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Macy’s is giving bonuses to employees who refer new hires to the store.

Radio Shack has begun offering store discounts to seasonal employees for the first time.

And at some Sears stores, there are weekly brainstorming sessions to help drum up new avenues for recruiting.

With unemployment levels at an all-time low, companies in the market for temporary workers are finding that good help is hard to find, and they’re turning to new recruiting methods and enticing incentives to boost their ranks for the holiday season.

“People aren’t walking in the doors like they used to,” said George Berger, vice president of human resources for Tandy Corp., the Fort Worth company that operates the Radio Shack chain. “You have to do 25 things at the same time to produce prospects for employment. That’s a challenge.”

Between July and September, the state’s Employment Development Department Web site logged 289,645 new job orders, but only 172,008 new job seekers registered with the agency during that period. “It shows you that jobs are coming in faster than applicants,” said Tom Neuberger, regional manager for the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.

In years past, employers looking for seasonal help have been able to draw on a base of experienced workers who were between jobs and hungry for temporary positions. But this year, the average length of unemployment claims is down to seven weeks.

“It’s almost an historic low for California,” Neuberger added. “As the unemployment rate gets lower, you’re going to have a higher percentage of new (inexperienced) employees.”

Last year, employers came to a Panorama Mall community job fair with about 3,000 openings; this year, there were 11,000 jobs. Louise Marquez, general manager at Panorama Mall, said she filled all the available exhibitor slots a month ahead of schedule and had to turn other employers away.

Besides facing a larger pool of inexperienced workers, employers must also deal with applicants who are not schooled in what’s appropriate for the working world. At the Panorama Mall job fair, a number of young women were clad in shorts and skimpy T-shirts, with tattoos emblazoned across their chests and arms. Employment-agency counselors say they see applicants with skirts too tight and too short, nose rings, and hair that looks stringy and dirty.

“It’s just not acceptable, at least when you go on an interview,” said Rosemarie Wolff, president of Royal Staffing Services, an employment agency in Sherman Oaks.

Recruiters say that in an economy with nearly full employment, those seeking temporary work may be poorly motivated. It’s not uncommon for temporary employees to fail to report to assignments or to arrive late. In one case at Royal Staffing, a temporary worker accepted an assignment, then called to say she forgot about her trip to Hawaii.

In another case, a young man who made an appointment to apply for temporary work did not show up for his interview. When he called for another interview several weeks later, he was asked why he never canceled his earlier appointment. His response? He had memory problems.

“The people we’re seeing now are the ones who don’t care if they get a job or not,” said Wolff. “In the temporary business, it happens all the time, but it’s more so now.”

Aware that many of the best employees are seeking full-time work, United Parcel Service is in a partnership with retail stores that also seek part-timers. The idea is for a single employee to secure two part-time posts that add up to full-time work.

Radio Shack is offering store discounts to temporary employees, a benefit that was previously only available to permanent workers. And Macy’s, which has traditionally offered a store discount to seasonal workers, is extending those benefits to employees’ friends and families as well.

But first, employers have to find workers, and in a tight labor market they are leaving no stone unturned.

“We try everything,” said Diana Trop, human resources specialist at Sears marketing center. “We’re constantly brainstorming, talking to career counselors at schools, putting the word out to marketing students and groups with single parents or widowed moms who are looking to get back into the workforce.”

Universal Studios Hollywood, which hires seasonal food preparation employees, uses cooking schools.

“As recently as two or three years ago, our primary source of candidates was through open recruitment ads,” said Diana Rea, director of human resources for Universal Studios Hollywood. “But when employment is higher, there’s a greater risk that you’re not going to have the same draw. So the idea is to go to your more steady stream of candidates.”

Employers like Radio Shack and Macy’s say their own employees and customers often prove to be the best sources for job candidates. Radio Shack uses its sales flyers to let customers know of job opportunities, and it holds in-store recruiting promotions to encourage friends and family members to apply for jobs.

Last year, Macy’s West introduced an 800 number that applicants can call to get an overview of the store’s hiring needs and undergo an initial screening. Potential sales associates are asked to answer questions about their computer literacy, past and current work performance and their availability, among other questions.

This year, the company kicked off its recruiting drive with a contest to help encourage employees to mention holiday jobs to their friends and families. “We came up with a few creative solutions, but it took some careful planning and strategic thinking,” said Merle Goldstone, spokesman for Macy’s West.

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