LG Chem puts out help wanted sign

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - Nine months after President Barack Obama came to West Michigan to help break ground for the plant, Korean battery maker LG Chem is posting job openings.

Michigan Works is one of the agencies listing jobs for the Holland plant, posting 100 openings for senior technical operators. Hiring will begin later this month.

Officials at the Holland Michigan Works office say the full-time production-level jobs pay $18 to $19 an hour and require at least a high school diploma or GED.

A two- or three-year technical degree is preferred, but not required. Experience in a clean-room production environment, and working with automated equipment is another preference. Applicants will need a National Career Readiness Certificate and WorkKeys assessment, and additionally, some computer skills.

The plant will make batteries for the Chevrolet Volt as well as future Ford battery-powered vehicles.

LG Chem said it expects to hire as many as 400 workers by 2013. The majority of those jobs would be in production, with pay ranges in the $11- to $14-an-hour range.

"If an opening came up, I'd jump at it in a heart beat," said Gerald Harwood, who is currently unemployed.

Just out of prison after serving 6 1/2 years on a sexual assault conviction, his job search is especially difficult, but the emerging battery industry provides some hope.

Harwood and many others hope to replace their current jobs, as they search for work at the Michigan Works office.

"It's extremely hard," Harwood said. "It's just starting life over again -- getting one rejection letter after another."

LG Chem will begin taking resumes at a job fair, set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26 at Ridge Point Church, 340 104th Ave., in Holland. A second fair is scheduled for the same hours, May 18 at Trillium Banquet Center.

Candidates are encouraged to bring a resume and dress appropriately.

The 100 production jobs don't include another 10 management positions posted earlier by LG Chem.

But be aware, this is not the kind of production many workers are used to, said Andrew Lee, of Michigan Works.

"It is very high technical level production and factory work," he said. "Definitely new to this area."

Workers will need to know things such as the separator coating process, assembly of a battery cell and testing.

"Even if you have 20 years of work experience, have the ability to kind of forget it or leave it behind," Lee said. "And draw on what they ask you to, so that you can be the employee they're looking for."

The 400 jobs LG Chem eventually expects to create at the new plant won't replace the thousands of manufacturing jobs that have left the Lakeshore.

"But there is hope there though," said Sam Brown, also unemployed. "But it's not a hope. I'm just going to spin my whole life around and say, I just gotta have it."

The plant, located on 46th Avenue near Waverly, is expected to open in 2012.

For information on taking NCRC/WorkKeys assessments prior to the job fair, please contact Michigan Works at 616.396.2154.

Michigan Works also is reviewing resumes for 150 openings at long-time Holland auto supplier Johnson Controls at its Lakewood facility. A more detailed job description for the LG Chem positions will be made available on the Michigan Talent Bank website April 12.