Ikea hiring begins in Fishers
FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) — Hundreds of Hoosiers attended two job fairs Wednesday for the new Ikea store opening up in Fishers.
Ikea representatives said they’re looking for 250 employees to staff the store at 116th Street and Interstate 69. Wages will start from $10-11 per hour and the company offers benefits for part-time employees as well as full-time workers. That’s drawing people into Hamilton County from Marion County, despite the lack of public transit to the store.
“There’s a lot of jobs out that way,” said Demirio Ransom, a Marion County resident applying to work at Ikea. “It’s kind of hard to get them in the city. So I recommend people work on your license so you can get out there. That’s where all the work’s at.”
Shannon Custard, the Ikea U.S. talent acquisition manager, noted seeing a variety of people into the job fair.
“I think were seeing a lot of people open to commuting in,” she said. “We tried to place (the store) somewhere centrally located.”
Custard, a Hoosier native, knows there’s no public transport that goes as far as 116th Street on the I-69 corridor.
“We’ve just been talking with people about other means of transportation and carpooling,” Custard said, “and working with some other co-workers for when their shifts are starting.”
As for those in Fishers, city leaders say residents are very excited to spend their money at Ikea but not necessarily make it there.
“A lot of people are more excited about the meatballs than furniture, so it’ll still be a great lunchtime opportunity,” said Brandon Dickinson, director of economic development for the city.
Dickinson said Fishers could offer employees to Ikea, especially young adults, but said the entry-level positions might not fit most from that community.
“A lot of our citizens are usually in the more middle management, full-time job,” he said.
What he is excited about is Fishers becoming an epicenter for home goods shopping.
“We’re really excited about seeing new visitors to the area that haven’t made their way up to Fishers in a couple of years,” Dickinson said. “They are really going to be surprised to see what has become of this town that used to have just a McDonald’s and Shell station, and now has 90,000 people calling it home.”
Ikea corporate representatives still haven’t pinned down an opening month or day, still referring to the opening as “Fall 2017.”
The next Ikea job fair will Saturday, July 29, at Ikea’a temporary offices at 9785 Crosspoint Blvd., Suite 110, in Fishers. That fair runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and representatives say they’ll hold more hiring fairs in September.