This seems like a good list of potential employers for (most likely all) Sears employees who'll be looking for a job soon. At least we'll know these care about their employees enough to make sure they spend Thanksgiving with their families.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/514358/30-stores-will-be-closed-thanksgiving
@Wac7Ltd-ecz Hardly. I live on the east coast, in a modest area. Don't be bitter when someone is trying to provide legitimate employment leads for folks who are going into the holidays without any income. Stewing in your own sour juices solves nothing.
As for why mentioning who I know? Because (now that you provided the opening), I know people who started part time, and worked their way to full time and even into the Genius Bar or Creative and from that point those folks transitioned into IT. Folks who may have had teaching degrees but found themselves in retail were able to leverage those teaching skills to Creative. Both Creative and Genius pay more than Specialist.
The only promotion path Apple is weak at is transitioning from staff to management. Apple usually hires from without for management.
Is Apple perfect? No. But if you're looking for some place to land that isn't the same toxic abusive retail experience as Sears/Kmart - all I'm saying is Apple is worth considering and I'm offering actual known-quantity "yelp review" from personal experience.
Your association with geniuses and specialists is very impressive. You must work in Silicon Valley. Bravo for a life well lived.
You can add Apple Retail to this list. The Apple Stores are not open on Thanksgiving. In many instances, they outweigh the traditional retail anchor stores as Apple tends to have the highest traffic in a mall. Also, while Apple does try to honor the corporate closing schedule with Retail, there is a vacation "black out" period in Oct-Dec, but any holidays a retail associate cannot take due to the blackout, Apple gives them an additional PTO after January as a make-good (but it needs to be taken by April).
Apple also offers excellent healthcare, even to part time.
I am not an Apple recruiter, I just know a bunch of specialists and geniuses, so I see the day-to-day.