"Being the holidays, it's kind of a time to prove yourself worthy of staying," says Lauren Ringle.
And she did just that. Lauren started at Stephenson's in Elkhart for the holidays, so did Laci Kraus.
"I went into it thinking it was going to be kind of a temporary thing, but I was hoping maybe I'll hang in there," says Laci.
Both Laci and Lauren did hang in there, turning their seasonal jobs into permanent ones.
"You never know how long it's going to last," says Laci.
"It was a good feeling to know I could stay past the holidays," says Lauren.
At Target in Mishawaka, Team Leader, Bryan Schiff says they're trying to keep holiday employees on board too. "It's a trial period if you will. At the end of the season, if they've done a great job, I'm going to do everything as a store manager to have a spot available for them."
He says they do most of their hirings during the holidays and many of those workers DO become permanent. "Our goal is to keep any team member who is of value to us. So any team member who shows through the holiday season that they're a good worker, they're punctual, they show up and they learn our business, we try to create a spot for them."
Which IUSB economics professor Hong Zhuang says is a good sign. "When firms are willing to hire permanent workers, that's an indication that they have enough demand."
No matter how good a worker is, she says employees won't keep them on board if business is bad. "It builds, sends signals that the economy is getting stronger so that's encouraging news to the rest of the workers out there looking for jobs."
It's too early to tell if what happened to Lauren and Laci is an exception or the rule. Economists are hoping it's a sign of a larger hiring trend.
