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
