers that do their homework and research their holiday employers. For many job seekers, the most attractive discounts may be with an airline or a hotel where a discount can be applied to a future vacation or out-of-town visit.

And while the seasonal employers where most job seekers find short-term work may not be a long-term career destination for most of the seasonal workers, there is still a great benefit in the future career networking opportunities to be found. Most college students, for example, will find that there are other college students working through the holidays. These students will be coming from different schools with different interests and entirely unique networks of academic and personal contacts that may be of great value in the future. Anytime you are able to network in a low-pressure environment, it is a good idea to do so. The person you’re folding clothes with or waiting tables with or answering phones with may be the person who knows the person that hires you for your dream job. Or perhaps they’ll know the person that you hire that pushes your start-up company over the top.

If you’re out looking for a holiday job, take the time to investigate the basics – the pay, the hours, the discounts – and apply to the jobs that make the most sense for you. It’s always a good idea to apply online, but stopping into a location and getting even the briefest face-time with a hiring manager might make all the difference. Good luck in your search and enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Tags: employment incentives, holiday jobs, part time jobs, seasonal employment, seasonal jobs

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