Biggest festive retail recruiters revealed amid record-breaking job search figures

Indeed defines seasonal job postings as any including one or more holiday-related terms, such as ‘holiday’ or ‘seasonal’ in the name. The data is correct as of October 3, 2025.

Despite the number of festive job postings also increasing by double digits (16%) year on year, Indeed said that “demand for festive roles is outpacing supply”. Around 0.8% of searches on Indeed in early October were for festive roles, but they represented 0.6% of all UK vacancies on the site. 

“For many, seasonal jobs are becoming a way to bridge the gap between longer-term opportunities, particularly as the wider jobs market remains subdued,” said Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed. 

Last month, the John Lewis Partnership announced its biggest golden quarter recruitment drive ever, saying it was looking to hire 13,700 workers for the season across John Lewis and Waitrose. In early October, Sainsbury’s said it was hoping to fill 19,000 roles at Sainsbury’s and Argos, while Boots said it was looking for 6,000 seasonal staff. 

Retailers unsurprisingly dominate the list of all companies ranked by volume of Christmas job postings on Indeed.com so far. In first position was greetings card specialist Card Factory, which recently predicted “strong trading” during the festive season. Britain’s biggest supermarket retailer Tesco was in second, followed by Boots. The full top 10 is as follows:

The number of payrolled employees fell by 10,000 between August and September, according to Office for National Statistics figures released this week. Separate ONS data showed vacancies were down by 9,000 in the three months to September 2025, compared to the previous quarter. Still, the rate of decline is slower in both metrics was slower than it was earlier in the year. 

“After a long period of weak hiring activity, there are signs that the falls we have seen in both payroll numbers and vacancies are now levelling off,” said Liz McKeown, the ONS director of economic statistics.

Fashion retailer Next has warned of the possible impact of a slow labour market on retail consumption in the second half of 2025. It also recently published its own job figures showing a 72% rise in job applications over the past two years for store, warehouse and contact centre roles, despite a 35% decrease in vacancies.

What seasonal jobs pay

Indeed also published the most in-demand seasonal job titles based on job advertisements. In first position was ‘seasonal associate’, attracting an average salary of £13.15 per hour. ‘Retail sales associate’ ranked third, with pay for those positions advertised at £12.90 per hour on average.

The average salary for roles marked ‘client advisor’, ‘sales associate’ and ‘sales advisor’ meanwhile was £12.21. This is exactly in line with the National Living Wage for adults aged over 21 after a 6.7% rise came into force in April. 

A recent Retail Week study showed that EE was the best paying shop-floor job in retail in 2025, with a base pay level of £13.12 for front line staff in addition to 20% commission if sales targets are hit. Aldi announced in late August that it was upping pay to £13.02 per hour, with staff within the M25 receiving £14.35 per hour.