Foxconn Technology Group hired 50 employees during a job fair earlier this month at its Mount Pleasant campus, where the company offered candidates “on the spot interviews,” according to Foo-Ming Foo, Foxconn Industrial Internet USA chief operating officer.
The contract manufacturer of electronics aimed to hire more than 100 employees for its Mount Pleasant campus during the event, which drew a total of 134 applicants, said Foo.
Foxconn hasn't used a job fair as a talent attraction tool in a "long time," Foo said, adding that the manufacturer wanted to test if the hiring strategy would work. Now Foxconn plans to host a second hiring event hoping to build on the success of the first, said Foo, who shared the results of the hiring fair today during the Independent Business Association of Wisconsin’s 2021 Wisconsin Manufacturing Summit.
“To us, it was very successful so in a couple of weeks we’re going to do it again to see if we can get more (employees),” Foo said.
Foxconn sought to fill a variety of positions in manufacturing, including engineers, machine operators and supply chain managers as well as roles in information technology, including software developers and programmers, according to the company. In an advertisement, Foxconn said it would provide training to new hires and that no experience was needed.
It's not clear whether employees hired during the job fair will work for Foxconn or for its largest subsidiary
Fii USA Inc., a global design and manufacturing service provider of communication network and cloud service equipment.
Foo didn't provide details about the positions that were filled during the job fair. Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than half of the jobs Foxconn and its related entities committed to creating in
a new tax incentive deal with the state of Wisconsin are expected to be with Fii, according to Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. records.
The company, which employees 250,000 globally and generates $70 billion annually, was included as an eligible recipient in the new contract, limiting the tax incentives to Foxconn as the company reduced its job and investment commitments.
The original Foxconn contract offered $2.85 billion in tax credits in exchange for the creation of 13,000 jobs and $9 billion in investment. The new deal offers $80 million in incentives in exchange for 1,454 jobs and $672 million in capital investment.
The publicly-traded company was spun off from Foxconn in 2018 but had also been part of the investments being made on Foxconn’s Mount Pleasant campus.
A WEDC staff review of the new deal suggests
Fii will play a major role in Foxconn’s plans for the site going forward with 792 of the planned 1,454 jobs being created by the company. Those positions account for all of the new hiring going forward as the review lists 601 jobs planned for 2020, none of which are at Fii.
