Good help is hard to find
Shops hunt for workers as new wing of Natick mall nears opening
Staffing a brand-new store is tough enough.
Try recruiting at the same time as 100 other nearby stores -- including giants like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus -- all angling to hire the same top sales associates from one area. Then try to do it without having an actual store to show potential employees.
"It's hard when we're outside of our venue," said Dawn Sereda, store manager of Brighton Collectibles at Burlington Mall. She'll be the manager of a new Brighton Collectibles store at Natick Collection when it opens Friday with the mall expansion.
"We're all drawing from the same well" of potential employees, she said. "There are names out there everybody knows and are attracted to."
She rattles off popular store brands like Tommy Bahama, Tiffany's, and Nordstrom.
"These are names they see at other locations and have been following for years," Sereda said. "It's really hard to compete with that."
Two years after construction on its 550,000-square-foot expansion began, Natick Collection, formerly Natick Mall, is set to open its new luxury wing and Nordstrom department store on Friday. About 70 percent of the 98 stores planned for the new wing will open their doors that day, said Jim Grant, vice president of development for mall owner General Growth Properties. Neiman Marcus plans to open Sept. 15, and most of the new stores are expected to be up and running by the holiday shopping season.
"It's like an ant farm in there right now," Grant said of the last-minute construction in the new digs. "There are store employees merchandising and stocking. We've still got contractors working, too."
Grant said he is confident the mall will be gleaming for shoppers getting their first look at the expansion.
Much of the remaining responsibility falls on the shop owners, most of whom will be doing the bulk of their preparation in the four days that remain before the grand opening.
Cross, the well-known maker of executive pens, which has retail stores in Harvard Square and at Chestnut Hill Mall, is closing its Chestnut Hill store and opening in Natick Collection with a new look and new products.
"I am very fortunate in that I have three great people transitioning over there," said Sandy Sidoti, operations manager for Cross retail stores. "If I had to start from scratch it would have been a tremendous challenge."
Still, finding good employees in this environment is a chore, she said.
"I know the mall is trying to help, but quite honestly, what's left there in terms of selecting candidates is very slim. It is a major challenge when you have not only the pressure of 100 new stores but also when you're scrambling to go into the holiday season. Finding qualified staff members -- or staff members you can train to be qualified -- is always a challenge in the fourth quarter, so this on top of it has really put the challenge on retail."
The mall, which typically takes a hands-off approach to the operations of individual stores, has tried to help with hiring. It has produced a pair of job fairs, and also posts job listings on its website, natickcollection.com. The mall also is allowing a couple of stores each day to set up tables in the food court to hand out applications and interview potential workers.
Several recruiters said they were grateful for the job fairs, but that the events mostly attracted job-seekers snagging stacks full of applications. The cattle call did not bring in the more sophisticated sales whizzes many stores were looking for.
Store recruiters said that to find managers and assistant managers, they depend on sites like Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com. And for front-line sales people, recruiting on college campuses is a good bet.
There's also a more aggressive approach called "shopping people." Recruiters visit stores that sell merchandise similar to their own and discreetly hand out business cards to workers who show exceptional salesmanship.
Madewell, a women's apparel store, is leaning on the familiarity of its parent company, J. Crew. The Natick store will be its first in New England.
"We went out and networked over at Atrium [Mall] and Copley [Place] and tried to get familiar with the area," said Melissa Reed, district manager for Madewell.
"It is a challenge with a place like Nordstrom that has a lot of positions to fill," she said.
Reed said that by scouting other fashion boutiques and well-regarded retailers, the Natick Collection Madewell store is fully staffed.
Sereda said she was still looking for a few employees during a telephone interview last week. She's pinning her hopes on people who already have a connection to the store: her own customers.
"We do a lot of networking through our customers," she said. "We have people who shop at our store in Burlington who are from around the Natick area. We've been letting them know we'll be opening in Natick, and [asked] if they know any people who may be interested in part-time employment. It's about being passionate about our brand, so if they're passionate, they're going to make the customers passionate."
It all adds up to hundreds of potentially unseasoned employees guiding wide-eyed mall patrons through an unfamiliar place during the high-profile grand opening weekend.
"I hope they would have patience," said Grant, of General Growth Properties. "We're going to be getting our legs under ourselves, too, just as they are learning the mall. I hope they'll have patience with us getting whatever wrinkles we have ironed out that day."
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com. 