ASHEVILLE – With leaf season over and Thanksgiving almost here, holiday shopping has begun. Simultaneously, holiday hiring is in full swing.
Earlier this year, larger seasonal employers announced the expectation to hire thousands of new employees for seasonal work across the country. In a September news release, Target announced it expected to hire nearly 100,000 for the holiday season. A week later, UPS announced the same. Both major employers are hiring in the Asheville area.
Yet, many local and regional businesses are still looking for seasonal employees — or even just those interested in applying.
Mast General Store on Biltmore Avenue ― a longtime downtown fixture and retailer of outdoor gear, apparel and other goods ― is an example, where general manager Joey Fuseler said seasonal positions are currently opening for hiring, but may not be for long as time for training is scarce during the busy season
“In August, we typically start trying to look for those fall hires, as we get busy in October, November and December, just a big quarter for us,” Fuseler said. “And then the flip side of that is me telling you: we’re about to take the job postings down even though we’re not fully staffed.”
Fuseler said that pay is “competitive” and comes with benefits like an employee discount. The biggest aspects in getting hired seasonally are availability and experience.
“If somebody really wants a job here, they need open availability and retail experience. Those are the two number ones,” Fuseler said. “Weekends are our busiest times. If there isn’t a full open availability on the weekends — that’s a pretty hard thing to overlook.”
While some may get excited by a Starbucks holiday red cup, options to work for other locally owned cafes are available.
Grind AVL is a Black-owned coffee bar and coworking event space founded at 346 Depot St. in the River Arts District. Founded by local entrepreneur, J. Hackett, Grind partners with Black Wall Street AVL — a business incubator that has now connected with over 110 local business owners who are Black, Indigenous or a people of color.
Grind AVL general manager Mark Bollt said the location is open to hiring temporarily seasonally and long-term.
“Sometimes it’ll be a college student and they’ll say, ‘I’m just needing a few months,'” Bollt said. “We hired somebody once that was qualified — that was experienced — and that helped us get through the summer, knowing that come the fall, they had to go back to school.”
Instead, aspects of hiring are rooted in character and alignment with the mission of Black Wall Street, Bollt said.
“When I hire people, I just look for integrity, authenticity, presence, humility — people that aren’t here just to punch a clock,” Bollt said.
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While job application services like Indeed are available online, other options are also available to in search of their next position — with some being designed to emphasize local positions in the area.
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Career Coach program is a public tool focused on finding local, Asheville jobs, while also providing data on “job outlook, employment numbers, wages, job postings, related careers, and customized demographics with associated education requirements,” according to the A-B Tech website. The portal offers both full-time and part-time job options.
Heather Pack, director of Student Support Services at A-B Tech, said that the goal of the service is to provide opportunities for locally-focused businesses and those who want to remain in Asheville while keeping a good job.
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“I mean thinking of us as a whole community — not just a student body,” Pack said. “You know, most of our students are our local residents. And they have families that are also trying to make it you know, trying to make it work, and maybe having a career change, or maybe needed a new job for whatever reason.”
Park said the program selectively chooses to work with companies that emphasize locally-based jobs.
“You don’t need any other special passwords or anything to get into it,” Pack said. “It’s just there for our students, for their families, for our community.”
You can learn more about A-B Tech’s career coach program at https://abtech.edu/career-services/career-coach.
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Many positions are available online using services like Indeed or A-B Tech’s Career Coach portal. Here are a few options from both local and national companies:
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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him atWHofmann@citizentimes.com.
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