Stores Adding Employees for Holiday Shopping

With Black Friday just days away, many stores are making sure they have everything in line to give shoppers the best experience possible.
    
It's no easy task preparing for one of the busiest shopping days of the year. And to ease the stress in the isles and at the checkout line, stores add many new faces to their staff.

“We couldn't do it without our seasonal team,” Target Human Resources Executive Team Lead Josh Janssen said.

Last year more than 7,000 people visited the east side Target at Dawley Farm in Sioux Falls on Black Friday. More than 2,000 were waiting in line for the doors to open at midnight. When you have that many customers, extra staffing is a must.

"We currently hired about 65 to 70 seasonal team members in the last month-and-a-half. So it was a huge hiring process for us this year. But we’re very excited about the team that we did bring on," Janssen said.

Janssen says the store typically hires the same amount of staff as the year before unless there's a noticeable increase in sales.

"They really do make this happen for our guests and make it a great experience. So we’re very thankful for our team members and applicants that we've hired on over the last month-and-a-half just to make sure it’s a great experience come Thursday night going into Friday," Janssen said.

And while it takes a lot of work hiring up to 70 new employees for a seasonal job, Janssen says it's well worth it when the doors open for the Black Friday rush.

“We really do appreciate every one of them that comes on board,” Janssen said.

Janssen says if a seasonal employee meets their expectations, there's a good chance they will get hired on full time after the holidays.

Target opens at 9 p.m. on Thursday night for Black Friday sales.  You can find more Black Friday resources on the KELOLAND Shops page of KELOLAND.com.