Retailers Hiring Now for Holiday Jobs

Butler describes the technique as layering in additional staff as sales build up. Retailers are predicting a build-up this year that is similar to the 2001 build-up.

"What's different is that retailers (this year) are adding onto a larger base staff. So in other words over the last four years their staffs have grown," Butler says. "So you're going to see conservative hiring, but more people looking at how they manage that staff differently."

Retailers will do two things in reaction to sales, according to Butler: "They'll add staff either in head count or they'll add hours. They can flex up quite a bit to compensate for a sales trend, using their part-time staff and the seasonal hires."

It's called being prepared. Are you?