Who's hiring for Christmas?

Christmas is coming - and retailers and delivery companies are recruiting temporary staff in droves.

And this year, they're finding it harder to attract the people they need. According to job-search site CV-Library, applications are down by nearly a fifth on last year.

"Christmas jobs are critical to the UK retail industry and our data shows that businesses may struggle to attract candidates to their vacancies this festive season," says Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library.

"With jobs on the rise, job hunters have the luxury of being more selective in their applications."

A temporary job can be a great way to boost the Christmas budget, can give you valuable work experience and can often lead to a permanent position. But employers start planning early, and the time to apply is now.

So who's hiring? We suggest some of the biggest seasonal employers, with links to where you can apply.

Sainsburys is one of the country's biggest recruiters at this time of year, and is currently looking for 15,000 staff to work across the UK. As many as 2,000 of these roles could become permanent, it says.

Meanwhile, Ocado wants 1,800 people for permanent jobs starting before Christmas, mostly to work as delivery drivers, although there are vacancies across the board.
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Argos is looking for 9,000 temporary workers this year, on three-month contracts or longer. These will include 8,000 'customer helpers', as well as 1,000 drivers, working on a variety of shift patterns.

John Lewis is taking on 3,000 temporary staff for its retail and distribution operations. They are part-time jobs, although the company says hours could be increased as the big day approaches.

House of Fraser needs 350 extra people, and the Bluewater Shopping Centre plans to take on another 2,000. Next has 8,100 vacancies, looking for sales and stock room assistants.

Halfords is looking for around 500 people nationwide, directing applicants to approach their local store; and Currys and PC World have around 2,400 Christmas jobs available.

Unsurprisingly, Toys R Us experiences quite a rush at this time of year, and is looking for 2,000 extra staff. It says hopefuls should contact their local store.

Aldi is in the process of hiring more than 6,400 permanent staff. It has vacancies at nearly all its stores, including senior positions. Similarly, Lidl has 5,000 permanent openings, and Poundland needs 1,750.

Like last year and the year before, Boots is looking to fill 7,000 Christmas vacancies. About a quarter will be at the company's service hub in Burton upon Trent, with the rest spread out across the company's network of stores and at its customer support centre in Nottingham.

Amazon has 19,000 seasonal positions going in its fulfilment centres across the UK. "As we continue to expand our operations in the UK, we are confident that hundreds of people who join us this Christmas in a seasonal role will have the opportunity to stay on with us on a permanent basis," says vice president of UK operations John Tagawa.

Royal Mail is hiring the same number of people to help handle the Christmas post between mid-November and early January. It has a mix of full- and part-time indoor sorting positions on early, late and night shifts from early November through until 23rd December, at a number of sites across the UK. Its express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, is looking for 2,600 people, including drivers.

Meanwhile, Yodel needs 7,000 drivers and support staff. Some drivers will be directly employed, whereas others will be self-employed and will need their own vans. Many positions could be made permanent, the company says.

And rival parcel firm DPD is taking on more than 1,000 extra permanent staff at its new facility at Hinkley in Leicestershire, and is looking to hire them ahead of the Christmas rush.

Coffee chain Costa needs 800 temporary staff, while JD Wetherspoon is after around 2,000 people to work part-time in its bars and kitchens.

Of course, these are just some of the biggest companies to be taking on extra Christmas staff, and ones that mostly allow you to apply online. Many, if not most smaller retailers will be looking for extra hands too - so it's always worth printing off a batch of CVs and taking them round your local shops in person.

Be as flexible as you can, as companies often want staff to work long or unusual hours.

You can also check for Christmas jobs on websites such as CV-Library, Indeed, Total Jobs or Monster - who knows, you could end up as an elf.

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