The labor market is starting to perk up, and just in time for indoor tanning businesses. It’s been a tough year for staffing for U.S. businesses of all types, but the latest U.S. Labor Department job report statistics indicate that we’re headed in the right direction. That’s welcome news for tanning businesses that will soon need more employees for prime tanning season.

Anecdotal evidence from salons we’ve talked to also seems to back the findings of the latest job report as it applies to the tanning industry.

“It was horrible at first. It was very difficult to find someone when they could make more from unemployment than having a job. But in May here in Wisconsin you had to start looking for jobs and proving you’re interviewing. That helped the people currently working with us from just quitting. In September, the additional federal funds washed up and now we’re actually seeing more applications coming in than we have had in the last year and a half,” says Sunseekers by Rosie General Manager Scott Nichols. “We have a good mix right now of people wanting to leave their current job looking for a new job and some that didn’t work before.”

But that’s not to say that hiring and retaining quality staff members isn’t still more difficult than usual right now. Salons that are having success with hiring are enhancing their efforts and using more innovative techniques to do so.

“We’ve tried really hard to stay out in front of the hiring process so if you think you need two people, hire three or four and, and sometimes they won’t all make it through training,” says Desteny Tonche, GM of Pacific Tan in Michigan.

Filling your seasonal staff with quality workers this year will depend on presenting an attractive image of your workplace, promoting earning opportunities, selecting the right people, and following through on all your promises once hires are made.

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.