Edward Hughes's business card reads "environmental toxicologist." But on most afternoons this December you'll find him standing at the entrance to a Restoration Hardware store in the Roosevelt Field mall in Hempstead, N.Y. He's greeting shoppers and answering questions about decorative cabinet handles and red-berry wreaths.

"I'll be happier when I'm in a job where I'm using my brain more," says Mr. Hughes, 42, who worked as a senior design drafter for an industrial air-filter maker that went out of business last summer. In the meantime, this holiday stint will allow him to stretch his unemployment benefits for several more weeks while he looks for a job in the environmental sector.

It isn't unusual for out-of-work professionals to take stopgap jobs to pay the bills or to help them get up and out of their pajamas while they hunt for a "real" job. And December is particularly good for picking up hours with stores, restaurants, caterers and other businesses that experience a holiday rush.

Forty percent of the employers who posted jobs on Monster.com in October were already looking for seasonal help. And 51% of job seekers who used the Web site that month were looking for holiday work. "It's not easy to be fully staffed over the holidays, so you're more likely to see a mix of ages and backgrounds at this time of year," notes Jeff Taylor, chief executive officer of Monster. "This year in particular, with the job market still slow, you're seeing midlevel knowledge workers compete with college kids for those coveted part-time jobs."

Finding a seasonal job you're interested in and that fits around your job search isn't easy. But if you choose the right gig, it can have its own rewards: money, a social outlet to offset the solitude of job hunting and, sometimes, a segue to something new.

Returning to the kind of job that provided pocket money in your youth might not be appealing, but those table-waiting or sweater-folding skills, however rusty, are still your best bet, especially since you probably want to spend as little time as possible on this secondary job hunt. Mr. Hughes hadn't held a retail job since he graduated from college 20 years ago, but he says, "They were interested in that experience. Everything helps." He spent only one afternoon at the mall, filling out applications at three or four stores, to land his job.

You'll be spending enough time at this job that you want it to appeal to you on some level (Mr. Hughes likes helping customers with decorating), but you need to be realistic, too. The most desirable and best-paying restaurants and stores want experience -- and having frequented them as a customer probably won't count.

Avtar Walia, who hires seasonal help for Tamarind, an upscale Indian restaurant he owns in New York City, has seen out-of-work Wall Streeters applying for jobs in the past two years. "I like them, because they're smart and learn quickly and don't make mistakes," he says. "But in a restaurant like this, there's a right way to do everything, from opening the wine to clearing the table, and you have to know those things coming in." He'll hire people with no restaurant experience, but typically for a job like bar assistant, rather than the higher-paying bartender spot they may hope for.

If you've already started a seasonal job, you might be surprised by how much of your time and energy it eats up. Even though he'd worked in stores in the past, Mr. Hughes was frustrated by how little job hunting he's done since signing on at Restoration Hardware. "I used to spend an hour and a half every day online, searching for postings and researching opportunities, but after being on my feet for eight hours, all I want to do is go home and go to bed," he says.

He's hoping he'll get used to it and return to his search routine in another week or two. Other professionals who have spent time in retail say he probably will, but they also advise people to consider the demands of a part-time job and figure out how they'll work around them.

Charles Camiel, now the manager of U.S. sales operations for a British manufacturer, signed on for a 4 p.m. shift at a Franklin Covey store outside of Boston when he was recently between jobs.

"I acclimated eventually, but my day was very full," he says. The evening hours allowed him to do consulting work in his profession and pursue his job search during the day, when he was at his best.

Rita Brauneck, a consultant in Cleveland with outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison, urges her clients to think about when and how they'll send resumes, return calls and go on interviews before agreeing to particular hours.

Helene Friedman, who in October lost her job as the director of public relations for a small marketing and public-relations firm, is fitting her job hunt around a holiday stint as a hostess at a Manhattan restaurant. But isn't easy. "My cellphone bills have been astonishingly huge, but I want people to be able to reach me when I'm at the restaurant in the afternoon," she says.

One recruiter who reached her that way wanted to meet that very day. "I was honest and said, 'I'm at work and not dressed for an interview,' " the 29-year-old says. The recruiter told her to come anyway and, when she got there, told her she looked fine. "But I knew I wasn't wearing what I would have wanted to in that situation, and it bothered me," she says.

To give yourself some breathing room, and keep your phone costs down, Ms. Brauneck suggests that job hunters use e-mail when they can, because it gives some flexibility in getting back to people. She adds, "And tell people, 'I'm working part-time while doing my job search, and there will be times I'm unavailable. So if you don't hear from me right away, that's why.' "

There are job hunters who take holidays jobs for the social outlet as much as for the money and who actually enjoy them. For many others, the work falls somewhere between tolerable and mortifying.

"People are afraid of having colleagues see them in this very different setting," says Ms. Brauneck.

But if you're working locally, sooner or later you'll run into someone that you know, maybe even a former colleague. When you do, resist the urge to hide, temp workers say. If you're really afraid of looking and sounding as demoralized as you might feel, Ms. Brauneck suggests, have a quick explanation for your part-time job at the ready.

"I have no problem telling people I got laid off in October, and I'm working at the restaurant to get through the holidays. It's nothing to be embarrassed about," says Ms. Friedman. "Besides, someone might know of an opening at another agency." Indeed, jobs that get you out into the community can open up a whole new network for your job hunt.

Jim Garrison, 51, had worked part time at a Dillard's department store while he was managing sales and customer-services operations at ICI Paints North America in Cleveland. After losing his full-time job over the summer, he's taking on extra hours at the department store this holiday season.

"I can't tell you how many leads I've gotten by being here," he says. "One regular customer worked for MetroHealth Systems and set me up on interviews for jobs that had only been posted internally. A neighbor saw me here, and we got to talking, and I got another lead that way."

He's also run into former co-workers from ICI, "including some people I hired." He admits he felt a little awkward at first, "but they let me know what's going on back at the old company." Given that companies often turn first to the people they laid off when they begin hiring again, these updates are worth getting.

"For some, holiday jobs are a way to stay connected or to make ends meet, but they can also be a segue to something else," Ms. Brauneck says. That could turn out to be the case for Ms. Friedman.

On one of her first nights at the restaurant she had to manage the coat check for a party. "I got totally frazzled," she says. "Everyone came at once, we ran out of hangers, people lost their checks. My arms were sore at the end of the night from reaching into coat racks that were three-deep." That was a bad day. But there have been good days, too. She's come in on a few afternoons to help the chef gain some publicity and to work on the restaurant's advertising strategy for the owners.

"I don't want to hostess forever, but I don't think I want to do PR forever, either," she says. "There are things about the restaurant that are a nice change of pace, so I'm looking into the hospitality sector to see what kind of jobs are out there."

She's recently been trying to line up an interview for a brand-manager position with a beer company, which would draw on both her public-relations and restaurant experience.

"They're interested in doing more on-site business. My helping with parties at the restaurant is giving me experience that would help with that, so I'm playing that up," she says.

Not even Santa can do better than a holiday job that leads to a full-time opportunity in the new year.