HII’s newly launched ‘Build It’ hiring campaign spotlights the contributions and rewards of building ships for the U.S. Navy.

The story below from Defense News explains what it means at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, where hiring will include 19,000 skilled trades positions over the next decade to support construction of U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.

You can search career opportunities throughout HII here: https://hii.com/careers/

Newport News yard seeks experienced workforce for nuclear shipbuilding

(May 28, 2024 by Megan Eckstein)

HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding is taking its recruitment efforts on the road as it looks to bring in more employees to expand its nuclear shipbuilding workforce.

The Virginia-based shipyard met its hiring goals in 2023 and is on track to meet them again in 2024, Xavier Beale, vice president of human resources at Newport News Shipbuilding, told Defense News in a May 23 interview.

The yard plans to hire 3,000 skilled tradespeople this year, but it needs to bring in 19,000 over the next decade, Beale said, adding that the existing training pipelines in the Hampton Roads region is unable to funnel enough new employees toward Newport News.

Beale said volume is only one issue when it comes to recruiting. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the United States in 2020, a wave of highly experienced workers retired. Replacing those master tradespeople with recent high school graduates has affected productivity.

While it’s difficult to find talent with decades of shipbuilding experience, the next best thing might be finding talent with years of experience as welders or electricians outside of the shipbuilding-industrial base, Beale said.

You can read the entire story from Defense News here. Learn more about HII’s Build It campaign here.