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07/15/2019 12:00 AMThe first hiring event for the upcoming Amazon fulfillment center drew more than 500 people to North Haven High School on July 9. Local businesses are already taking notice of the increased flow of potential customers.
Of the 548 job seekers who came through the doors between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 428 received job offers contingent on drug screening and background checks.
In the coming months, Amazon is hoping to fill 1,800 warehouse associate positions for its new fulfillment center on Washington Avenue. It has partnered with Workforce Alliance (WA), a New Haven nonprofit focused on career development, and Christine Reardon, WA’s Manager of Strategic Development,
“It was wildly successful,” said WA business services coordinator Wanda Lary.
Though the event was held in North Haven, Lary said applicants came from across the region to find jobs with Amazon.
“From some of the reporting, people were coming from Meriden and Waterbury, so I’m assuming we got most of the surrounding towns as well,” she said.
Representatives from Town Walk at Hamden Hills, an apartment complex located close to the fulfillment center in Hamden, were on site with offers for new and hopeful Amazon employees.
They said new lessees have already started moving in, and not all come from within the state.
“We’ve had a lot of people move from Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio to work at Amazon,” said Samantha Goldstein, leasing consultant for Town Walk.
Amazon and WA plan four more hiring events between now and Thursday, Aug. 1, with the next event taking place at the Wallingford Library on Wednesday, July 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Though online applications submitted before the event are preferred, walk-ins are also accepted until 2:30 p.m.
Dates for all of the hiring events as well as pre-application information can be found at www.workforcealliance.biz.
At the event, applicants submitted applications, were interviewed, and took drug screening tests. Successful candidates were offered a job on the spot and given staggered start dates to begin their training. No official start date has been given for the launch of the fulfillment center.
“It was an amazing day,” Lary said. “I think that [WA] partners…very well with Amazon. We’re both appreciative of one another’s support for the event.”
Dates and Locations of Future Hiring Events
9 a.m. to 5 a.m. Walk-ins accepted until 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 17, Wallingford Public Library, 220 North Main Street, Wallingford
Wednesday, July 24, American Job Center, 87 West Main Street, Meriden
Tuesday, July 30, New Haven City Hall, 165 Church Street, New Haven
Thursday, Aug. 1, Coginchaug Regional High School, 135 Pickett Lane, Durham
Pre-application direct link: www.amazon.com/connecticutjobs.