Season usually brings more job offers in retail, education, warehousing, distribution
By Steve Yablonski
As the weather cools down, the number of available jobs heats up.
“Typically, with the start of back to school in the fall, we tend to see increased hiring needs in the education sector. This includes both the public and private sectors across pre-K, K-12, junior colleges and college level/universities,” said Karen Knapik-Scalzo, associate economist with the New York State Department of Labor, Division of Research & Statistics in Syracuse.
Increased hiring in the retail trade sector in preparation for the holidays usually begins in October, she said.
Increased employment also occurs at online retailers, local warehousing and distribution facilities and delivery service businesses in anticipation of holiday gift giving and delivery, she added.
The colder weather in the fall and winter months also leads to seasonal hiring at local ski resorts.
“As our local economy continues to recover from the pandemic-induced recession, there is still strong demand for workers across most of our local industry sectors, especially leisure and hospitality [for example accommodation and food services] and professional and business services,” Knapik-Scalzo said.
Sales jobs, in general, are in demand this time of year. Many are seasonal and will cease at the end of the holiday season.
However, telecommunication sales profession is currently hot, Knapik-Scalzo noted. You can earn an hourly wage and commissions.
New positions for office and administrative support workers are opening at a break-neck pace, especially in big cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, according to jobnetwork.com.
Customer service representatives, executive secretaries, office-worker supervisors and executive administrative assistants are in high demand to keep business rolling smoothly.
Monster.com recently added more than 388,000 listings for admin professionals, so it’s a great time to be one.
Good news on the employment front
New York state economy added 43,800 private sector jobs in July.
According to preliminary figures released on Aug. 19 by the New York State Department of Labor, the number of private sector jobs in New York state increased over the month by or 0.6%, to 7,496,400 in July. This was the largest net gain in private sector jobs since March 2021. Similarly, the number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 0.6% in July 2021.
New York state’s private sector jobs (not seasonally adjusted) increased by 493,200, or 7% over the year in July 2021. By comparison, the number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 5.8% over the year.
Among the other jobs that are in demand now across the country, jobnetwork.com lists:
• Food preparation and service: While industries such as transportation, accounting and personal financial services are on the rise because of specific contemporary factors, the strength of the food industry is pretty constant. However, certain areas of the industry are certainly in a growth phase this fall, such as supervisors and servers. The fast food industry may be less mighty than it once was, but food preparers and servers are still very much needed at McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, and Wendy’s. Cooks are needed, too.
• Repair and maintenance: Here’s another old-fashioned industry that also continues to deliver the jobs. Those who are great with their hands and have a knack for installing appliances and performing automotive maintenance or general repairs will find a very welcoming job market. Supervisors for mechanics, installers, and repair people are also necessary in today’s market.
• Accounting: Accounting may not be the most exciting profession in the world, but number crunchers are needed in a number of industries this fall. One reason for the high number of accounting positions is the abundance of new companies that started up in the wake of the economic collapse a decade ago. Those relatively new companies are still on the lookout for help in their accounting departments, and brand new companies are kicking into gear all the time, which means that accounting jobs should be abundant for some time.
• Call centers: Another industry on the rise is the call center business. More and more, customer service is being handled over the phone. Call center workers both help customers with problems and handle sales. Initially, this kind of work tended to get outsourced, but public outcry has resulted in call centers opening up in the United States. Those with traditional sales and customer service experience may decide to put their skills to use at one of these new domestic call centers. The jobs are definitely out there.
• Transportation: The popularity of online sales is one reason that call center work is thriving these days. The online retail industry has also created a high demand for the delivery people who transport the products purchased through Amazon, Fresh Direct, and other online companies. That means truckers and other drivers should have a fairly easy time getting work these days. Those who are interested in transporting people instead of goods may find work for companies such as Lyft and Uber.
