A dime a dozen

For students looking for Winter Break employment, it's time to start pounding the pavement.

"They just need to get out and beat the bushes, so to speak," said Cathy Collop, workforce development supervisor at the Missouri Career Center. "Contact every employer they can. Be prepared for an interview on the spot. Have a résumé ready."

Collop said students might have trouble finding seasonal employment because it is not always beneficial to the employer to hire someone for only three or four weeks. She said that lately, the Missouri Career Center has not seen more people than normal coming in looking for help with employment.

"A lot of [students] already have positions," she said. "They may have to stay here rather than go home to keep the positions, but as far as finding for just like a four-week period, I think that would be a little bit difficult."

Jobs in retail or restaurants often offer good opportunities for students seeking seasonal employment, but with the economy in a downturn, many of these locations are not hiring at their usual rates.

Target spokesperson Beth Hanson said Target is adjusting its hiring practices according to the needs of individual stores. She said the company bases its current seasonal hiring practices on how busy that particular market is, the size of the store in question and sales projections. Hiring for this holiday season really varies on region, Hanson said, with some regions continuing steadily and others hiring slightly less than in previous years.

"Based on last year, taking that soft sales economy into consideration, our numbers aren't going to be as many as we've hired previously in recent years," Hanson said. "But we're definitely continuing to hire and encourage everyone to apply."

Hanson said Target begins seasonal hiring in October and finishes in January. She said the company tries to make a lot of hires early in the season to better prepare for the major holidays.

Junior Katie Sassenrath said she got the first job she applied for at Bath & Body Works in O'Fallon, Mo.

"As soon as I sent in the application, they called me within a couple days and asked me to set up an interview with them," she said.

Sassenrath said she was hired as a seasonal employee but assumes the company will keep her on if she wants to continue working there. She was nervous about searching for a job because of her past experiences, she said.

"I had trouble finding work over the summer, and just with the economy having trouble lately, I was kind of worried about it," Sassenrath said. "But I was lucky."

According to a survey conducted by Experience, Inc. - an online job search tool for college students - 79 percent of 645 undergraduates, graduate students and young professionals surveyed plan to work during Winter Break. Sixty percent of those respondents said they started the job hunt before November, an increase from only 20 percent last year, according to an Experience, Inc. press release. Despite the early start on the employment search, only 22 percent of respondents said they already had been offered and accepted part- or full-time positions, according to the release.