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This will come in handy when I'm shopping for drywall. |
Posted on 02/16/2005 12:13:58 PM PST by MisterRepublican
Home Depot wants to put more Hispanics in orange aprons through a hiring partnership it will unveil today.
The Atlanta-based chain plans to work with several Hispanic groups to boost both hiring and its appeal to a market segment whose buying power reached $750 billion last year.
Hispanic purchasing power will reach an estimated $1 trillion by 2008, the Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility says.
Hispanics are poised to be the next generation of home buyers, said Jeffrey Humphreys, a University of Georgia economist.
"Home Depot's efforts will pay big dividends in the future" as the retailer fights with Lowe's and smaller rivals to capture that business, Humphreys said.
The National Council of La Reza, the ASPIRA Association, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and SER-Jobs for Progress will help Home Depot attract and recruit full- and part-time workers across the country. Daniel Borges, an eight-year Home Depot employee from Venezuela, said the program is a great idea since about 30 percent of shoppers are Hispanic at the Doraville store where he works.
"Customers shop where they feel welcome and comfortable and get the products and information they need," said Borges, who sported a badge saying "Yo hablo Espanol" — I speak Spanish.
"I have many regular customers who have told me they are comfortable coming to this store because they know we have bilingual associates."
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
Same story from CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight transcript:
Home Depot, this country's biggest home improvement retailer, today announced plans to hire 20,000 new workers. What makes this initiative different is that Home Depot says it prefers to hire Spanish-speaking workers for those jobs. And even more surprising, Home Depot's partners in the campaign include groups that advocate amnesty for illegal aliens and U.S. driver's licenses for illegals.
Bill Tucker reports.
BILL TUCKER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Home Depot is no stranger to marketing to the Hispanic marketplace. The home of the Los Angeles Major League soccer team is sponsored by Home Depot. Home Depot also sponsors the Mexican national soccer team.
And now the company is taking its relationship with the Hispanic community in a new direction. Home Depot wants to create 20,000 new jobs this year, and it's partnering with an array of Hispanic groups, hoping that they will help recruit the Hispanic bilingual workers.
DENNIS DONOVAN, HOME DEPOT: We see this as a real opportunity to work with these prominent Hispanic organizations, to tap into their strong networks of relationships and local offices that will not only help us fill our jobs, but also create employment opportunities.
TUCKER: The groups in turn will promote Home Depot.
ALFONSO MARTINEZ, HISPANIC ASSOCIATION ON CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY: One of the obvious outcomes of this is that Home Depot will earn the trust of the Hispanic community, which is such an important aspects for corporations reaching out to the Hispanic community.
Reporter: That alliance is made up of the ASPIRA association, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, SER-Jobs for Progress National, and the National Council of La Raza.
La Raza's involvement raises some eyebrows, because it is a politically active group on illegal immigration issues.
(I don't know what that means, so don't ask.)
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This will come in handy when I'm shopping for drywall. |
La Raza and their ilk do not speak for US Hispanics anymore than John Kerry speaks for America. They are way on the left and believe me, only the more liberal of hispanics (and they are not that many) support illegal immigration. Most hispanics (even legal residents) are as aghast at the immigration problem as anyone else. La Raza is about the most elitest group you could ever find. Think Jesse Jackson, only most hispanics are not as blindly swallowing the bullsh!t as the blacks are.
I cannot blame Home Depot for trying to expand their market.
My business thrives because of the fact that I and my employees speak Spanish. Not doing so would cost me customers.
Just great. Some more jobs that Americans could do normally, but can't because they don't speak a foreign language.
This trend has shut me out of a lot of jobs, that I would be otherwise qualified for, and no I don't have time to learn to speak espanol....
well they won't have to look far...
there's thousands of illegals walking up and down every Home Depot in America! LMAO
"La Raza and their ilk"
Just allies of the Corporate cheap labor lobby with a "liberal" face.
It looks like white folks had better learn Spanish if they want to compete for jobs at HD. It sounds like the multi-lingual gambit is an attempt to dodge laws banning racial discrimination, i.e., "Oh, we aren't hiring them because they are Hispanic, but because they are bi-lingual, the better to serve our diverse customer base."
It's a natural part of "assimilation" that the anti-immigrants accuse Hispanics of not doing.
Some of those Hispanics working on back hoes and road graders are home owners whose wives drive the kids to swim meets in their SUV. But all the anti-immigrants see are "illegals" ruining our culture and threatening our sovereignty.
At the one I've been to in LA, there are about 15 day-laborers - assumed to be illegal - who wait at the exit sitting on the curb. So when you go to Home Depot, you can not only buy your building supplies, but you can also pick up people to do the work.
That should help the Cambodian customers. So whose rights win?
Not where I live. The new home buyers are Asians and they are paying over asking price. They also won't hire people who do not speak English.
I refuse to do business with any company who makes hiring or marketing distinctions based upon race. So long, HD.
"But all the anti-immigrants see are "illegals" ruining our culture and threatening our sovereignty."
I try to scrupulously avoid lumping legals and illegals together.
I don't think "they" ruin our culture at all. For me, it's a matter of costs and negative macro-economic effects.
Anyone who reads this post, and still thinks that they are just taking the jobs we won't do, has to have a rude awakening..
So much for them learning to speak OUR language.
sw
Spanish needs to be a required course from Elementary on...
Well, HD really does serve a bilingual customer base. Look at most of the guys building houses around Atlanta, the same guys coming in to HD for drywall, wood and nails by the truckload. Se hablan Espanol mejor que Ingles. It's reality.
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