Amazon: Hiring event was mix-up

SMITHFIELD — A scheduling mix-up showed Amazon holding a hiring event this past Saturday at the distribution center it will open in West Smithfield.

An Amazon employee at the site said the company tried to let the public know about the mix-up. But the crowd outside the warehouse on Saturday showed that not everyone got the word.

The temperature on Saturday morning was in the 20s, and the employee told the jobseekers that the building wasn't ready to have people inside.

A company spokesman later said Amazon would post Smithfield job openings every Saturday morning for the next 12 weeks at hiring.amazon.com. Also, the company will hold hiring events that it will post in advance at ncworks.gov, the spokesman said.

Amazon has said that it will hire roughly 500 people to work at its Smithfield distribution center.