17-09-2018
“Every year, we deliver the holidays for millions of customers,” said Jim Barber, chief operating officer. “In order to make that happen, we also deliver thousands of great seasonal jobs at our facilities across the country.”
The full- and part-time seasonal positions – primarily package handlers, drivers and driver-helpers – have long been an entry point for permanent employment at UPS. Many senior UPS executives, including Chief Executive Officer David Abney and other members of the company’s senior leadership team, started their UPS careers as part-time employees.
Over the last three years, 35 percent of the people UPS hired for seasonal package handler jobs were later hired in a permanent position when the holidays were over.
Randy Ervin of Newton, Iowa was a college student looking for a way to earn extra cash when he took a seasonal job as a UPS driver helper in October 1988. On Jan. 31 he’ll retire as a Labor Relations Manager with 30 years of service with the company. “I came to UPS with a motorcycle and a 2-year-old daughter,” Ervin said. “Thirty years later, I’m able to retire with financial security. It’s been a great career. UPS is probably one of the last Fortune 50 companies where you can come in and write your own future.”
Kevin Whitehill of Des Moines, Iowa was a college student when he started a seasonal job as a part-time package handler on his 19th birthday – Nov. 19, 1996. He worked part-time for several years and took advantage of UPS’s tuition reimbursement program to get his degree. Twenty-two years later, he’s an on-road supervisor managing tractor-trailer drivers. “I never intended UPS to be a career,” he said. “I took a job for Christmas. As I moved along, the opportunities were just too good to pass up.”
In many cities across the country, a portion of the seasonal hires are needed to staff temporary facilities that UPS builds just for the seasonal shipping rush, in addition to its permanent package hubs.
Source: UPS