UPS is hiring for 24 seasonal jobs in Maryland to gear up for the holidays.

The jobs will mainly be in the Baltimore area. Package handlers and drivers are the main job openings. Both full and part-time positions are available. Handlers are typically part-time, while drivers are full-time.

The part-time package handlers work 17 to 20 hours a week at an hourly rate of $8.50 to $9.50 an hour. What’s more, part-time employees are offered medical benefits.

Full-time employees will work 8 or more hours during the week but not on weekends or holidays. They are also given medical benefits.

The jobs are across Baltimore, Lutherville, Laurel, Sparks and Ardmore.

UPS is also hiring a customer support specialist in Baltimore

Kona Grill has announced they are opening a new restaurant in Baltimore and are currently seeking people for service industry jobs in Maryland.

The restaurant, which is Asian-American fusion complete with sushi, is needing about 120 people to hire in the next six weeks. Open jobs include servers, bartenders, hostesses, line and prep cooks, service assistants, and sushi chefs.

The restaurant is based in Scottsdale, AZ. This is its first Maryland location, at 1 E. Pratt St. across from the Inner Harbor. They will be opening Oct. 4, tentatively.

The chefs and management positions have already been spoken for, so the remainder of the positions are all hourly.

Kona has set up shop in meeting room B at the Spring Hill Suites hotel at 120 E. Redwood St. downtown.

Those interested can come by the office to apply, anytime between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. any day but Sunday. Or if you can’t make it in, call 410-244-8994 or visit konagrill.com

Maryland is expected to face shortages of workers to fill jobs requiring more than a high school diploma but less than a college degree - mid-skill jobs in Maryland that will make up the biggest share of openings over the next several years, according to a national study.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Maryland has a widening gap between work force credentials and the so-called “middle skills” needed for jobs that will account for 42 percent of all openings by 2016, reported the Washington-based National Skills Coalition, a worker training advocacy group.

The coalition projects more than 434,000 job openings in that category by then.

So what jobs classify as middle skill jobs? They are police officers, firefighters, medical technicians and therapists, electricians and mechanics. Nearly half of the jobs in Maryland are classified as “middle skill,” but just over one-third of Maryland workers likely have the minimum credentials to fill them, the report said.

The coalition has reported similar findings in each of the handful of states it has studied since 2007, when it released a national study that mirrored training versus job growth patterns.

(more…)