CORONAVIRUS: Moy Park creating hundreds of temporary jobs as demand surges

Q Radio news

One of Northern Ireland's largest private sector employers is to employ hundreds of temporary staff amid the Coronavirus outbreak.

Moy Park says it's due to a marked increase in grocery retail and subsequent demand for poultry across Northern Ireland and GB.

 The company is looking for people to join its teams across a range of roles in its agriculture and production operations.

 Moy Park says many of these positions could be particularly suitable to those from within the hospitality industry, due to an existing awareness and familiarity with food hygiene and safety regulations, as well as other transferrable skills.

 Speaking about the opportunities, Moy Park HR and Performance Director, Kirsty Wilkins said; “There has been a noticeable increase in grocery sales as people practice social distancing and self-isolate.

"This has resulted in a heightened demand for chicken produce and with it, opportunities in the sector to meet this demand. As a team we are committed to ensuring we provide nutritious food for our communities, and we are keen to support individuals who are looking for short term employment to meet changing consumer purchasing habits.”

“This increase in grocery retail comes at a time when there has been a fall in demand across our sister sectors of hospitality and tourism as people’s socialising and travel plans are curtailed.

"We hope the pressure being faced across these industries is short term and, in the meantime, we are keen to help anyone looking for a job through these new opportunities.” 

Discussing its own COVID-19 precautionary measures, Kirsty added: “The health and wellbeing of our team is our most important consideration and we are following all relevant government advice and protocols.

"This includes increased frequency of the sanitising of communal areas and increased availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across our factories.  Our business is nothing without the people and the farms who supply us.

"We are thankful to all our team members who are doing a fantastic job. We continue to operate as normal and we have a dedicated team in place which has given careful thought and planning to how we will manage different scenarios.”

 To apply, please email tempjobs@moypark.com or enquiries@ambitionspersonnel.com and visit www.ambitionspersonnel.com ,  www.graftonrecruitment.com.