Aurora Flight Sciences opened its doors Saturday in hopes of doubling its work force — and nearly 700 people showed up to apply.
The firm, located at the Golden Triangle Regional Aerospace Industrial Park, hosted a job fair to find 30-50 new faces to work on its Orion project. Workers of all experience levels were invited and they showed up in droves.
“We”ve seen a great turnout. It was much higher than I expected,” said Aurora founder and President John Langford, who served as one of the interviewers for the job fair.
The aerospace developer and manufacturer is gearing up for a possible production run on its Orion unmanned aerial vehicles, a drone with a 150-foot wing span capable of spending 120 hours in the air on one tank of fuel.
The reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft took the second priority spot in the Pentagon”s 2010 selection of military projects. Three Orion prototypes have been ordered and, if those are successful, a full order could be forthcoming.
Langford says the company needs 30-50 employees over the next three months to build the first Orion. Another 100-150 employees will be added for the next two planes and up to 300 more employees could be hired if the project goes into regular production.
“This is just the first of several waves,” said Langford of the hires.
He says the job fair was the best way to get a feel for the individuals applying for the positions.
“Looking at a piece of paper doesn”t give you a fair assessment of a person,” he said.
Jobs are available for applicants with experience ranging from no manufacturing experience to those with engineering and business degrees.
Composite technicians, the most basic position available, fabricate the graphite epoxy pieces used to assemble the aircraft. Langford says “just about anyone” could be trained to do the work, but it requires “attention to detail.”
Assemblers will install the engines, electronics and wiring in the aircraft. Applicants for these positions need experience working with complex machinery.
Project managers will likely require an engineering degree with some business experience.
But Langford says an increase in factory employees will necessitate an increase in office and facilities employees, which opens up several more job opportunities.
Applicants were asked to submit a resume and sit down for a brief interview Saturday. A select few will be contacted for a follow-up interview.
Tim McCoy, of New Albany, works an information technology job in Oxford. He hopes to get on in either design or quality assurance at Aurora.
“I”ve been working mostly on the operational side, the opposite, where you utilize the product. On this side (quality assurance) you would be validating that everything is fine before it goes out the door to production,” said McCoy.
He says he”d like to be hired on at Aurora to have a job with more long-term growth opportunity.
Larry Boeke, an Army National Guard firefighter from Starkville, was looking for a local job so he can stop driving back and forth to Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg.
“Whatever they want me to do. I”m just trying to get a job here so I can be with my family,” said Boeke.
Boeke, who was deployed in Iraq from 2003-04, says he”d like to have a hand in creating the drones that help U.S. servicemen in the Middle East.
“I”d like to see the stuff built being sent over there to help. I”ve been there and done it and they need a lot of help,” he said.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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