5 Tips to Obtaining PT and Seasonal Employment

This is the blog article I wrote for SJSU. The original article can be found: HERE

 Summer is right around the corner and you may be asking yourself what you can do to prepare for the summer job market. Seasonal employment is a great way to obtain your first job and it provides an opportunity to learn new skills. The Service industry (retail, restaurants, cafes, amusement parks, etc) often recruits in large numbers for seasonal help and can serve as an excellent career ladder.

Follow these FIVE tips for best results to obtaining part time and seasonal employment:

1) Open your availability

· A major requirement for seasonal employment is open or flexible availability

· You MUST be available when the employer needs you

In the service industry, this means weekends, holidays, and evenings

2)  Apply Early!

If you are applying for jobs in the service industry, for best results, apply the last week of April and first two weeks of May for summer employment and apply the last two weeks of October and beginning of November for holiday/winter employment.

3)  Be prepared to complete an online/electronic application

· Have all of your personal information handy

· Try and complete your application in one sitting

· Use common browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox

Online applications/assessments are typically timed; try not to take longer than 60—90 minutes

4) Your resume should list a summary of skills, experiences and qualifications that are practical to the employer, such as:

· “Available weekends/holidays”

· “Open availability/flexible schedule”

· “Three months experience working with the general public”

· “Six months experience of working in a fast-paced environment”

5) Your appearance matters.

· You should appear to look clean and well groomed

· The environment in which you choose to work will determine how you should dress

· In some cases, dressing in professional attire is appropriate while in others, it may be too dressy

· Look at current employees, your attire should be a notch up from theirs during the hiring process

Try to obtain a position that relates to your long-term career goals if possible, make the position your own and align it with personal interests. Networking is always a great idea to expand your number of contacts; another option is to create your own position, such as babysitting, dog walking, or helping out at a small business. Follow these five short rules for best results to obtaining your PT or seasonal job! Have fun, learn, and be confident, good luck!

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Job Growth/Loss by Major Sector -- Past 12 months

The above industry chart shows how major industries have been impacted since March of 2010. It is clear that the sector hit the greatest is government, with 356,000 jobs having been lost in a 12 month period. The government sector was harder hit than even construction, financial activities and information combined. The March 2010 figures are approximately one year after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) or “stimulus package” was signed into law. If we remember correctly, it took some time for the funding to be released and to catch speed. ARRA was applied to infrastructure projects such as roads/transportation, education, healthcare, loans, grants, and workforce development programs. ARRA also provided 288 billion dollars worth of tax incentives to both businesses and working families.

It is clear that job growth is on the rise, with the decreased national unemployment rate and the newly decreased CA unemployment rate, the economy looks to be slowly coming back on track. According tot he Department of Labor, the sectors with the highest growth in the past twelve months are professional and business services, health and educational services, and manufacturing. It is clear that the private sector is experiencing the bulk of the job growth, not the public sector.

The outlook for employment looks promising, Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis is expected to provide a more detailed analysis of this report, no release date of such an analysis was provided. 

Daniel Newell

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