From cashiers to costumed characters, a plethora of seasonal jobs at stores wait to be filled again this year.

Holiday shopping – sometimes considered to include Halloween, but typically more concentrated on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s – always means stores will be busy and will need more hands on deck. 

Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg didn’t have specific information on either of Bowling Green’s Wal-Mart stores, but he said Wal-Mart stores started hiring for the holidays last month and will continue through the Christmas season. The company plans nationally to hire more than 60,000 employees, which is about 5,000 more than the company hired last year.

“We want to make sure we have the right number of people in our stores,” Lundberg said.

In addition to cashiers and people who will dress up in character costumes, some stores also hire security or loss prevention officers, store ambassadors, customer service representatives and in-store demonstration personnel, according to career-advice.monster.com.

Large retailers like Target and Wal-Mart are the best places to start looking for seasonal employment, but job seekers shouldn’t be opposed to looking at places other than retail, according to monster.com.

Evan Lapiska, senior specialist for Target’s public relations, said in an email that the company doesn’t have breakdowns of how many seasonal employees each store will hire, but Target as a whole will hire 70,000 people for the holidays.

Shandra Tollefson, spokeswoman for Kentucky Best Buy stores, said via email that many part-time employees will be given the opportunity to work more hours during the holiday season and the store will also be hiring occasional/seasonal employees.

“We have started holiday hiring and have a number of positions that are still available,” Tollefson said in the email. “Occasional/seasonal employees typically start working between late October or early November and are employed through mid-January. In addition, there are several permanent staff roles available in Best Buy Mobile, Geek Squad and Computing.”

Monster.com urged applicants to determine if they’re particularly suited for a certain position, such as jobs that involve heavy lifting.

Applicants should be flexible regarding hours and the type of work they’re willing to do, since those can change throughout the season. If applicants are interested in permanent employment, they should make that clear from the beginning and ask employers how they can pursue that.

Lundberg, Lapiska and Tollefson all said permanent employment is possible at their companies.

“We tend to see about 25 percent of them stay on in a permanent role after the holidays,” Lundberg said. He added that more than 250 Wal-Mart store managers started as seasonal associates.

Whether an employee is looking for extra money for Christmas presents or trying to nab a permanent position, Lundberg said there are “opportunities for folks to do both.”

Showing calmness and a good attitude during the stressful holiday season among stressed customers and co-workers helps seasonal employees prove themselves on the job, according to monster.com.

Some stores – like Hobby Lobby – have already put out Christmas displays. Lundberg said people can expect to see holiday displays in Wal-Mart stores at the beginning of November.

“It’s not really about being early, but it’s about being ready when the customers are ready to start their shopping,” Lundberg said.

Applications for seasonal jobs at Wal-Mart and Target can be found online at jobs.walmart.com/search/seasonal and jobs.target.com/article/seasonal, respectively, or at the stores. Applications for permanent jobs can be found at careers.walmart.com and target.com/careers. Both seasonal and permanent jobs at Best Buy can be found at bestbuy-jobs.com.

— Follow business beat reporter Monica Spees on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.