Thursday, December 13, 2007
Kia plans to start job search in the next six to seven weeks
Drivers on Interstate 85 near West Point have seen the signs of progress on the new Kia plant’s construction. But on Tuesday, members and guests of the West Point Rotary Club got an update on the company’s hiring progress.
September 7, 2007
Drivers on Interstate 85 near West Point have seen the signs of progress on the new Kia plant’s construction. But on Tuesday, members and guests of the West Point Rotary Club got an update on the company’s hiring progress.
During the club’s meeting at the Riverside Country Club in Lanett, Randy Jackson, the director of human resources for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia Inc., said plans and progress for the West Point plant are on schedule.
“We have a target of November 2009 as a target date and it is solid,“ he said.
But that wasn’t the only news he shared.
Jackson said work is also going on online, where the company is building its Web-based job site.
The company is currently interviewing for salaried employees and expects to begin the search for hourly workers in the next six to seven weeks, he added.
Applications for the hourly positions will be handled through the Web site, http://www.kiajobsingeorgia.com.
Kia has partnered with the Georgia Department of Labor and the state’s Quick Start program on the employment Web site and for hiring of the hourly workers.
Jackson said once the application process is opened, prospective employees will be able to go to the Web site and submit an application.
Jackson said “normally, you would keep the application flow open for about 30 to 45 days or so.“
From there, candidates will be “banded” and sorted according to their qualifications and then the interview process will begin. “So, it could go pretty much through the end of the year,“ he said.
No definitive date has been set for this sequence of events to begin either, but Jackson added “As soon as we can get the people in front of us and get them in pre-employment training and things like that it will com along pretty rapidly.“
The company has also partnered with two recruiters: JC Malone Associates of Louisville, Ky., and Management Recruiters of Auburn-Opelika Inc., for help in hiring the plant’s salaried positions.
The company will create about 2,500 directly, Jackson said, but expects about 2,000 additional jobs to be created by suppliers that will locate in the region. They also estimate that the plant will have an additional economic impact in the creation of as many as 10,000 jobs created by other businesses and employers attracted by the growth.
“Kia will be a place where everybody will want to come to work,“ Jackson said. “It’ll be an exciting place to work. It’ll be a very, very effective two-way communication - good working climate with the air conditioning. We’ll have a medical facility and a cafeteria facility there. We have a strong work ethic and strong team relations goals to have everything positive.“
West Point’s city manager Ed Moon said Tuesday’s message is good news for the city and the region.
“Getting this information out to the community is going to make our job a lot easier,“ he said, “To relieve those fears - Kia is coming. They are creating those job numbers, the way they’ll actually be able to apply for those jobs, so I think all this is very reassuring.“
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