Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, plans to hire 135 salespeople in Honolulu as part of a nationwide push to add 80,000 workers for the spring selling season, the company announced Wednesday.
The company is encouraging students, retirees, veterans and reservists to apply.
"For veterans and reservists interested in employment, The Home Depot’s online military skills translator can help match unique military skills to positions within the company," according to a news release from the company.
Candidates can apply online at careers.homedepot.com.
The retail sector has been a significant contributor to Hawaii’s job growth over the past several years. Since the end of 2010, Hawaii retailers have added nearly 4,000 workers, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The 80,000 seasonal workers is the same number of part-time workers Home Depot hired for its busiest sales season in 2013.
Spring is when Americans traditionally spend more to fix up their homes, Tim Crow, executive vice president of human resources for the Atlanta-based chain, said by phone. The 80,000 matches the company’s seasonal hires for last year and for 2012, he said.
"Spring is our Christmas," Crow said. "After a winter like we’re having this year, everyone will be excited to get outdoors."
Home Depot, which has almost 2,000 stores in the U.S., is adding workers as it benefits from surging home values in the past two years that have encouraged owners to spend on their properties. The chain’s sales gained 9.4 percent to $79.4 billion in the 12 months through Nov. 3.
Home Depot is adding workers to run cash registers and help customers in its garden centers and on the sales floor, said Crow, who declined to discuss revenue projections for the season. Thousands of the seasonal hires are likely to stay beyond the spring after about half were promoted to permanent positions last year, he said. The chain had 340,000 employees as of Feb. 2, 2013.
One new part of this year’s hiring will focus on training workers to use the retailer’s mobile shopping application to improve customer service, Crow said. Associates will use the app to locate products and also recommend items from its website that aren’t found in stores.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
