LEWISTON – Interest is high in the 225 jobs at the new Wal-Mart Distribution Center, so high that company officials have more than 2,000 applications to pore through and the local CareerCenter is staying open Saturdays to help with the hiring process.
And there’s more to come.
“Typically we field between 3,000 and 5,000 applications” for distribution center jobs, said Alan Hanley, general manager of the new facility.
Wal-Mart expects to open the 415,000-square-foot warehouse for nonperishable items in June and begin servicing Wal-Mart stores throughout the Northeast by August. It needs to hire 225 people before early June, said Hanley.
The jobs fall into two categories: material handlers and support staff. Both categories offer starting wages of $13 per hour with benefits.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the amount of qualified candidates who have passed through for different interviews,” said Hanley. “I think we’ll fill these jobs without a problem.”
About 1,000 interviews have been set up with help from the local Department of Labor CareerCenter. Staff from the CareerCenter are helping to screen applicants and providing space for the interviews.
The CareerCenter’s Mary LaFontaine said multiple orientation sessions are scheduled for new hires at the Mollison Way site.
The material handlers are expected to load and unload tractor-trailers and fill orders. They will be fitted with specialized headsets that are plugged into a computer system that directs workers to locations where merchandise is stored and then tells them how much of that item is needed. The technology requires material handlers to be trained in using the headsets, which are programmed for voice recognition.
The other positions are support personnel, such as office staff and maintenance workers with strong backgrounds in mechanics. Hanley said the area has an abundance of these technically savvy people, many of whom have experience with the military or at Bath Iron Works shipyard.
They may be trained to work in the dry goods warehouse first, then transferred to the refrigeration warehouse once that’s built. That warehouse will be highly mechanized, with cranes and robotics used to move inventory.
Site preparation is under way for the 485,000-square-feet refrigeration warehouse; it’s scheduled to be up and running by May 2006. Another 250 people are expected to be hired once that phase of the project is finished.
Wal-Mart chose Lewiston for its $60 million distribution center back in 2001 after considering several New England sites. The biggest retailer in the world promised about 600 new jobs with average wages of $14 per hour for the area, and is expected to contribute $2.7 million a year in local and state taxes. In exchange, the city and state offered Wal-Mart $17 million in tax breaks over a 20-year period to build here.
The number of new jobs was adjusted downward to reflect more automation in the retailer’s warehousing systems. Benefits include medical and dental coverage, holidays, vacation, profit sharing and 401(k) plans.
For more information:
For applications, contact the CareerCenter at 753-9000.
Comments are no longer available on this story