Here’s who is hiring in Connecticut
Despite hints of a possible recession on the horizon, hiring in some Connecticut employment sectors remains strong.
Donald Klepper Smith. an economist with DataCore Partners, said the reason for companies hiring with the possibility of a recession looming is pretty basic.
“You grow your business one of two ways: with people or technology,” Klepper-Smith said. “In this environment, good people are hard to find. In manufacturing especially, there are jobs that are just going begging. So long as it adds to a company’s bottom line profitability, companies will continue to hire workers they need.”
But the prospect of an economic belt-tightening has some companies shrinking their work forces. Among those employers around the country that are laying off are techdriven companies that flourished during the height of the pandemic.
An example of that is Gopuff, a Philadelphiabased delivery service, which announced Tuesday it is shutting or combining 76 distribution centers around the country amid expectations of “what could be a much more significant macroeconomic turndown. Those closures and consolidations will result in a 10 percent reduction of the company’s global workforce
Gopuff employs around 15,000 people in the U.S., Canada, and a handful of European countries, although information about the number of people the company employs in Connecticut wasn’t immediately available Gopuff provides food and alcohol deliveries to 28 Connecticut communities, according to its website.
Here’s a snap shot of some of the companies that are hiring around the state:
General Dynamics Electric Boat
At the head of the list is the nation’s largest submarine builder, which has manufacturing facilities in Groton and neighboring Rhode Island.
Kevin Graney, the company’s president said in January the company is looking to new employees as part of what he termed “a once-in-a-generation expansion.” Graney said the company added more than 2,500 workers in 2021.
Dan McFadden, a spokesman with Electric Boat, said the company is looking to hire over 2,600 workers this year and has added 1,400 thus far. The company is looking to hire pipe fitters, welders, carpenters and painters as well as engineers.
“Our need for people in the manual trades runs the gamut,” McFadden said. “It’s a great time to come to work for us. If you have an interest in switching careers, we will train you for some of the jobs we’re looking to fill.”
A combination of factors has resulted in Electric Boat looking to hire so many people, he said.
The company is the primary contractor in building Columbia class submarines for the U.S. Navy. It is working as a partner with Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, in developing the Virginia class submarines.
“We’re booking business well into the 2030s,” McFadden said.
In addition to the amount or work, Electric Boat is doing, the other factor driving the hiring is veteran workers retiring after decades of working at the company, he said. To help replace those retiring workers, Electric Boat is working closely with Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board.
Electric Boat is also indirectly responsible for increased demand for workers at the small manufacturers across Connecticut that supply the defense contractor with the parts it needs. McFadden said “generally speaking, it’s a challenge for everybody in manufacturing.”
“There’s a lot of demand for manufacturing skills everywhere,” he said.
ASML
As part of the $200 million expansion of the company’s corporate campus in Wilton, ASML - which makes equipment that is used in the manufacturing of semiconductors - expects to hire as many as 1,000 new workers over the next two years.
Evolution AB
The Swedish company, which provides live casino games for online betting sites, has opened a new studio in Fairfield that has already hired 140 workers and expects to add 260 more.
Evolution AB began operating in the state on Monday, providing live dealer games on both the FanDuel and DraftKings online casino platforms offered in Connecticut.
The jobs the company is hiring for in Connecticut include technical, production, administrative and information technology positions, as well as security, according to state officials.
Eversource Energy
The utility company, which provides electricity, natural gas and water in Connecticut, has 258 job openings in the state, according Al Lara, an Eversource spokesman. Lara said the company has openings in many different areas, including engineers, lineworkers and natural gas technicians as well as positions in corporate relations, information technology and energy efficiency.
“It’s an exciting time in the energy industry as it is rapidly changing and evolving,” Lara said. “We’re building the grid of the future to advance clean energy, support electric vehicles and fortify the electric system to better withstand severe weather and we need skilled employees to accomplish that.”
Budderfly
Flush with a $500 million investment from a Swiss private equity firm, this Shelton-based energy management outsourcing company is preparing to go on a hiring spree.
Officials with the Swiss private equity company Partners Group announced on Monday that it had acquired the ownership stake in Budderfly. Al Subbloie, the Connecticut company’s founder and chief executive officer, said Partner Group has the financial resources to allow Budderfly to hire a lot more people as the business grows, with many of those new workers being hired in Connecticut.
“Over the next year, I’d say we will be hiring dozens,” Subbloie said. “Over the next three or four years, we’ll be hiring hundreds.”
Alexion
Alexion is looking to fill 50 jobs in the New Haven area as it prepares to move into a new biotech tower in late 2023.
More than half of those positions that the company is looking to fill are in research and development. Alexion is a subsidiary of global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
HCL Technologies
The global information technology company announced late last year that it is looking to create 500 new jobs in Connecticut over a two to three year period. The workers would be part of HCL Technologies Global Delivery Center in Hartford, which serves the company’s flagship client, New Britainbased Stanley Black & Decker.
The jobs that HCL is looking to fill include augmented reality positions, aerospace engineering, infrastructure, digital workplace, IT applications and operations technologies.
ShopRite and Price Rite
The two grocery chains have several New Haven area locations that need to hire between 20 and 30 new employees at each location. In order to fill those positions, the chains are holding company-wide job fair July 19 at their stores between 3 and 7 p.m.
A variety of full-time, part-time and management positions with the two chains are available in Connecticut, depending on store and location. Price Rite is owned by New Jersey-based Wakefern Food Corp., the cooperative behind ShopRite.
Rebel Interactive Group
The digital marketing company opened its new headquarters on Cheshire’s West Main Street this week in a former high end furniture retailing space. Rebel Interactive has remade the 24,700 square foot property that had been Furniture Barn’s showroom into a space to fit its needs, adding a podcasting studio and video production facility.
Allison Minutillo, president and owner of the company, said at any given time, Rebel Interactive is looking to hire 10 to 15 people. When the company announced it was relocating to Cheshire seven months ago, it employed 95 people and now has about 110 workers.
Bryn Tindall, the company’s chief executive officer and co-owner, said some of the positions Rebel Interactive is looking to fill include account executives and web developers.
The company’s client list includes Aetna, Bank of America, Cigna and Delta Airlines.