Foxconn Technology Group plans to hire “a few hundred” employees in the next two or three months as it ramps up recruiting events targeting veterans and Wisconsin college students, Foxconn director of U.S. strategic initiatives Alan Yeung said Monday.
“This is not your normal job. These are things that are moving at Foxconn’s speed,” he said, emphasizing the opportunity to work on advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and health care challenges. He also said there’s a role for those in liberal arts fields to play as Foxconn builds up its operation.
Yeung declined to say how many employees Foxconn currently has in Wisconsin. In June, executives said the company had around 100 employees. The company needs at least 260 jobs in the state at the end of the year to receive any tax credits for the year. Foxconn would need 1,040 employees to earn the $9.5 million in credits available for 2018.
Yeung joined University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chancellor Mark Mone for Foxconn Day at the university’s student union. The company is planning similar events at St. Norbert College on Tuesday, UW-Madison on Friday, UW-Platteville and Marquette University on Sept. 26, UW-Eau Claire and Milwaukee School of Engineering on Sept. 27, UW-Green Bay on Oct. 3 and Waukesha County Technical College on Oct. 11.
Foxconn also announced the launch of an online jobs portal, foxconnjobs.us and Yeung said a management training program will be announced in the near future.
The company is currently recruiting for a variety of positions, including human resources executives, engineers in hardware, software and firmware, research scientists, accountants, legal assistants, business analysts, facilities managers, interior designers, construction managers and sales and marketing professionals.
“The future development of next-generation innovation and technological solutions in such areas as medical and health care, industrial Internet, smart construction and smart community rests in the minds of young people who we hope will one day soon work at Foxconn,” Yeung said.
Foxconn also announced a series of recruiting events targeting veterans last week. BizTimes first reported in June that the company is seeking to hire 3,000 veterans for its Wisconsin workforce.
Yeung said there is no similar quota for the number of Wisconsin college graduates.
He also declined to get into the specifics of wages the company would be paying. Foxconn’s contract with the state requires the company to pay an average of $53,875 plus benefits with wages above $400,000 per year not counting towards the total.
“I think we’ll be very, very competitive and actually it goes beyond just the basic wage,” Yeung said. He emphasized that the quality of life Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin will serve as a draw in attracting potential employees to the state. He added that working for Foxconn will also give people an opportunity to rotate through operations across North America and the world.
