According to a report posted on the Virginian-Pilot, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) shipyard in Newport News, Va., is poised to hire between 10,000 and 15,000 in the coming five years, according to quotes from a highly placed human resources source quoted in the article. While HII will be affected by potential new cuts in Navy spending, it was reported that of its current workforce of 20,000+, nearly 20%, or 4,000, are elibible for retirement. In its June 2011 edition, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News (www.marinelink.com) published an extensive interview with HII CEO Mike Petters, and when the topic turned to challenges faced by the shipbuilding company, Petters had this to say regarding personnel: "The health of any company is defined by its ability to attract talent, to attract technology and to attract capital. And healthy companies are able to do all three of those things, and when you’re not able to do that, then the company starts to falter. And so, we spend considerable amount of our energy, working those three issues to make sure that we are able to attract capital and talent that we need and that we understand technologies that we need to invest in."
(Source: http://hamptonroads.com)