Home Depot, Lowe's to Hire More Than 133,000 Seasonal Workers for Spring

Home Depot plans to hire more than 80,000 seasonal workers this spring while Lowe's will add more than 53,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal hires, a combined hiring push that tops 133,000 positions as both chains gear up for peak home-improvement demand.

The staffing surge comes as Home Depot operates more than 2,280 stores and employs more than 400,000 people, and Lowe's covers more than 1,700 stores with nearly 250,000 U.S. employees. Lowe's said the spring hiring will include national hiring events, and Home Depot rolled out technology meant to speed interviews and expand its candidate pool.

Home Depot unveiled a new app that lets job-seekers self-schedule interviews after piloting the tool since November. Tim Hourigan, The Home Depot's executive vice president of human resources, said: “Just as we're continuously evolving to meet the changing expectations of our customers, we're harnessing new technologies to do the same for job seekers.” Company officials have said mobile and text-to-apply capabilities expanded their candidate pool by about 50 percent last year.

Lowe's will hold a national hiring day on Feb. 21 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with additional hiring events scheduled into March. Jennifer Weber, Lowe's executive vice president of human resources, said: “Spring is the busiest season for home improvement projects and a great time to launch a new career at Lowe's.” Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb noted that “many people have started as seasonal employees and gone on to have lengthy careers at Lowe's,” and the company points to roughly 200 store managers who began their careers as seasonal hires.

Local hiring plans show the scale of the seasonal boost. In the Volusia-Flagler area of Florida, Home Depot expects to add 200 to 250 seasonal workers across five stores in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Orange City, Palm Coast and Port Orange, and Lowe's anticipates about 156 hires across six local stores. Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes said, “We start hiring as soon as we see spring hitting,” and described seasonal work at the chain as “a great way to get your foot in the door.” Seasonal stints typically run up to 90 days and vary by region; peak selling season for gardening supplies and outdoor projects in Florida generally runs from early March through the end of May.

The push comes amid a tight labor market, unemployment was about 4.1 percent in January, that has made recruiting more competitive. Retailers are responding by expanding digital recruiting tools, sweetening benefits and, in some cases, issuing one-time bonuses. Seasonal roles include cashiers, lawn and garden associates, stockers and loaders, and both chains note that a meaningful share of seasonal workers convert to permanent positions.

For workers, the spring hiring wave means immediate entry-level openings and chances for longer-term roles; for stores, it reflects a heavier reliance on short-term labor supplemented by technology and hiring events to meet seasonal demand. Hiring events and the rollout of self-scheduling tools will determine how quickly stores fill roles ahead of the March-to-May peak.