Retailers and shippers gear up for holiday hiring

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Retailers and shipping companies have begun announcing their hiring plans for the busy holiday season. | Sun-Times file photo

NEW YORK — The holidays are still months away, but retailers and shipping companies have begun announcing their hiring plans for the busy holiday season.

Many companies temporarily boost their workforces during the holiday to deal with an increase in shoppers at stores and online. Many like to tout that a sizable share of people who work in these jobs wind up staying on as permanent employees.

Here’s who’s announced hiring plans so far:

RETAILERS

Kohl’s Corp.: The retailer expects to hire more than 69,000 workers, up from 67,000 in the 2014 holiday season. Most will work at the company’s 1,200 stores around the country. About 9,500 will be placed at distribution and fulfillment centers to help website orders, and 660 will field calls at its credit card operations centers. Kohl’s Corp., based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, said most of the jobs will be filled by the middle of November.

Toys R Us: The toy seller plans to hire 40,000 people to work at stores and distribution centers around the country. That’s down from 45,000 last holiday season. Job interviews will begin in September and hiring will start in October and continue throughout the season. The Wayne, New Jersey, company has more than 860 stores in the U.S., including Babies R Us.

SHIPPERS

FedEx Corp.: The company expects to hire more than 55,000 people to help ship and deliver packages. That’s above the 50,000 workers the Memphis, Tennessee, company said it would hire last holiday season.

United Parcel Service Inc.: The Atlanta company plans to hire between 90,000 to 95,000 employees from November to January, about the same amount as last year. UPS workers will help handle shipping and deliveries throughout the country.

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