January 25, 2024
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding partners with Hampton Roads Workforce Council to fill maritime jobs
Photo caption: Xavier Beale, NNS vice president of human resources, offers remarks during the Hampton Roads Workforce Council’s ‘Waves of Opportunity’ campaign kickoff event (photo by Krystal Searcy/Hampton Roads Workforce Council).
“They’re getting the basic competencies and proficiencies that they need to carry them throughout their career and, who knows? I started my career as a deckplate mechanic, as a pipefitter."
NNS Vice President of Human Resources
The Hampton Roads Workforce Council held a kickoff event for their Waves of Opportunity campaign, promoting the Hampton Roads Regional Workforce Training System, of which HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division is a member.
NNS Vice President of Human Resources Xavier Beale was a speaker at the event and was interviewed by local media in attendance.
Check out this story from WTKR-TV below, and additional coverage from WAVY-TV here.
Looking for work? The Hampton Roads Workforce Council is looking to fill thousands of local maritime jobs
(Jan. 24, 2024 by Anthony Sabella)
NORFOLK, Va. - The Hampton Roads Workforce Council announced its new initiative called "Waves of Opportunity" on Wednesday, an effort to hire and train thousands of maritime workers.
The organization held a press conference inside Dominion Tower with the details: An $11 million Good Jobs Challenge Grant is supporting the program to fill 11,000 positions in the local maritime industry.
According to the Workforce Council, around 230 people have graduated from the program to date.
“When we talk about maritime, we talk about shipbuilding, ship repair. We’re talking about ports and logistics, the offshore wind industry that’s coming, the bridges and tunnels. There are just so many opportunities," said Shawn Avery, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Workforce Council.
Avery tells News 3 that many of the opportunities are through Newport News Shipbuilding, which builds many of the U.S. Navy's warships and submarines.
Click here to read the full story from WTKR-TV.
About HII
HII is America’s largest shipbuilder, delivering the world’s most powerful ships and all-domain mission technologies, including unmanned systems, to U.S. and allied defense customers. HII is the largest producer of unmanned underwater vehicles for the U.S. Navy and the world.
With a more than 140-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII builds and integrates defense capabilities extending from the core fleet to C6ISR, AI/ML, EW and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HII’s workforce is 45,000 strong.
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