UPS is planning a massive push to bring on seasonal workers, announcing plans to hire 100,000 people to keep up with demand. And to achieve that goal, the delivery service will host nearly 170 job fairs around the country on Friday, Oct. 19.
Dubbing the day “Brown Friday,” UPS will meet directly with job seekers and expects to hire thousands of employees immediately. (The company doesn’t expect to hire all 100,000 seasonal employees at the fairs.)
The 100,000 figure, which UPS announced in mid-September, is a slight uptick from previous years. In 2016 and 2017, for example, the company hired 95,000 seasonal employees.
The jobs, while temporary, allow some people to get their foot in the door at the company. Over the last three years, 35% of UPS’s seasonal hires were given a permanent position when the holidays were over.
Many of the open positions are to staff temporary facilities UPS creates for the holiday rush. The company is looking for package handlers, drivers and driver-helpers. During the holiday season, the daily package volume at UPS reaches as high as 40 million packages per day.
Peak season begins on Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in November, and runs through to early January when there is a large wave of returns by package after Christmas.