Job seekers, fear not. Many businesses and industries are hiring in the Greater Seattle area. While the Washington state economy has struggled in recent years, like in other states, the variety of industry here means opportunity.
“A lot of industries due to the recession have not been hiring as aggressively, but now you are seeing more across-the-board hiring,” said Margaret Graham, public relations manager of WorkSource, the state-supported organization that lists employment openings and training services for job-seekers.
According to the Employment Security Department, a leader in job creation has been the construction sector, adding 2,400 new positions within recent months. Other sectors that saw growth last spring included professional and business services adding 1,700 new jobs and manufacturing with 1,200 new jobs. Other sectors that enjoyed spikes were professional and business services, warehousing, information, education and health services.
While top Seattle employers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing continue to progressively hire new people, additional opportunities lie in health care, clean technology, manufacturing and retail industries.
The retail and customer-service industries in particular, have provided considerable hiring surges.
KIRO-TV 7 reported that Nordstrom had more than 50 job openings in Western Washington as of May 2011. The Seattlebased company will continue to seek more salespeople for its retail stores as well as chefs for its restaurants. Management jobs at the corporate headquarters will be available, as well.
Other customer service organizations are hiring too, including FedEx which is looking for full-time and part-time service associates and service managers.
Nanny for U is constantly looking to snag new nannies, house keepers, house managers and personal assistants. CleanScapes a company that specializes in keeping property clean, needs crew members. Uwajimaya, the Asian specialty food market is looking for employees too, as well as Verizon Wireless and Sprint.
“The general sentiment is that employment is positive and that employers are out to fill vacancies,” said Brian
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