Improving Business in the Wilmington Region

Amazon Begins Hiring As Local Facilities Near Completion

Credit: Wilmington Biz

By Emma Dill

Amazon began hiring this summer for its Wilmington-area fulfillment center and plans to start hiring for a nearby delivery station in the coming weeks.

The robotics fulfillment center is expected to create more than 1,000 full-time jobs, while officials have said the delivery station could create more than 100 full-time positions. Both facilities remain on track to open in time for the holiday season, according to Danny Vivenzio, an Amazon spokesperson.

The company is now hiring for fulfillment center warehouse associate roles, which are responsible for inspecting, storing and picking items for delivery. According to Vivenzio, the roles come with competitive pay, benefits on day one and flexible scheduling options.

In June, Amazon held a hiring event focused on filling the fulfillment center’s mechatronics, robotics technician and warehouse roles, according to Rosemary Guendner, business engagement manager for the Cape Fear Council of Governments’ Workforce Development Board. The board worked with Amazon to get the word out about the company’s open positions, Guendner said, by collaborating with partner groups such as Cape Fear Community College and NCWorks.

“We meet the employer where they are,” Guendner said about the June event, “and at that point, Amazon needed help getting applicants to their process … that was the message we were sending to Amazon – we are here, we’re a coordinated effort, we’re the workforce ecosystem, and we have access to the job seekers.”

The event, which took place on Cape Fear Community College’s North Campus, saw around 200 attendees, Guendner said.

Stephen O’Neil, chair of CFCC’s advanced manufacturing department, was on hand to talk with Amazon officials about how the college can support its workforce needs. O’Neil sees particular overlap between the roles Amazon is hiring for and the skills taught in CFCC’s electronics engineering and mechatronics programs.

In anticipation of the Amazon robotics fulfillment center coming online along with a broader uptick in advanced manufacturing demand, O’Neil said the department has emphasized industry-recognized certifications by expanding its certificate offerings.

He added that the department is focused on forming relationships with businesses, such as Amazon, to develop a pipeline of workers to support company demands now and in the future.

“Oftentimes what happens is employers have just-in-time demands and expectations on filling roles,” he said. “What we’d like to do is establish apprenticeships because that way we can build a sustaining pipeline to where, as (the company’s) needs fluctuate in the future, we’re able to fill that with employees that meet the expectations.”

Guendner said Amazon’s entrance into the Wilmington job market provides a range of additional opportunities for workers – from positions that require certifications and training to entry-level roles.

Mouhcine Guettabi, the area’s regional economist and an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said it remains an open question exactly who the new Amazon employees will be – whether they’ll be pulled from the area’s leisure and hospitality sector, new college graduates, workers commuting in from surrounding counties, those who are currently unemployed or who had previously dropped out of the labor force altogether.

Guettabi said he expects Amazon’s workforce will be made up of workers from a mix of backgrounds. He said the new positions could add options and more stability for those currently working in lower-wage or entry-level roles.

“I think one of the things that it does is it allows us to add to the diversity of the types of jobs that we have,” Guettabi said. “Historically, Wilmington was known as this leisure and hospitality-centric economy. We’ve migrated away from it, and I think, to me, these types of hires cement that transition.”

Amazon’s presence could put pressure on businesses in the leisure and hospitality sector to raise wages, Guettabi said, if the company offers wages higher than what’s currently being offered in the sector. It could also have “spillover” effects, including an uptick in spending from new Amazon employees at local restaurants and shops and the company’s own spending through contracts with other businesses in the area.

Amazon also has the potential to draw other large employers to the region.

“Now that these plans are coming to fruition, one of the really interesting things that’s still down the road is whether this now becomes a catalyst for the supply chain of Amazon, if you will, to start locating in the area,” he said, “and whether it just is that first domino that attracts other big names to come to the area.”

Construction began on the fulfillment center, which encompasses more than 3 million square feet across the building’s four-and-a-half floors, in fall 2024. The facility is located on a more than 170-acre site on the New Hanover-Pender county line that previously housed the former BASF vitamin plant. Amazon’s 142,000-square-foot delivery station is located in Pender Commerce Park, just north of the fulfillment center site.

As of early August, portions of both projects were complete or nearing completion, according to Jerry Turbeville, Pender County’s director of inspections and permitting, but certificates of occupancy hadn’t been issued. Turbeville wrote in an email to the Business Journal that the projects are “closing the gap on final completion,” with building occupancy to be established in mid- to late-September.

According to Vivenzio, Amazon is adding new shifts to its hiring page every week and is planning to host a grand opening ceremony for the facilities this fall.