MSNBC: Chances of getting hired for holiday retail job slimmer than getting into Ivy League college

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Applications for holiday retail jobs surging
Chances of getting hired slimmer than getting into an Ivy League college

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27665672/

NEW YORK - The odds of landing a part-time job at department store operator Bealls Outlet Stores Inc. this holiday season are slimmer than getting into Harvard: It's one out of every 45.

Don't think the chances are any better at 7-Eleven. One California store received more than 100 applicants in a week and a half for jobs that pay $8.50 per hour — and the retailer doesn't even usually hire holiday workers.

From department stores and convenience chains to call centers, managers who only a year ago had to scramble to fill holiday jobs are seeing a surge in the number of seasoned applicants — many of them laid off in other sectors and desperate for a way to pay the bills.

The flood of jobseekers comes even as the retail industry drastically cuts back on holiday hiring because of the drop-off in consumer spending, and the applicants — who differ from the usual pool, teens or stay-at-home moms looking for extra spending money — reflect the nation's fast-deteriorating job market.

"I thought it was going to be pretty easy, but I am not the only one looking for a job. There are thousands of us going for the same thing," said Kimberly Caparo of Chesterfield, Mich., who has applied for part-time jobs at Toys "R" Us Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Lowe's Cos. Inc. in recent weeks since she and her husband were laid off by American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc.

[Skink]

1. Wait till Febuary.

[DJ13]

2. Its so bad here in California that many stores have already slashed Xmas

..... decorations by 50%, weeks ahead of Thanksgiving.

[tularetom]

3. Another victory in the WOC

(War on Christmas)

[Lumpsum]

6. Can't wait to hear Bill O's spin on this...

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. There's a segment of the population that will go Christmas shopping no matter what...

...and I'm not talking about the wealthy. It's a guilt thing, and obsession thing, the compulsion to buy something for someone that they don't need or don't want so that they won't think that we don't care about them at Christmas time. That behavior may be much less prevalent this year, but it won't be absent altogether.

Restaurants are hurting, too (I have a couple for clients). I did a video shoot for a client who has an annual Halloween event and he asked me to re-edit the final clips to remove the views in which the empty sections of the restaurant could be seen. I had 30 minutes of raw footage that I whittled down to a final 5.

When people start spending that holiday money that they don't really have in the first place, restaurants are going to be hurting a whole lot more.

[Muttocracy]

5. I was in a small shoe store and overheard the owner chatting with a small restaurant owner

who had come in the shoe store with his family.

He said his business was doing poorly, he could barely make payroll. He said people bringing their own lunch instead of eating out was definitely happening, and people not spending as much for dinner.

[Marsala]

7. I'll be expecting some pretty high-quality service

...or at least I would, if I could afford to buy anything.