McDonald’s, Pilot Company hiring in Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – With vaccinations rolling out and businesses continuing to reopen, many major companies are looking to fill up job positions in the Chattanooga area.

Local McDonald’s restaurants are hoping to hire approximately 1,200 employees across Chattanooga to staff up for the busy summer season, while the Knoxville-based Pilot Company is looking to fill more than 5,000 positions nationwide.

Kerry Hoyle, a local McDonald’s owner-operator, says the need for employees comes after a volatile year for businesses due to the pandemic.

“It really has changed the dynamic in every way of employment and how businesses function and everything in between,” says Hoyle.

He says that they’ll need to hire dedicated workers to help companies recover from a sluggish year, whether you’re a high school student looking for an after-school job or an adult looking to pursue a career.

“Businesses are ready to go – and we need people to go, right? So I think that’s where we’re all at.”

And with the state reporting nearly 167,000 unemployed Tennesseans as of March, Hoyle says not to count out the Golden Arches as a job option.

“Check us out, because you may be surprised and we may be able to offer you something that is just what you need, whether it’s a function of flexibility in hours or anything else.”

Likewise, Ashley Geyer Jones with the Pilot Company says that as an essential business, the company needed to hire more in order to keep up with growing demand.

“Very early on we were declared an essential business, and we took that very seriously. We’re open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and we know we need to be open,” says Jones.

She says that many of those jobs are coming to Tennessee, with a specific need for workers in the Chattanooga area.

“We’re looking for over 200 roles in Tennessee and specifically 70 in the Chattanooga area, as well as over 100 roles in our store support center in Knoxville.”