ROANOKE TIMES  
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996              TAG: 9611080023
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: 1    EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
      Published correction ran on NOvember 10, 1996.
         A chart about holiday jobs in today's Business ection, which was 
      printed in advance, reports the number of area jobs from July 1995 
      through January 1996. One figure, for December 1995, is incorrect. It 
      should be 28,479 jobs.

WANTED: WORKERS FOR THE HOLIDAY

"You should work here this holiday season," says a flier from Bath & Body Works. "You obviously have great taste."

At the Valley View Mall store, clerks are slipping the come-on into bags with customers' purchases.

You could hardly blame Bath & Body Works for fawning. Retailers' search for holiday help won't be easy this year, even with clever fliers, generous employee discounts on merchandise and higher wages.

More than 98 percent of people who want to work have a job, state government figures show.

But area retailers need thousands of extra workers in the next few months to run cash registers, wrap gifts and restock shelves. It's what one store manager called an "anxious ... time of year."

Those who want a seasonal job will find a superstore of opportunities.

By the time shopping season gets in full gear, an estimated 2,000 temporary retail jobs will be filled in Roanoke and Salem, and in Roanoke and Botetourt counties, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

"I have hours from 10 to 3. I have hours from 9 to 5, and then I have hours from 5 to closing," said Barbara McLaughlin, human resource officer at Toys 'R' Us in Roanoke, which last week was in the process of hiring 90 workers.

Stores aren't the only ones looking for help at this time of year. Malls are looking for Santa Clauses and some municipalities need leaf-baggers.

In the New River Valley, retailers are thankful for a large nearby population of college students because the stores often manage to hire some students who are willing to work even as they prepare for exams at the end of the fall semester, said Perry Cole, interview supervisor at the Radford VEC office. They have a reputation as good workers, Cole said.

But in the Roanoke Valley, stores can't depend as much on college students. The base of resident students is smaller and those returning home for Christmas break arrive too late to be of much use to stores, said Jerry Barnett, assistant manager of the Roanoke VEC office.

Tom Tyree, who manages the Leggett store at Valley View Mall, saves about a dozen openings for college students who have been good holiday employees in the past. Finding people for about 15 other jobs has progressed slowly. Tyree said applicants often lack the skills and personal characteristics suited to work in his department store.

"We always get anxious this time of year," he said. "It's very difficult to hire the quality people that stores are looking for."

The number and quality of applicants for any job is determined in large part by the going wage. Pay for retail clerks in the Roanoke Valley runs from $5 to $6.25 an hour, Barnett said. That is less than a third the region's average wage. Few seasonal workers receive any benefits.

But Ann Ward, district manager for the Manpower temporary services agency, said this year's retail jobs pay an average of $1 per hour more than last year.

Merchandise discounts also may sweeten the deal. Cathie Shelor, who manages MJDesigns, a craft- and party-supply store in Roanoke, said her worker discount of 25 percent on all purchases is the biggest reason some employees hire on for the holidays.

LENGTH: Medium:   68 lines
ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC:  Chart by staff: Holiday jobs. color.