Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, SportsHeartland RV announces 400 new jobs

Heartland RV announces 400 new jobs

Elkhart's Heartland RV announced Tuesday it will start hiring 400 new employees.

The company says its seen a recent spike in sales, especially during the fourth quarter.

To meet those demands, company officials say they need to beef up their workforce.

They plan to have all 400 employees hired by March of 2010.

It didn't take long for the news to spread or for people to show up to apply for a job.

Many applicants showed up to Heartland's facilities Tuesday in hopes of getting back to work.

Todd Zilm has been unemployed for almost a year and says, "You have to get there ahead of time, beat the crowds, beat the rush, and hopefully you get called.

That's why Zilm rushed down to Heartland RV to apply Tuesday morning.

With 400 new jobs coming to the area, James Hill didn't waste time.

Hill has been laid off for a year and says, "As soon as I hear somewhere's hiring, I try to get there. It don't matter if it's RVs or what, I try to get there and put an application in."

Both have worked in the RV industry for years.

Since then, they're doing what they can to find a job.

Zilm says, "It's very hard, I ain't had a paycheck in over a month and I'm just running on fumes, you know."

George Lealiifano understands, especially with the holidays coming up.

He's trying to support his five kids and can only find part-time work.

Lealiifano says, "It is pretty tough you know what I'm saying. I'm pretty much bouncing on the weekend at the club to maintain and keep my head above water."

When hopeful applicants arrived Tuesday morning resumes in hand, they didn't get too far.

Lealiifano says, "They said too many came by, it was so much chaos or something like that, but they gave us this note here and hopefully I'll come back on December 5th."

As for Zilm, he plans to continue his search, "We don't know, we don't know. Go try somewhere else I guess now."

Heartland RV will not be accepting applications until November 30th.

They plan to have a job fair December 5th from 8 a.m. to noon at their headquarters at 1001 All Pro Drive in Elkhart.

The company currently employs 800 people.