Have you recently been laid off? Has your job disappeared as restaurants, bars, and retail shops closed? You aren’t alone. Unemployment in the U.S. is currently skyrocketing, with Florida Today reporting the number of unemployment claims climbing by 70,000 in March 2020 alone¹. That’s the highest unemployment has been since 2017².
Although people everywhere are losing their jobs at a rapid rate, there is some good news. Certain services and industries do need workers – and they need them right now.
Billion Photos / ShutterstockIf you’re looking for work, a number of industries are actively seeking new workers. Here are a few industries you need to check out, and a number of employers who are looking to hire employees.
Retail
While retail can be a fickle industry with plenty of ups and downs, stores of all kinds constantly need new employees. Retail shops often hire during periods of high consumer spending – and right now, certain types of stores are seeing their business boom
A number of popular retail stores are looking for new workers as a result. Retailers with a wide selection of items, including household necessities, are those who are on hiring sprees right now. Check out the following retailers if you’re looking for work:
Walmart: Walmart is looking to hire 150,000 workers for full-time, part-time, and temporary positions³. The company is hiring at its distribution and fulfillment centers across the country, thanks to an increase in online orders. The Walmart website states that applicants can get hired and begin working jobs in as quickly as 24 hours⁴.
CVS: CVS stores, as well as CVS Health, are looking to hire 50,000 workers⁵. Open positions include home delivery drivers, customer service representatives, and staff in stores and distribution centers.
Walgreens: Walgreens is looking to hire both full-time and part-time employees for 9,500 available job openings⁶. Available positions include openings for customer service representatives, pharmacy technicians, and shift leads across the country.
Grocery Stores
As the demand for everyday necessities and groceries continues to grow, grocery stores are looking to add to their ranks. Workers are needed for every aspect of running a grocery store, from stocking shelves to bagging groceries to overseeing shifts.
And grocery stores in general are hiring quickly. In March 2020, grocery stores are looking to hire more than 2,000 additional employees in New York alone⁷. With solid wages, a grocery store position can be the perfect part-time – or even full-time – role.
According to Newsweek, the following grocery stores are looking to hire right now⁸:
- Albertson’s, which is hiring for retail, pharmacy, supply chain, and corporate positions across its many brands and chains of stores.
- Cosentino’s, which includes store brands like Price Choppers, Apple Markets, and Sun Fresh.
- Kroger, which is hiring for vacancies at all of its chains including Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Pick ‘n Save, Ralph’s, Smith’s Food & Drug, and more.
- Safeway, which has openings under the Albertson’s umbrella of stores and chains.
Food and Grocery Delivery
Thanks to the internet, food and grocery delivery services have been growing rapidly in recent years. And as more people begin working from home or looking for ways to enjoy food from their favorite restaurants, increasingly more delivery drivers will be needed to meet the demand.
You can find work via the very same apps you use to order takeout and delivery. Some of the most popular food and delivery services are seeing increased demand, which means they need new workers ASAP.
Here are just a few of the delivery services hiring workers who want to pick up flexible hours and shifts:
Instacart: The grocery delivery service, which sends shoppers to local stores to shop and deliver customers’ orders, is looking to hire hundreds of thousands of workers, or at least 300,000 full-service shoppers over the next three months⁹. Over a longer span of time, Instacart is hoping to double its available shoppers.
Papa John’s: One thing is certain – people love pizza, and they always need pizza delivery services. Papa John’s is planning to hire 20,000 new employees in the coming months10. And the company is looking for new hires to start working as soon as possible.
Pizza Hut: Like Papa John’s, pizza delivery staple Pizza Hut is looking to expand its workforce. The chain is hoping to hire more than 30,000 new employees across America, and workers are able to begin making pizza deliveries in as soon as five hours once they’ve been hired11.
In addition to these delivery options, you can also check for gig work available through other delivery services like Postmates, Uber Eats, and GrubHub. These services, which pick up food from local restaurants, are seeking employees who can deliver food all across the country.
Distribution and Delivery
More and more people are placing orders for goods online. And that’s leaving companies everywhere hustling to fill and deliver those orders as quickly as possible, without delays.
One of the best-known retailers in the world is looking for more help to fill all of these urgent orders. Amazon announced on March 16, 2020 that the company needs to hire 100,000 new full-time and part-time employees12. These positions are available both at local Amazon distribution centers and across America as delivery drivers.
In addition to hiring new employees, Amazon is also offering incentives for anyone who’d like to join its rank. Pay is increasing by $2 per hour for existing employees, which could lead to potential higher wages for new hires too13.
Check Amazon’s website to see which kinds of jobs are available in your local area. Delivery drivers are needed in all areas. And Amazon does offer work-from-home positions at times in various lines of business, so you may find additional options suited to your skills.
Search for Other Job Openings Online
If you’ve recently lost your job or have started a search for new work, there’s potentially no better time than right now to find something. Certain industries are hiring – and they’re hiring large numbers of workers as quickly as possible.
The industries mentioned here are some of the most in demand right now. So, if you’re hoping to pick up a part-time or full-time job, you’ll want to check out these possibilities. With companies looking to hire thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of people, you can begin applying and searching for positions in your area right now.
