Boeing seeks 300 to fill high-tech jobs in Huntsville

Boeing Co. is looking for engineers and others with technical skills who can fill 300 Huntsville jobs that involve working on things such as radar and missile systems.

The Chicago-based company is looking to bolster its Alabama operations in a quick stroke. It has set Wednesday as the deadline to set up Oct. 6 interviews with Boeing officials for the jobs.

Boeing officials said 50 to 100 hiring managers are hoping to conduct as many as 200 interviews in Huntsville that day. The company hopes to have all the jobs filled by year's end, but some posts are expected to filled at the interview session.

"We are doing on-the-spot offers at that event," said Donna Wildrick, senior manager for global staffing in Boeing's shared services group.

Jobs include missile defense systems engineers, logistics specialists and radar systems analysts. Many of the jobs will involve work on the nation's ground-based missile defense system that's scheduled to be activated late this year.

Boeing has a contract potentially worth $15.9 billion between the years 2001 and 2007 as the lead contractor to develop the ground-based missile defense system.

Security clearance:

Most of the jobs require a security clearance or the ability to obtain one, said Barbara Murphy, a spokeswoman for Boeing's global staffing group.

To apply for an Oct. 6 interview, go online at www.boeing.com/careers and click on the Huntsville event. Go to www.boeing.com/employment/careers/#al to find out more about the jobs available.

Boeing is casting a wide net as it searches for candidates for the Huntsville jobs. It launched an advertising blitz in Huntsville and has bought ads in Dallas. It was planning to do the same in Orlando and Fort Walton, but pulled the plug on those ads because of the hurricanes that have pounded Florida.

Boeing employs about 3,300 people at its operations in Huntsville and Decatur, with nearly a third of them working on the nation's ground-based missile defense system.

The aerospace company has a highly educated and skilled work force in Alabama, earning more than two times the average of other state workers, according to a university survey.

Boeing's Huntsville jobs are part of the company's efforts to fill 6,000 openings across the company. As of Dec. 31, Boeing had 157,000 employees.

Prosperous:

The Huntsville jobs are more good news for a community that continues to fare better with employment on average than the rest of the state and nation.

According to preliminary August unemployment figures for the state, Madison County had a 4.6 percent unemployment rate. It was the lowest rate among Alabama's four largest counties, and better than the 6.0 percent state average and the 5.4 percent national average.

But even Huntsville's economy has not been insulated from the shocks suffered by the rest of the state. Late last year, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. shuttered its Dunlop tire factory in Huntsville, eliminating 1,100 jobs. kfaulk@bhamnews.com