While the new Amazon fulfillment center is set to open next week, like many businesses throughout the region, they still have hundreds of openings for workers.
Amazon's new fulfillment center looks to employ roughly 1,000 people from the Fargo-Moorhead area. However, the company says it hasn't yet met that goal.
The retail giant is still looking to fill more than 250 positions for its Fargo location, which is certainly no small task, as almost everywhere in the area, there are signs that say, "we're hiring."
"We're always hiring I think, because we're always growing," said Amazon director of recruiting Jenna Powers.
The company is currently offering starting pay at $15 per hour, and provides benefits such as college tuition reimbursement and 20 weeks of parental leave.
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"I think we offer very competitive benefits in wages, and so we would hope that people would then see those as an opportunity that not every company is giving to come and work for us," Powers said.
Amazon is hoping that's the case as they work to fill positions from the floor to management. But how likely is it that they're able to fill most of their openings?
Carey Fry, workforce center manager at Job Service North Dakota says Amazon definitely has competition when it comes to attracting workers.
"There's other companies that offer good benefits like that in our community, and I'm seeing wages push up," Fry said. "If you drive by any Walmart in town, you're going to see, I think, it's $16.50 an hour, they're advertising."
Fry says the competition is great news for employees.
"If you want a job right now, you can definitely find one," Fry said. "We have over 17,000 jobs opened in the state of North Dakota. Right here in the Fargo-Moorhead area, there's over 500 or 5000 jobs listed as openings here."
