While some of you are probably still in denial that summer’s over, the time has come to face reality: It’s officially fall. And although it’s not quite time to put away your shades and break out your winter parka, you might want to get a head-start when it comes to applying for holiday jobs.

Yes, we know–you’re still wearing flip-flops and your tan lines haven’t even begun to fade, and we’re asking you to strap on your jingle bells already? Well, the National Retail Federation just released their sales forecast for this year’s holiday season, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that shoppers won’t be shelling out as much dough at the registers as they have in the past. With the housing market down and gas prices up, Americans just don’t have the funds to spend their hard-earned Benjamins like they used to. The NRF predicts that holiday spending will only rise 2.2 percent this year, which is way below the average of 4.4. This means that finding seasonal employment this year won’t be as easy as most job seekers would like.

So what does this mean for you, the job seeker? It means that while sales are expected to increase and retailers are definitely going to need more help in the winter months, it’s probably wise to start your holiday job search early to get a leg-up on everyone else with their eye on a new job.

If you want to beat the rush, start your holiday job search now. For more advice, check out our seasonal jobs section with articles on why seasonal jobs will make you holly and jolly, as well as where to start looking.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 5:44 am and is filed under In the news, Jobs, Work, Careers, Seasonal & summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.