By John Smith, senior vice president of enterprise sales at CareerBuilder
December often becomes a transition month for job seekers. As the busy
holiday season approaches, calendars get filled with parties. Relatives
come into town for a visit. Children have a few weeks off from school
and need to be entertained. Plus, there's probably shopping to be done.
In addition to this jam-packed schedule, many job seekers believe the
myth that employers aren't hiring new workers until next year. As a
result, some job seekers decide to take a step back from sending out
résumés and attending networking events and instead focus on how they
will revise and improve their job search in 2012. You should always be
thinking about how to tweak your job search, but don't put everything on
hold until next year. Employers aren't.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics just announced
that 120,000 jobs were added in November, and the unemployment rate
fell to 8.6 percent. Last month, the BLS also reported that in October,
36 states and Washington, D.C., saw regional decreases in their
unemployment rates. In addition, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales set
records this year, and the Conference Board recently reported
that consumer confidence is at its highest point in four months. The
economy continues to take incremental steps toward recovery, and
employers are eager to meet consumer demand now, not on Jan. 1.
Not only are companies not waiting to hire, many are currently hiring
in large volume. We found eight employers that are hiring at least 400
workers right now. If you're looking for a new job, take a few minutes
out of your hectic schedule and see if one of these companies is right
for you:
Wells Fargo
Number of jobs: 10,000+
Sample job titles: Tellers, personal bankers, customer service representatives, underwriters
Sears/Kmart
Number of jobs: 1,000+
Sample job titles: Retail sales, repair technicians, store managers
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Number of jobs: 1,000+
Sample job titles: Financial advisers
ServiceMaster
Number of jobs: 1,100+
Sample job titles: Customer service representatives, residential and
commercial sales, technicians, trainers, management positions
Chico's FAS
Number of jobs: 1,000+
Sample job titles: Retail sales, corporate positions, some seasonal
Fresenius Medical Care North America
Number of jobs: 1,100
Sample job titles: Clinical managers, acute-care registered nurses
New York Life Insurance
Number of jobs: 500
Sample job titles: Sales, management
Tango Transport
Number of jobs: 400+
Sample job titles: Truck drivers