Story #2 - Special Lead

Stand Out, Get Hired

Have you noticed the number of people looking to land that one great summer job? Now that school is over, many college students have put away the books, hoping to replace them with a steady paycheck.

But why is finding a job so difficult in the Pullman/Moscow area?

“There is just not enough business for people to hire more employees in this small area,” said Brya Palmer, the assistant manager at Vanity.

The Pullman/Moscow area has a combined population of almost 50,000 residents as reported in July 2008 according to city-data.com. There is an abundance of people to work, but stores like Vanity and Zumiez only staff between 8-13 people. Job hunters feel the pressure and frustration in finding a way to stand out among the many.

The frustration isn’t just for those looking for jobs. Employers receive applications even when they aren’t hiring and have to narrow down the possible future applicants. They also see many mistakes made that they say could be avoided to land that better job.

“We get a two to three applications a day,” said Lacey Watland, the assistant manager at Zumiez. “It’s important to know you need to make a good first impression and find a way to stand out against all the other applicants.

“We don’t want to see people coming in wearing a hat and sweatshirt. It’s unprofessional. You got to be friendly and persistent. If an applicant keeps coming back to check on their application, it shows us they really want to be hired.”

Palmer said she finds it odd when people come in to apply with groups of friends and boyfriends or girlfriends.

“It’s just not professional,” she said.

The importance of a first impression is no secret in the world of job hunting. Meagan Ruff, 20-year-old Pullman resident, said she has been job hunting for five weeks and submitted about 50 applications

“It’s very important with the way you dress and carry yourself when making a first impression,” said Ruff. “As an employee you are a reflection of your employers.”

The resume may not be critical in the overall hiring process. Some businesses rely more on interviewing and getting to know the person beyond the application.

“We never consider the amount of education a person has when they apply,” said Sara Cody, the assistant manager at Buckle. “A first impression is always important, but is not the end all be all. We look for people willing to work and keep up with our work pace.”

Cody said they are always working around employees school schedules since about 90 percent of their staff are students and they look for people with a competitive drive who are willing to come and do the work. This drive varies person to person.

“Some are really into working, some aren’t,” Palmer said. “It’s frustrating to hire people who don’t want to take it seriously or always cancel their shift and come in hungover.”

An outgoing approach to customer service is an advantage to get one step ahead of the competition. Palmer, Cody and Watland all said they feel that in the end personality will win over experience.

“You got to be friendly,” said Watland. “We can always teach someone how to sell and give them good experience, but in order to fully succeed in sales you need an outgoing personality.”

The only disadvantage Palmer, Cody and Watland could see in hiring students is they are limited in their schedule since classes are set for each semester.

“Students don’t have flexible time frames during school,” said Cody. “That makes scheduling tough, but college students have also shown to be aggressive, hard working, well educated and have a lot of common sense when interacting with customers.”

The retail motto that the customer is always right reflects on the customer service provided. Cody, Palmer and Watland all said they work around school schedules with their employees, but need to be met in the middle.

“Be serious,” said Palmer. “It’s really frustrating to have college students not taking this job seriously and that’s when we get turned off to hiring them.”