Electric Boat’s Quonset Facility is holding a job fair next week, as it continues to expand its workforce, while also replacing employees who have left through normal attrition. The company has hired some 350 new employees of the 600 jobs it requires because of new nuclear submarine construction, according to a company official.
The job fair is being held on Thursday, March 22 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the New England Institute of Technology, 2500 Post Road, Warwick. For those unable to attend the job fair, information about job opportunities is available on the company’s website, www.gdeb.com.
The company has listed several special trades among the skills it’s seeking: welding, sheet metal workers, CNC machinists, and pipefitters.
Besides the new jobs, the company annually fills between 350 to 400 jobs because of attrition, according to Brian Howard, chief of human resources at the company’s Quonset facility. Electric Boat has some 4,500 employees, Howard said. Its attrition rate is well below national figures for construction, according to the website, SABA, which suggests ideal attrition is 10 percent or less (EB’s is less than 9 percent).
Over the course of the year, with new jobs and employees lost to attrition, Electric Boat is looking to fill 1,000 positions, Howard said. By the early to mid-2020’s, he said, Electric Boat Quonset’s goal is to increase its workforce to 6,000.
Driving the new hires is the doubling of the number of submarines that are being built in the Virginia Class, and new submarines being built as the Columbia Class to replace the Ohio Class, Howard said.
He said the company delivers about two nuclear submarines a year.
While the ideal candidate, Howard said, will have shipbuilding experience the company will consider anyone who is mechanically inclined. Electric Boat provides extensive training at outside facilities, as well as on the job training.
Applicants must be at least 18 years old, be U.S. Citizens, and willing to work all three shifts.
“We want individuals who want to come here and make a career, grow with us,” Howard said.
Employees wages are competitive, Howard said, and the company offers full medical, vision, dental, and life insurance, among its benefits. He also said there’s the intangible of “supporting our nation’s defense.”