The Buffalo News: SolarCity aims to create 1,460 jobs
Published:
Tuesday, July 14, 2015 - 09:31
When SolarCity starts hiring later this year, the company expects to have six applicants for every job.
And it anticipates creating 1,460 jobs.
As the huge, 1.2 million-square-foot SolarCity factory rises along the Buffalo River, the next stage – filling the factory with workers – promises to set off the biggest Buffalo hiring spree in decades. Most of the hiring won’t take place until next year, said Daniel Harvey, who is leading the company’s hiring efforts in Buffalo, but the company will start filling the first 100 to 200 jobs this fall.
Already, local colleges are ramping up training programs and the company is working with state officials on plans for job fairs and other recruitment sessions. Some of the new employees, especially higher-skilled engineers, may be recruited from Silicon Valley, giving Buffalo an injection of new blood and brainpower. But for most of the new jobs, SolarCity executives and local economists believe the Buffalo Niagara region has plenty of candidates to fill the positions – for now.
In time, some say, SolarCity’s hiring binge – along with nearly the same number of jobs created by SolarCity suppliers – could give Buffalo a problem it hasn’t had in decades: a worker shortage.
“We’re very confident ... that we’ll be able to very easily fill our plant and make us a legacy employer that Buffalo really needs,” Harvey said.
He added: “We’ve got such a great depth and variety in our workforce, we think it’s going to be very, very easy to make some good transferable skills.”
