UPS hopes to hire 40K employees today
The world’s largest package-delivery company, UPS, is looking to employ as many as 40,000 seasonal employees on Friday, during a hiring blitz it is calling “Brown Friday.”
The company is hosting job fairs at 170 cities across the country and says it will give candidates jobs on the spot.
“Many of those who come to one of our job fairs this Friday could be signed up for a seasonal role by Monday,” Stefond Harris, UPS’ vice president of human resources, said in a statement.
Available full- and part-time positions include package handlers, drivers and driver-helpers.
Events are taking place at locations from Honolulu to Las Vegas to Seattle. Interested individuals who are unable to attend an event in person, UPS also allows applications online.
Seasonal positions can lead to full-time jobs after the holidays are over: The company noted one-third of its workforce were once seasonal employees.
Friday’s event is part of a broader push to hire 100,000 seasonal employees ahead of the holiday shopping season, a 5 percent increase over last year.
Other companies are also prepping for the holiday season – which could realize a record $1.1 trillion in retail sales this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Target expects to hire about 120,000 seasonal employees, for example, while FedEx will hire about 55,000.
Overall, retailers are expected to hire more than 704,000 seasonal workers this year – the highest number ever recorded.
For courier companies, the holiday season doesn’t end after Christmas. UPS and FedEx will remain busy well into the New Year when customers return and exchange gifts.