Foxconn Day at UWM draws hundreds of job-seekers

Some 350 people came to the UWM Student Union on Monday seeking information and interviews from Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer.

Foxconn is looking to hire thousands of workers for a massive plant it is building in Racine County, a headquarters in downtown Milwaukee and other facilities in Wisconsin.

Current students, alumni and the public were invited to UWM’s Foxconn Day to inquire about jobs at the company. Some were able to conduct video interviews. Monday’s event was the first in a series of recruiting efforts the company is making at colleges and universities in Wisconsin.

Foxconn Day at UWM

Alan Yeung, director U.S. strategic initiatives for Foxconn, said that the company is seeking workers in a wide range of fields, not just engineering and computer science. Foxconn is looking for workers in sales, marketing, accounting and financial analysis.

Workers with backgrounds in social sciences and other less technical fields can drive innovation, Yeung said.

“Nowadays, in the 21st century, innovation, technology, applications don’t just come from engineers and computer scientists,” Yeung said.

Yeung invited the UWM Foxconn Day attendees to check out the company’s hiring portal.

Chancellor Mark Mone said Foxconn fits in well with the role UWM plays in Wisconsin’s economy.

“You think about the quality and the size of the talent pipeline,” Mone said. “UW-Milwaukee has 185,000 alumni, 85 percent of whom are still in Wisconsin. I don’t think there’s an institution in this state that draws from Wisconsin as heavily and retains the talent such that we can go to leaders of companies and they will tell you that the majority of their employees come from UWM.”

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