JCMAN320
February 10th, 2009, 12:56 PM
Whole Foods hiring 200 for Paramus store
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
BY DOUGLASS CROUSE
Herald News
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK — Hundreds of job seekers with varied employment backgrounds plan to interview this week for positions at what will be the country's second-largest Whole Foods Market store.
At a time of rising unemployment, the purveyor of organic foods intends to hire 200 people to staff its Paramus supermarket, which opens March 19. Interviews took place Monday in the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development offices on State Street and will continue today, tomorrow and Friday.
Representatives from Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. said 70 percent of the new jobs will be full time, with pay for entry-level positions starting at $10 an hour.
Recruiters expect to speak this week with about 500 applicants for jobs in the new 78,000-square-foot store, located in retrofitted space at the Bergen Town Center on Route 4.
Of those arriving for appointments Monday, many expressed frustration at having spent months seeking employment along with hope that their fortunes were about to change.
Renee Peterson, a Newark resident who lost her job as a furniture-store manager in Union one year ago, was among those smiling on Monday after she was offered a part-time position in customer service.
"All I can say is, Thank God it came through," she said. "This is a place where I think I can grow, so I'm looking forward to getting my foot in the door."
Other applicants included an Air Force reservist from Paterson who recently became a mother and a middle-aged man who said he was laid off from a fire-safety company in New York State in January 2008.
"It's dead – there's nothing out there," the man said, requesting anonymity. "When all these banks get money from taxpayers they should be giving it back to us and back to businesses."
Gabriela Romero, 26, of Union City, said her search for a full-time job had been fruitless despite seven years of customer-service experience at banks and a supermarket. A friend who had worked at Whole Foods' Edgewater store told her the company offered good benefits, and she liked the idea of selling healthy foods, Romero said.
"I've been studying this company, so hopefully I'll get an offer," she said. "I've filled out maybe 100 other applications and only been called for 10 interviews."
Like most of those interviewed Monday, Romero already had gone through an initial screening process. State labor department representatives in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties conducted the interviews and set up appointments for those with basic qualifications.
Job seekers who showed up unannounced Monday were screened then and, in some cases, asked to come back Friday. All applicants who don't pass muster receive packets with information about other employers that plan to hire.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
BY DOUGLASS CROUSE
Herald News
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK — Hundreds of job seekers with varied employment backgrounds plan to interview this week for positions at what will be the country's second-largest Whole Foods Market store.
At a time of rising unemployment, the purveyor of organic foods intends to hire 200 people to staff its Paramus supermarket, which opens March 19. Interviews took place Monday in the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development offices on State Street and will continue today, tomorrow and Friday.
Representatives from Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. said 70 percent of the new jobs will be full time, with pay for entry-level positions starting at $10 an hour.
Recruiters expect to speak this week with about 500 applicants for jobs in the new 78,000-square-foot store, located in retrofitted space at the Bergen Town Center on Route 4.
Of those arriving for appointments Monday, many expressed frustration at having spent months seeking employment along with hope that their fortunes were about to change.
Renee Peterson, a Newark resident who lost her job as a furniture-store manager in Union one year ago, was among those smiling on Monday after she was offered a part-time position in customer service.
"All I can say is, Thank God it came through," she said. "This is a place where I think I can grow, so I'm looking forward to getting my foot in the door."
Other applicants included an Air Force reservist from Paterson who recently became a mother and a middle-aged man who said he was laid off from a fire-safety company in New York State in January 2008.
"It's dead – there's nothing out there," the man said, requesting anonymity. "When all these banks get money from taxpayers they should be giving it back to us and back to businesses."
Gabriela Romero, 26, of Union City, said her search for a full-time job had been fruitless despite seven years of customer-service experience at banks and a supermarket. A friend who had worked at Whole Foods' Edgewater store told her the company offered good benefits, and she liked the idea of selling healthy foods, Romero said.
"I've been studying this company, so hopefully I'll get an offer," she said. "I've filled out maybe 100 other applications and only been called for 10 interviews."
Like most of those interviewed Monday, Romero already had gone through an initial screening process. State labor department representatives in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties conducted the interviews and set up appointments for those with basic qualifications.
Job seekers who showed up unannounced Monday were screened then and, in some cases, asked to come back Friday. All applicants who don't pass muster receive packets with information about other employers that plan to hire.