By Abby Lombardi on September 24, 2012 in Retail.

Every year, retailers begin to hire workers in the Fall to prepare for and get through the holiday season. This year, reports are already coming in of plans to hire. In fact, a recent survey by the Hay Group showed that 36% of responding retailers are planning on hiring more seasonal help than they did last year, up from only 10% last year. We wanted to see what hiring demand looks like in the retail sector now.

Currently, there are approximately 2,500 retailers with online job ads for sales workers. 822 of these companies are advertising either temporary or contract-based jobs. Overall, the number of sales jobs at retail companies was up about 50% in August versus August 2011. Other than a slight decline in June, the number of online ads for retail sales workers has grown in 2012.

Hiring Demand for Retail Sales Workers in the US – Volume of Job Ads Past 4 Years

Source: WANTED Analytics

We found that sales positions in the retail industry are advertised online for 41 days – or about 6 weeks. This means that on average, Recruiters at retailers spend 6 weeks collecting resumes or applications and preparing to interview candidates. Despite a growing volume of job ads across the US, overall recruiting conditions are still likely to be relatively easy. When looking at the below heat map displaying the overall difficulty-to-fill (or ease in filling) for sales positions in the retail sector. Most areas are bright green, depicting that Recruiters are likely to experience little difficulty in filling these jobs.

Hiring Scale – Difficulty to Fill Retail Sales Jobs in the US

Source: WANTED Analytics

Cities with the best recruiting conditions for retail sales workers:

• Cumberland (Maryland)
• Gainesville (Florida)
• Kankakee-Bradley (Illinois)
• Elkart-Goshen (Indiana)
• Decatur (Illinois)

Cities with the most difficult conditions:

• Hinesville-Fort Stewart (Georgia)
• Manchester-Nashua (New Hampshire)
• Midland (Texas)
• Springfield (Ohio)
• Coeur d'Alene (Idaho)

We'll continue to report on the number of job ads in the retail industry throughout the holiday season, so be sure to subscribe to our blog to get the latest data delivered right to your inbox!

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