Jul. 15—Efforts to recruit for Electric Boat's growing workforce are expanding to the Hartford area.
The submarine manufacturer hired 5,300 people for its locations in southeastern Connecticut and Quonset Point, R.I., last year and an additional 2,500 people during the first half of 2024. The company is expected to continue to hire at a very strong clip in the coming years, said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.
Given the high demand, the Navy's "Hire Hartford" campaign is starting to raise awareness in the Hartford region about jobs at Electric Boat and in the submarine industrial base and help connect people to job opportunities and training programs.
The campaign is modeled after "Project Providence," which began 18 months ago to expand recruitment beyond the area around Quonset Point, R.I., and called for the development of a curriculum in Rhode Island for career and technical schools, programs for youths, and job training programs for adults, among other initiatives, said Courtney.
An Electric Boat spokesperson said in a statement that Electric Boat is at the beginning of a historic hiring effort involving thousands of jobs for trade employees and engineers each year that will continue for the foreseeable future.
"The demand for our product is so significant that our future workforce includes students who are currently in grade school," the spokesperson said.
""Hire Hartford" will bring greater awareness to opportunities in shipbuilding," the company added. "To meet our anticipated growth, we need to attract more workers from Hartford and other regions of the state. We also anticipate that "Hire Hartford" will help the hundreds of suppliers located throughout the state who build critical submarine components and are also looking to hire new employees."
Electric Boat said the Providence campaign led to "a significant increase in new hires from Providence" along with engagement from schools, state and local leaders and industry partners.
Courtney said the first step for the Hire Hartford initiative is targeted communication to let people in the high-density region know good jobs are available, whether at Electric Boat or at industrial base supply chain companies.
The initiative, paid for through Submarine Industrial Base funding, will include a partnership between Capital Workforce Partners, a workforce board, and Electric Boat to develop a job training program closer to people's homes.
Courtney and U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, held a discussion Monday about the initiative at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology in East Hartford with representatives of Electric Boat, the Department of the Navy's Submarine Industrial Base team, Capital Workforce Partners, BlueForge Alliance, BNL Industries, a Vernon-based valve design and engineering company, and others.