Holiday hiring is up this year as job seekers face competition

A sign advertising seasonal part time jobs in Fredericton, N.B. (Sarah Plowman)

At malls across Canada, people are hunting for deals, while others are looking for jobs.

Jayden Flexman landed her holiday gig at the Hickory Farms kiosk inside Fredericton’s Regent Mall. From November into January, the 19-year-old will sell gourmet meats, cheeses and sweets. It took her about a month and a half to get a job after she lost her previous one.

“There were about 200 online applications I’d done, if not more in that span, and I’d been applying beforehand, too and didn’t get much luck,” said Flexman.

According to the job search site Indeed, holiday hiring is up 12 per cent this season compared to last year.

Brendon Bernard, Senior Economist with Indeed said it shows a bit of a rebound from last year but also noted job postings are still down compared to 2023 and way down from 2022 when the job market was strong.

“There are going to be a few more options potentially out there,” said Bernard. “At the same time, job seekers are potentially competing with more of their peers for these seasonal roles.”

It’s been a tough market for job seekers for the past few years, Bernard explained.

As of October, Canada’s unemployment rate was 6.9 per cent and youth unemployment for people aged 15 to 24 was double that – at 14.1 per cent.

“It’s good to see a bit of a bounce back in seasonal hiring this year, but to really get the labour market moving in the right direction, we just need a stronger overall economy,” said Bernard.

Endeavours & ThinkPlay in Fredericton sells a wide variety of games, toys and art materials in-store and online. To add extra support this holiday, the business posted one seasonal job and a full-time E-commerce platform position. Combined, the postings drew more than three-hundred interested applicants.

“This was a short period of time. And right away there were hundreds of applicants,” said Tyler Randall, CEO of Endeavours & Thinkplay.

Randall said a lot of the applicants had retail experience but surprisingly, he also received lots of applications from nurses looking for additional work. He thinks a lot factors led to this. He noted a number of businesses recently closed in downtown Fredericton. At the same time, costs are climbing and expects people looking for a second or third job to cover holiday expenses.

Toymasters in Brandon, Manitoba also had an overwhelming response when it posted a job. Store owner Amber Doubleday said within a week of posting the position, she received almost sixty resumes. The bulk of interest came from high school or university students. She hired two people to take over for a full-time employee who’s moving and brought on a seasonal staff member.

“I wish I could hire more, there’s some amazing people that are applying, but, you know, I only have so many hours available to be able to give,” said Doubleday. “It really breaks my heart to see how hard it is for a lot of these young adults and kids to be finding jobs these days. They’re really, really, really beating down the pavement.”

Back at the Regent Mall, Flexman is busy ringing in a customer’s item. She’ll work there until January and then has another job lined up.

For anyone searching for work, Flexman’s advice is to keep applying and don’t hesitate to stop by any business in person.

“As much as most things have moved to digital only, it’s still worth it to go and drop a resume,” she said, even if the business said it only accepts online ones.

“They’ll keep your name because they’re like, ‘oh, this person is insistent, you’re a hard worker. They clearly have interest in wanting to work here,” she said.