SPRINGFIELD — Two job fairs will be held next week for anyone interested in working at the new JELD-WEN facility in North Springfield.
The company already operates a plant in nearby Ludlow and is setting up a manufacturing facility in the old Fellows Corp. building, now owned by Winstanley Enterprises.
Parts of the building are being renovated to accommodate the new manufacturing facility.
According to the Vermont Department of Labor, the company wants to hire a total of 135 workers, with the starting wage at $11 an hour. The company provides comprehensive benefits to all fulltime employees including health, dental and vision care, according to Lynn Butterworth, a company spokeswoman.
The company makes a variety of doors and windows; the Springfield plant will make interior molded doors.
The two job fairs will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 at the Howard Dean Education Center next to the Springfield High School.
Most of the jobs will pay slightly more than $11 an hour, according to Shane Chalchera, a career development facilitator at the Springfield office of the Department of Labor.
Chalchera said that the office had "all kinds of inquiries" about JELD-WEN's plans since the decision to expand in North Springfield became public last month.
Chalchera said that the company had told the department that 85 of the positions would start at more than $11 an hour.
John Cummings, the new general manager for the North Springfield facility, said, on average, the wage at the plant would be $11.50 an hour. Cummings said that the company would be hiring unskilled workers and training them.
Cummings said the company expected to start hiring in mid February and to start manufacturing doors in late March or early April.
He noted that JELD-WEN has been in Ludlow since 1992, and, in addition to its health, dental and vision coverage, it also offers a 401k plan, as well as vacation and holiday pay.
JELD-WEN is an international window and door manufacturer based in Klamath Falls, Ore., and has more than 20,000 employees in 150 divisions.
Butterworth, a spokeswoman at corporate headquarters, said the company was looking for line operators, fork-lift operators, loaders, packagers and people to work in shipping and receiving, materials handling and maintenance.
She said the company routinely provides a shift differential to its workers, although she said she didn't know whether the North Springfield plant would have more than one shift.
Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp., who was instrumental in negotiating JELD-WEN's expansion, said the company was interested in moving "aggressively."
JELD-WEN's announcement that it was opening a manufacturing plant in Springfield was the first news of a major expansion to the local economy in years. The Springfield labor market area has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, 3.7 percent, according to the Department of Labor's Web site.
"Jobs will start being available very soon," he said.
Flint said from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning Jan. 31, people may apply in person at the JELD-WEN facility in North Springfield.
Anyone interested in preregistering for the job can call the Department of Labor's Springfield office at 885-2167.
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