Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions of Americans out of work, several companies are preparing to bulk up their workforce ahead of the busy holiday season.
Many large corporations are hiring now for roles that last approximately three to four months. In an unconventional year for seasonal jobs, many employers are seeking remote workers, mostly for customer service positions.
Here are a few major companies looking to hire seasonal workers nationwide:
Macy's
The retailer will host a national holiday hiring event on Sept. 29 to fill more than 25,000 full- and part-time jobs at fulfillment centers across the country, a Macy's representative told: "Good Morning America."
Walmart
The corporation is hiring 20,000 employees at fulfillment centers as it preps for an increase in online shopping this holiday season. Job seekers can apply for a range of roles that pay up to $23.75 per hour.
Amazon
Amazon is hiring another 100,000 people to keep up with a surge of online orders. The company already had to hire 175,000 people earlier this year to keep up with the rush of orders, and earlier this month said it had 33,000 corporate and tech jobs it needed to fill. This time around, Amazon said it needs the people at the 100 new warehouses, package sorting centers, and other facilities it's opening this month.
FedEx
The delivery company said it will add more than 70,000 seasonal jobs to keep up with increased demand over the holiday shipping season. The part-time jobs include package handling and driving, but FedEx said they can turn into full-time positions.
UPS
About 100,000 temporary job openings are available through UPS nationwide. In previous years, the company gave full-time offers to one-third of its seasonal workforce.
Best Buy
The electronics retailer is gearing up to hire thousands of new employees across the country. According to the company's website, it will host job fairs on Sept. 24-25 and Oct. 3-4 for seasonal job positions. Jobs include sales, customer service, merchandising inventory, car install technicians, and more, according to the store. Positions in the distribution centers will also be available.
How to find seasonal work, and how to turn that opportunity into a full-time job:
Job seekers can go through several avenues to find seasonal work, such as applying directly on companies' websites or using free online job search engines like Indeed or LinkedIn.
When searching the internet, using the words "seasonal" and "holiday" will help prospective workers find jobs more easily. Including terms about the job function, like "retail," "warehousing" and "customer service" also helps.
In the age of coronavirus, shifts are scheduled throughout the day to encourage social distancing. This means that people willing to work overnights and weekends, for example, may be able to score a job faster than someone with specific scheduling requests.
Once hired, temporary workers should talk upfront to their hiring managers and discuss their intentions and goals.
Asking higher-ups about specific criteria needed to make a job permanent may give temporary employees leverage. The earlier this conversation happens, the better, as a number of employers make their hiring decisions early.