FirstEnergy Corp. last week announced plans to hire up to 3,000 employees through 2007, with approximately 1,600 expected to be hired in 2005 and 2006. FirstEnergy companies currently have more than 13,000 employees in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

“Like most U.S. companies, we will need to replace highly skilled and experienced employees who retire over the next several years,” said FirstEnergy CEO Anthony Alexander. “While some of these positions will be filled through promotions and reassignments, we will be aggressively recruiting talented and highly motivated people from outside our company to ensure that we continue to provide reliable, responsive service to our customers.”

The hiring will occur across the company’s subsidiaries, including FirstEnergy’s generating plants and seven electric utility operating companies, as well as in a variety of technical and professional areas.

In 2005 and 2006, approximately 745 positions will be available in Energy Delivery, 575 positions in power plants and support services, and 280 positions in corporate service areas. These will include engineering, business analysts, finance, dispatching, information systems, administrative, line and technical workers. Actual numbers of hires and locations will depend in large part on the number of employees who choose to retire in the next several years, as well as attrition and other factors.

“We are taking these steps now so that new employees will have adequate opportunities to benefit from working side-by-side with our experienced and knowledgeable staff,” Alexander said. “We want to make sure there is sufficient time for a transfer of knowledge to occur through ongoing mentoring and on-the-job training.”

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