Has anyone else been getting a flood of 3rd shift offers? I don't do 3rd shift as I am asleep from 12am -4am. Tried it, couldn't stay awake no matter how much coffee I drank. It is sort of scary as the shifts are 8pm to 7am, 9pm to 8am, 9pm to 6 am. They even list that it is very physical work. Kneel 8 hours?!? This is from several different companies. The pay isn't anything to write home about either at $10 to $11. The home improvement one has been out there forever, several companies are now offering it. Now more and more stores are doing their major changeovers at night. I can understand they don't want to inconvenience the customer, but at those wages and mandatory 10 to 12 nights, I can't believe they will get experienced merchandisers to come out. I've done store remodels, during the day, and loved them. There is a certain satisfaction to change out an entire store, and a camaraderie with your fellow merchandisers (if you have a somewhat experienced crew you are working with). I've done 12 hour days recently in grocery stores, and found that the companies are hiring bodies, not merchandisers. Makes for a reeaaall long day when you are the only one in the aisle that can read a planogram.

It seems to me as if more and more stores are going to third party resets to work around the 30hr rule. They are also "demanding" overnights from the companies they are contracting with so as to not inconvenience their customers. It is a win-win for the store that way, they don't have to staff the resets and they make their customers happy by not being under construction during the daytime hours.
The flip side for us is many of the merchandising companies are caving in (IMHO) to demands for overnights not thinking about how they are going to get experienced reset merchandisers to work these hours. So many of us have multiple jobs and it is nearly impossible to accept these overnight shifts (even if I wanted to) without compromising the rest of my work which is more stable.

In my area myself and another rep are in discussion right now about a reset coming up that they want overnight. The good part for us is we may be able to negotiate with the store and merch company to do it during the day. Why? Because without our local contacts in order to build a team they will have to pay travel expenses to 2 other reps to travel into the area. We also have a good relationship with the store and they would rather have reps that they know then "outsiders" who have to travel in and may not do things the way they want. Not all stores and merch companies will negotiate however.

I am new at all of this. I haven't done any assignments yet. I have filled out a lot of information and have had a lot of companies sending me, "Am I interested information". But, I have my first assignment on July 5th. What are the better companies to apply to and once you have applied and they send you other jobs do you keep having to fill out the, "Why you want this job info section?".

I would like more info. on this if someone is willing to share. My son, got laid off from his job and is very good at multiple things. It might be something he would be interested in pursuing if the pay is good.
Thanks,

I'll happily do 3rd shift if the price is right.

If you have experience in building things, and have hand tools, you might want to think of remodels and fixture work. The merchandising end usually asks for experience. Some that might give you a shot without experience may be

Set and Service Resources
Action Link
Convergence
Channel Partners/BDS marketing does lots of 3rd remodeling-(that just means moving the shelves, fixtures, display areas, not tearing out the bathrooms or walls.)
Just do a internet search and you will find them all pretty quick.
Once you have some experience you really should list with NARMS. It like a clearing house for merchandisers and merchandising companies, It is really set up for the companies, but they also have a job board for the merchandisers to search. The companies see who has the skills they need and call and hire you and never list. Some jobs are a waste, some are great, it is a crap shoot.
Good Luck

The best way IMHO to start searching for merchandising jobs is through indeed.com. This will give you a general idea of what is out there in your area. That site pulls from a large number of other sites for jobs.

SASR (Set and Services Resources) is a good company to start with to get a variety of work if you are in a metropolitan area.

If you are interested in 3rd shift, it looks like some of the homestore (grocery reset work) jobs are moving to 3rd shift in some stores. If you can read a planogram you can do this work.

Good info.

Maybe it's the nature of this business, but my main gripe about this type of gig is that the ones I've received were always on such short notice. @Cindy55: You sleep only four hours a night? I wish I was able to get by on so little.