Tis The Season For Seasonal Work

The holidays are just around the corner and businesses have already begun hiring for seasonal help.  Granted we aren’t here to tell you that seasonal work is glamorous; it certainly isn’t. Workers are often subjected for hours on end to the same Christmas and Holiday music, screaming kids, and simply rude customers.

However in this economy there are a few reasons to get excited about temporary work.

It is time to gain a few new valuable skills such as learn how to run a cash register, work inventory, get some customer service experience, etc. Putting seasonal work on your resume shows that you were not only capable of getting a job, but reinforces your strong work ethic and hunger for work.  Certainly in an era of a 17.1% U-6 unemployment rate, being unemployed shouldn’t have such a terrible stigma attached to it but many delusional, successful people assume the unemployed are lazy.

While many of the seasonal jobs will be retail related there are alternatives. An example would be seasonal landscaping jobs that need to be filled by able bodied workers after college age workers are back in school during the fall and winter.  Importantly no respectable future employer is going to knock you if you can pick up value from working a seasonal job.

Another great thing about seasonal work is there is a chance that if you show real effort and initiative you may get hired full time. Even if you don’t want a job working at a retail outlet your experience and skills gained from your temporary work can be used in future job applications. Seasonal work gives you exposure to a new crop of people you can use for references. Networking is one of the single largest factors in your ability to secure a decent job so by broadening your network you are only going to improve your job search.  We’ve discussed using real networking to your advantages in the past, catch up our strategies here.

Feel free to discuss your best and worst seasonal employment stories below.