Seasonal Job Boom: 8 Companies Hiring Now

Oct. 30, 2013 -- intro: September's jobs report may have been uninspiring—but that doesn't mean that employers aren't hiring by the tens of thousands. While many hires this time of year are part-time and seasonal--in industries like retailing and transportation--plenty of full-time positions also are up for grabs, in a variety of industries. Here's a snapshot of who's hiring where, right now. For information on how to apply, click the following company names.

quicklist:title: Walmarttext:

The world's largest retailer and private employer has announced it will hire 55,000 holiday workers, up from 50,000 last year. The company further announced it will promote 25,000 U.S. employees before the end of the year. Gisel Ruiz, chief operating officer of Walmart U.S., said in a statement, "In addition to the traditional hiring of seasonal help, we are expanding opportunities for the people that already work for us." The company plans to move 35,000 employees from temporary to part-time work, and another 35,000 from part-time to full-time. The company says it typically promotes 160,000 employees a year.

quicklist:title: McDonald'stext:

Job aggregation site SimplyHired.com reports that the fast food chain has 2,008 positions open in Chicago, 999 in the Philadelphia area, and 1,594 in Los Angeles. The site says that in 19 of the 25 major metro areas, McDonald's ranks among the top five companies with the greatest number of current job openings.

quicklist:title: Kaiser Permanentetext:

SimplyHired.com says there are 360,000 healthcare jobs going begging across the U.S. right now, up from 275,000 a year ago. In the San Francisco Bay metro, there currently are 2,850 positions looking to be filled at Kaiser Permanente.

quicklist:title: UPStext:

UPS says that owing to a "compressed" holiday shopping season this year (26 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, six fewer than last year) it expects its volume to increase by 8 percent. On its peak pickup day of December 16, volume will hit 34 million packages. To cope, UPS is hiring 55,000 seasonal employees across the U.S.: drivers, package sorters, loaders and unloaders.

quicklist:title: Amazon text:

The Seattle-based online merchant says it expects to create 70,000 fulltime seasonal jobs at its fulfillment centers across the U.S., in response to a 40 percent increase in customer demand, compared with last year. It says last year it converted thousands of seasonal jobs to full-time jobs after the holidays, and that it intends to do the same this year. So far in 2013, Amazon has converted 7,000 temporary positions to full-time.

quicklist:title: Chrysler, General Motorstext:

SimplyHired says there are 79,791 automotive job openings nationwide right now, up from slightly over 50,000 a year ago. In the Detroit metro area, Chrysler has 1,063 openings; G.M. has 918.

quicklist:title: Macy's text:

The retailer plans to hire 83,000 seasonal workers at its Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores combined, to help staff call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers. The number is up from 80,000 last year, according to the company. Applications are being accepted at www.macysJOBS.com and www.bloomingdalesJOBS.com. Macy's employs about 175,700 people year-round.