Department Stores Looking for Workers to Fill Holiday Positions

That makes this time of year a good time to be shopping for a job in retail.

Retailers are bracing for the holiday shopping season. "Help wanted" signs are posted in store windows all over Cary Towne Center. A book of job listings is on display at the mall that shows dozens of openings at stores hoping to double their staff.

Managers say they have to compete with other stores to attract new employees.

Wound Up offers employees a 33-percent discount at all of the stores its parent company owns.

"We want a staff of 18 and we're half way there, so we're going to do some serious hiring in the next couple of weeks," says store manager Mary Richards.

But it is not the only store offering special incentives.

Northern Reflections wants to hire six more people before the holidays. It needs sales clerks to help move merchandise off the shelves, so it is offering commissions -- the more employees sell, the more they will earn.

"To make the sales, it's going take more people than we have right now," says store manager Tara Lynch.

"We have commissions for our associates, so during the holidays sales go up so you can earn more money," says Lynch. "We have contests and you can earn points to purchase things in the store."

Store managers say they are already busy with Christmas sales. The crowds showed up last weekend, and they will only get bigger over the next few weeks.

One department store in Fayetteville may have the answer to filling some of the vacant holiday openings in the Triangle.

Target is in the process of hiring and training holiday employees. The store plans to bus those workers to the Triangle area to work. A store spokesman says, Triangle area Target stores need the help.

"We're sending them up to the Cary store, which is one of the closest ones," says employees team leader Bill Pierce. "They work their shift, then they'll travel back and then they park the vehicle here."

The pilot program is about to be put to the test. The first group of workers will be headed to the Cary Target store this week.