Amazon Will Open Dartmouth Warehouse In October, Hire 180 People
DARTMOUTH — Since news emerged earlier this year that Amazon is building a warehouse in Halifax, Haligonians have gobbled any morsel of information about the company’s plans.
Today, Huddle is revealing new details about the company’s Dartmouth operation, when it plans to open, and the jobs it plans to offer.
In April, we confirmed Amazon had purchased property at 180 Thornhill Drive in Dartmouth and applied with the city for a renovation and demolition permit on the site.
Today, we’ve learned the company plans to open its Dartmouth warehouse in early October—and hire as many as 180 full-time employees within the first two months.
On August 26, Amazon held the first of two virtual hiring events designed to entice job seekers to apply with the company.
The hour-long meeting revealed details about the company’s Dartmouth warehouse, the kinds of roles it’s hiring for, and when it plans to begin operations in the city.
While many have assumed Amazon is opening a fulfillment centre in Dartmouth, the company is actually opening a “Delivery Station.”
Most of Amazon’s Canadian operations are Fulfillment Centres. Those are larger spaces where orders get processed, packaged, and shipped in bulk to specific cities.
Delivery Stations, meanwhile, are smaller operations where orders are sorted individually before they are shipped to the customer.
At the virtual hiring event, an Amazon representative said the company plans to begin hiring for its Dartmouth Delivery Station on Sept. 2.
While she didn’t give firm dates, the representative said the hiring is happening in anticipation of the centre opening during the first week of October.
Initially, Amazon is only hiring entry-level warehouse jobs at the Dartmouth centre. The recruiter said almost every job will be a night shift, from about 1 a.m. until 11 a.m.
She didn’t confirm exactly how many positions Amazon was looking to fill. However, she said the company plans to hire between 15-20 people every week for six weeks. After that, it anticipates hiring 5-10 people a week for four-to-six weeks.
That would mean between 110-180 jobs in Dartmouth.
In an email to Huddle, Amazon has since confirmed it plans to hire “approximatley 100” people at its 200,000-square foot Dartmouth facility.
According to the recruiter on Sept. 2, those initial hires will be full-time and start at $17.60 an hour (including night shift bonsues). The usual schedule would be four, 10-hour days each week.
Initially, the hiring will be done online and managed by Amazon recruiters based in Ottawa.