Intel Job Fair Attracts Long Line Of Applicants Thousands Turn Out To Apply For Work At Pierce County Plant

Thousands of people turned out at a three-day job fair to apply for work at Intel Corp.’s new computer-parts assembly plant in nearby DuPont.

Some came in suit and tie, others wore jeans and sneakers for what local business leaders labeled the south Puget Sound area’s biggest hiring call in 15 years.

Applicants waited up to two hours in line at the Tacoma Convention Center to apply for full-time assembly jobs with generous benefits and starting wages ranging from $18,000 to $23,000 a year.

Most were told the company had scheduled enough interviews Wednesday to fill the 120 positions needed to open Intel’s new Pierce County plant July 7.

But people who showed up Thursday and Friday were not wasting their time, Intel said.

“We’ve got a lot more hiring to do,” a spokesman said. “The pipeline is by no means filled.”

Those hired to fill the assembly jobs, officially called “manufacturing techs,” will be the first of up to 7,900 who may end up working at the DuPont manufacturing and research complex by 2003. They’ll work 12-hour shifts, three or four days a week, assembling personal-computer components.

Resumes for the overflow applicants will be kept on file, and those who impressed company screeners will be called back for interviews this summer or fall, when Intel will hire an additional 530 people for assembly work.

Wayne Phillips, 23, drove in from Bremerton to apply for a job, and struck up a friendship with three other people he met in line. One came all the way from Kennewick. “I was hoping to come away with an interview,” Phillips said after his five-minute screening session, “but I guess now I’ll just have to wait and see.”

Intel’s three-day job fair began Wednesday. Company officials had planned to screen applicants and set appointments with the best prospects for early June - in time for the July 7 start date.

But so many qualified people showed up Wednesday that all the needed interview slots were filled then, said Mike Timberman, in charge of hiring for the assembly jobs.

Wednesday was an invitation-only day - reserved for those who took special training classes at area technical and community colleges and for others referred by local community organizations representing welfare, special-needs and minority applicants. About 980 candidates attended.