NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) -- It will eventually bring more than a thousand jobs to southern Indiana. Amazon.com Inc. is building a giant fulfillment center in Jeffersonville and plans to hire at least 1,000 people.
On Thursday, more than 1,300 people attended a job fair at the Work One Job Center on State Street in New Albany. They came there hoping to land a job with Amazon.com Inc.
The lines were long throughout most of the day as hundreds of people turned out to learn more about the jobs and how to apply. At the end of the day, more than 1,100 applications were turned in.
But the line moved quickly, and once inside it took only about an hour for people like Scott Atwood of Clarksville to complete the process. "You fill out just a general application online," explained Atwood, "list your qualifications and answer questions, then you go in and watch an orientation video and they you are free to leave."
Amazon says it will notify applicants by e-mail or phone if they land a job. Many people who came out on Thursday have been out of work for a long time.
Thursday's turnout took the workforce office a little by surprise. "It was more people than expected, but we were prepared for just about any numbers," says Adam Clark of Work One Southern Indiana which operates the job center.
Meanwhile, construction continues in Jeffersonville at the River Ridge Commerce Center on Highway 62 on the giant warehouse and distribution center that Amazon is building.
Pay for workers will start at $11 an hour plus benefits that include health insurance and stock options. Amazon is looking to hire about a thousand warehouse associates.
Carolyn Deutsch of Sellersburg was among those in line hoping to land a job with Amazon. She says, "I've been looking for a job for a year; I lost my job with the Red Cross about a year ago and its been hard to find a new one out there, especially the older you get."
Amazon says the construction project is on schedule and the new warehouse and distribution center should open in the fall starting out with several hundred workers.
If you'd like to apply online visit: http://www.workatAmazonfulfillment.com.
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Applicants are encouraged to bring a resume.
River Ridge Crossing, the site of the Old Indiana Army Ammunition Plant, will house more than 21 acres under one roof.
