By Liz Segrist
lsegrist@scbiznews.com
Published July 13, 2012
Bosch Rexroth Corp. began recruiting outside of South Carolina to fill its workforce needs.
The company that recently announced expansions to its existing hydraulics manufacturing operations in Greenville County recently recruited in Texas and Virginia.
“It has only been in the past year that we have had such difficulty in finding the skills needed,” said Teri King in an email, who is the human resources manager at the Bosch Rexroth facility in Fountain Inn.
Representatives from Bosch Rexroth met with applicants Tuesday and today at a job fair in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, in search of up to 15 CNC machinists and four maintenance technicians.
This is the first recruitment effort in the Southwest. Bosch Rexroth also recruited in the Norfolk and Newport News area of Virginia several weeks ago.
The company is searching for a workforce following its announcement last November of an $80 million investment and an expected 160 new jobs, which followed a 2010 announcement of a $10 million investment and 50 new jobs.
Bosch Rexroth works to create an expanded manufacturing campus for its operations at 100 Southchase Blvd. in Fountain Inn. At the 2011 announcement, Gov. Nikki Haley said she would ensure that S.C. workers were ready to fill these highly skilled positions through technical college training.
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The company decided to recruit in Texas because of the skill sets available in the San Antonio, New Braunfels and Austin areas, King said.
“We are out here in an effort to attract skilled employees for our facility. As you may know, there is a large demand for this skill set in our area, but there are limited resources to recruit from,” King said. “While we are still actively recruiting local candidates, the decision was made to look nationwide to supplement our needs.”
Bosch does not have a facility in Texas. The company did acquire a new product offering from the area around three years ago and moved that technology, along with some of those associates, to the Fountain Inn plant. King said the partnership has proved successful.
Rexroth has an apprenticeship program for machinists, which has doubled in accepted participants this year. The employees can complete a two-year certification at Greenville Technical College while also receiving on-the-job training.
“They graduate as full-time machinists having had their education paid for while earning 40 hours a week in wages,” King said. “This will continue to provide us with machinists that will choose to make their careers with Rexroth.”
Bosch will continue recruitment efforts in South Carolina. This is the only planned recruitment in Texas. Bosch has also posted jobs on Career Builder’s website, as well as worked with various military recruitment agencies and venues to provide opportunities for veterans.
The experience required and pay varies for each position. Learn more here. The company is offering an $8,000 relocation package, in addition to a variety of benefits, to work at its Fountain Inn facility.
Bosch has hired more than 320 people at its local facilities since its business began growing again post-recession in January 2010, King said.
Contact Human Technologies Inc. at 864-263-4401 for job opportunities.
Bosch Rexroth AG is in the field of drive and control technologies. It supplies more than 500,000 customers with tailored solutions for driving, controlling and moving machinery used in industrial and factory automation as well as in mobile applications.
