With Christmas just around the corner, retail stores are creating seasonal casual jobs that have potential to develop into permanent sources of income for students.
Stores have already begun hiring casual holiday staff to support them during the festive season and beyond, as many brands encourage staff to stay on and retain a permanent position.
Erina Chesney is the Store Manager at Lovisa Wollongong, and she believes that the Christmas casual programs will benefit students and help them break into the workforce.
“We have a very high retainment rate of Christmas casuals,” Erina said.
“I think last Christmas it was probably 80 per cent of people, or 90 per cent (of) people stayed.
“The internal progression in this company is so great, like coming from a Christmas casual myself, who worked up to a store manager.
“We love keeping people in the store and working them up through the company. It’s a very big thing for us, Christmas casuals, because we love to keep them on,” she continued.
With students in Wollongong struggling to find work and support themselves during the cost-of-living crisis, these casual jobs can provide a lifeline with a future career.
Team member at Seed, Georgia Bourke said that despite being casual work, there are long term gains for students.
“It’s a really good opportunity, retail is so hard to get into and these casual jobs really open the door for you,” Georgia said.
“It’s so hard to find a job at the moment, with cost of living and all that, everyone is looking – I think the thing about Christmas casuals is that even though it’s supposedly just temporary you’re likely to get a real job out of it.”
Opportunities in the Christmas workforce continue to arise, with Wollongong brands such as Lovisa, Tree of Life and Glue still looking for staff members to join their team during the holiday season.