The Amazon construction site is near the front gate of the industrial park at Enterprise South.
Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free PressInternet retailer Amazon, fast-tracking the ramp-up of new distribution centers in Hamilton and Bradley counties, has offered jobs to about 1,500 people so far.
Local officials say the hiring effort is one of the quickest undertaken by a company doing business here. Amazon began taking applications for the bulk of its work force in mid-May.
Samantha Cermak, Amazon’s senior human resources manager locally, said the company has interviewed 5,000 applicants to date as it tries to staff its two massive new facilities for the busy Christmas season.
“We’re thrilled with the number and quality of applicants,” she said.
Amazon’s distribution centers in Hamilton and Bradley counties could help bring jobs to nearly 10 percent of the unemployed in those counties, figures show. In July, there were 14,590 unemployed in Hamilton and 4,730 in Bradley, according to state figures.