BOB MOULESONG

Times Correspondent

Spring -- and a young person's fancy turns to employment.

Seasonal hiring is blooming all over Northwest Indiana and Southeast Chicago.

Employment is ramping up to meet the demand brought about by the changing of the seasons and the changing of priorities.

Tom and Paula Allen are the proprietors of Allen Landscaping, with garden centers in both Highland and Schererville. Tom Allen says he is hiring 30 to 50 seasonal employees as requests come in for landscaping projects and other construction work.

"A lot of people use the spring and summer to do significant upgrades to their yards, patios, and decks," Allen said. "We hire a lot of college students who are home for the summer. This year the projects coming in mean we need to hire a few more than we did last year."

Allen calls his seasonal employees 'gateway' employees.

"This type of work is much different than working at a fast-food joint for the summer," Allen said. "The people who work here will create contacts that can stay with them over their career. They also learn a lot of soft skills that come in handy when they do begin a professional career in their chosen field."

According to statistics available from the Department of Workforce Development, the need for landscapers, laborers and tree-trimmers increases significantly during the spring and summer months.

In addition, the DWD numbers show an increase in clerks for retail as well as hotels/motels. People tend to travel more during the summer months, and tend to shop more when they travel.

According to Fran Liontakis, branch manager of OfficeTeam in Tinley Park, those summer vacations create a seasonal market on their own.

"Many regular employees take their vacations during the summer, when their children are out of school,' Liontakis said. "As a result, many companies contact us for replacement employees to fill in." Those positions include customer service representatives, data entry clerks and general file clerks.

What has become interesting about these type of positions is the number that can be filled by high school students.

"Summer help in the office is no longer just college students who are home," Liontakis said. "We place a lot of high school students in summer jobs based on their computer skill set. With the level of sophistication learned in high school these days, many students are able to step in and perform well as a summer fill-in." Liontakis also stated that call centers experience an increased demand during the spring and summer, as many businesses try to sell products such as vinyl siding and projects such as window replacement.

"This is the time of the year when people do a lot of home improvement," Liontakis said. "Call centers will be busier trying to set up business, and then the construction trades see the increase as people make decisions to go ahead with home improvement projects."

Jobs of interest

The following positions are experiencing increased seasonal demand in the Northwest Indiana/Southeast Chicago area:

-- All landscaping positions

-- All construction positions

-- Call center clerks

-- Customer service representatives

-- General file clerks

-- Data entry clerks

-- Word processors

SOURCE: Robert Half International/OfficeTeam

More seasonal work

Expected seasonal employment increases this spring/summer in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties:

Landscaping supervisors: 3%

Landscape laborers: 6%

Lawn service supervisors: 4%

Lawn service technicians: 6%

Tree trimmers/pruners: 10%

Counter clerks: 3%

Hotel/motel clerks: 2%

Stock clerks: 3%

SOURCE: Hoosiers by the Numbers research data

More online

Indiana Department of Workforce Development: http://www.in.gov/dwd

Hoosiers by the Numbers: http://www.hoosierdata.in.gov

Robert Half / OfficeTeam: http://www.officeteam.com or http://www.rhi.com