Even before her seasonal telemarketing job starts, Sandy Albright’s voice is hoarse from her other job — calling unemployed people to see if they’ve found jobs since registering for unemployment benefits.
“Last week I was calling June applicants; right now I’m calling July applicants,” Albright said. “I would say roughly in every 300 calls, I find about five employed.”
Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, said twice as many Iowans are receiving unemployment benefits as this time last year.
Those large numbers translate into double the normal applications for temporary jobs during the holiday season.
Omaha Steaks had 1,600 applications as of mid-October, compared with 700 last year, said spokeswoman Beth Weiss.
Scott Werth, a sales manager for the Buckle, estimates that the teen clothing chain’s four Omaha-area stores already have received about 30 percent more applications than a year ago.
“This year it seems like it’s about two weeks early,” he said. “It seems there are more people out there looking for part-time jobs, which will help the talent pool.”
Albright is lucky. The 41-year-old single mother of four daughters will return in a few weeks for her 15th holiday season at Omaha Steaks, where she will work as an inbound telemarketing representative.
She has been looking for a full-time job in the medical field since May, when she completed Metropolitan Community College’s certificate program for coding and billing.
Although Albright said making calls for the Nebraska Department of Labor to unemployed people is “depressing,” she keeps a positive attitude and tells them about upcoming job fairs and available computers and other resources at the Career Center.
She returns to Omaha Steaks each holiday season because she enjoys the work and gets a bonus for returning.
But this year, the economy has made her especially appreciative to have the job and some of its benefits, like a discount that helps her stock the family’s freezer.
“We get a very generous discount program through working there for our family, so that helps us with food costs.”
Contact the writer:
444-1183, christine.laue@owh.com
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