8,000 Applicants For 350 Jobs At N.J. Wal-Mart

New York Sun ^

[Sub-Driver]

8,000 Applicants For 350 Jobs At N.J. Wal-Mart

BY DAVID LOMBINO - Staff Reporter of the Sun June 13, 2006 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/34316

Wal-Mart tomorrow will open its newest store just more than seven miles from Manhattan, in Kearny, N.J., part of its strategy to ring the city with stores in order to hasten their arrival here.

The store received more than 8,000 applications for 350 jobs, a Wal-Mart executive said.

Although Wal-Mart is the nation's largest retailer, boasting more than 4,000 stores nationwide, it has no outlets in the five boroughs, and in the last 16 months, two attempts at siting a store in Queens failed.

Some members of the City Council, lobbyists for small businesses, and representatives of the commercial food workers' union have tried to block Wal-Mart's entry into the city - claiming Wal-Mart is a bad corporate citizen and questioning the chain store's effect on smaller neighborhood businesses.

The director of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart in the Northeast, Steven Restivo, said the large number of applicants for the jobs in Kearny, which is in New Jersey's Hudson County, "shows that we are bringing good jobs with good benefits, and tremendous career opportunities to this community."

Mr. Restivo said that several hundred of the applications came from New York City residents, and 23 New Yorkers were hired. He said those workers will commute each day to New Jersey from as far away as the Bronx, and that the average wage for employees will be about $10.50 an hour.

"In terms of career opportunity, the majority of store managers nationwide started out as hourly associates," Mr. Restivo said.

[moehoward]

"No wonder they only got 8,000 applicants to fill 350 jobs."

How many of those 8000 are already employed, but would prefer working at Walmart?
I'm betting very few.

[OB1kNOb]

A lobbyist who represents the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, a small business group, Richard Lipsky, said the high number of job applications is driven by the number of local manufacturing jobs that have been killed by Wal-Mart.

LOL! The evil W creates jobs to replace the ones they killed in the manufacturing market. Hooboy! (guffawing and wiping eyes.)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I give it six months before the employees form a union.

When a Wal*Mart in Canada unionized, Wal*Mart closed the store.

Growing up in Queens, I remember Times Square Stores, definitely an early "big box" store, also PathMark super markets, so Queens has had big box stores before.

[DustyMoment]

Subsequent reports state of of the 8,000 applicants, 2 of them spoke English.

[AppyPappy]

Nonsense. No one wants to work there.

[AppyPappy]

Nonsense. No one wants to work there.

[dead]

Philly's more corrupt than Newark, by a broken nose.

But Camden kicks both their asses.

[from occupied ga]

I can't imagine why, given the pathetic HEALTH CARE program they offer.

8000 people decided that what WM offered was better than what they currently had, so 8000 people say to hell with you and your liberal opinion. Tell me do you think minimum wages are a good thing too?

[sinkspur]

Nonsense. No one wants to work there.

An almost-Berraism: Nobody wants to work at Wal-Mart; there are too many people in line for interviews.

[cinives]

Camden is certainly more violent, but corrupt ? I don't know... :)

[Gabz]

WalMart Ping.

Didn't take long for the bashers to show up on this thread.........

Let me know if you want on/off this WalMart ping list. It is not a WM bashers list, it is a list for discussions, good/bad/indifferent regarding WM and other retail related issues.

[Gabz]

Thanks for the heads up.

It's amazing how quickly the bashers showed up - yet none of them showed up on the thread regarding WM's preparations ahead of the current tropical storm harrassing Floridians..........

[dead]

How can this be? I thought we had virtually zero unemployment... unless the unemployment figures are fraudulent...

One need not be unemployed to apply for a new job.

[peggybac]

I loved going into Vons and Pavillons in LA during the strike. The stores were empty and quiet with no lines at the checkout counter. I got into it with several picketers - boy they were nasty. Typical union workers. No skills but "give me give me give me because you owe it to me."

[Gabz]

I think people are missing the big picture here. Wal-Mart isn't a career- take care of your family kind of job, and those who look at it that way are near-sighted. It's a low-paying job because it doesn't require a large amount of skill.

I disagree. In many areas, WM is one of the highest paying private employers around. Additionally they like to promote from within, and hire locals. Because they get so many applicants they can afford to be choosy about who they hire. Where I used to live, when a Target openned it was staffed primarily with people from out of town, and WalMart rejected applicants.

[Brilliant]

Was being sarcastic.


You really have to lighten up.

[from occupied ga]

Sorry didn't know

[mysterio]

$10.50 in NYC? Yeah, that's one awesome salary.

[Yankereb]

You're right for years New Yorkers have come to NJ to shop because of the taxes in NYC. Let them come, more taxes for NJ.

[Yankereb]

You're right for years New Yorkers have come to NJ to shop because of the taxes in NYC. Let them come, more taxes for NJ.