Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) is again gearing up for the spring season, its busiest selling period, with plans to hire about 450 employees in the Charlotte area stores, per sources. The company operates nearly 13 stores in the area. This hiring follows the company’s announcement made in the last week to take aboard 700 people in the Tampa Bay area over the next few months.
Notably, Home Depot hires regularly to fulfill requirements of seasonal and permanent positions. The company currently has an employee base of nearly 400,000, operating across 2,286 stores in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.
Spring season hiring is customary for this home improvement biggie as the onset of warmer weather brings people out of their homes, concentrating on gardening, lawns and other home improvement outdoor projects. Consequently, the demand for garden and lawn equipment, portico furniture and other home décor-related products are usually at its peak during this season.
Coming back to the hiring, interested candidates in the Charlotte area may use Home Depot’s 15-minute application or even text the company to begin the application process. Home Depot is accepting applications for various positions — including sales employees, cashiers, operations personnel and online order-fulfillment staff to make the most of the spring season. These positions comprise both permanent part-time and seasonal job openings.
In 2017, Home Depot rolled out a 15-minute application, Mobile Apply and Text-to-Apply facilities, easing the job application process, which reflected 50% increase in job applications. The company states that nearly 50% of the seasonal jobs generally transition into permanent jobs at Home Depot.
Notably, Home Depot’s arch-rival Lowe's Companies (NYSE:LOW) also announced its second National Hiring Day to hire over 50,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees in its more than 1,700 U.S. stores to make the spring season more profitable. As part of the event, Lowe’s will hire about 1,200 employees in the Charlotte area. The company currently employs more than 240,000 people in its U.S. stores.
We note that hiring plans had little impact on Home Depot’s stock price, which has improved 1.6% yesterday. However, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has outperformed the industry in the past month. The company’s shares have gained 6.8% while the industry grew 5.6%.
We look forward to the company’s fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 earnings release on Feb 26.
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