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Wal-Mart kicks-off 1997 national recruitment campaign at NHEA conference and career expo.

Santa Clara, CA (April 11, 1997) – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the nation's largest retailer, chose the National Hispanic Employees' Association's (NHEA) third annual conference and career expo to introduce its new national recruitment campaign. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer plans to hire over 200-thousand new employees by the turn of the century to keep pace with the growth rate of its stores in the United States. Wal Mart, already the nation's largest employer of Latinos – with an estimated 52-thousand, plans to bolster its recruitment efforts among Hispanics, African Americans and women over the next three years.

"We wanted to get the word out about our national recruitment campaign in the Hispanic community and felt the NHEA conference and career expo was a great place to start," said Coleman Peterson, senior vice president of Wal-Mart's People Division.

"Because NHEA is focused on employment and career matters and has over 20-thousand active members, we are convinced it is one of the groups with which to partner as we begin our ambitious recruitment efforts," he added.

The company intends to take its recruitment messages to a variety of community-based organizations which address economic and employment needs of Hispanics, African Americans and Women; among them: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of United Latin American Citizens(LULAC), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and several others. The inclusion of these three groups demonstrates Wal-Mart's commitment to having its work force more accurately reflect its customer base.

"Breaking employment and career barriers for Hispanics is what we were founded to do," said NHEA president Eduardo Salaz, a Human Resources executive with SiliconGraphics of Mountain View, CA. "The interest shown by corporate leaders – like Wal-Mart – in NHEA, underscores the importance of our efforts," added Salaz.

NHEA brings together member employee associations and students to discuss issues of concern to employers, employees and students exploring careers and/or employment opportunities in corporate, not-for-profit and public sectors. NHEA chapters are active in the following U.S. corporations: AT&T, Apple Computer, Avon, Bell Atlantic, Coors Brewing Co., Hughes Missile Systems, Kaiser Permanente, Litton Industries,Pacific Gas & Electric, Northern California Firefighters, Pacific Telesis, Polaroid Corporation, Public Service Company of New Mexico, SBC Communications, Inc., SiliconGraphics, Inc., USWEST, Sun Microsystems, and Texas Instruments.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates 2,300 Wal-Mart stores and 437 SAM's Clubs in the U.S. and employs more than 700-thousand associates throughout the nation.

Photo caption:
Wal-Mart kicks-off national recruitment campaign with NHEA. Coleman Peterson (left), Senior Vice President, People Division, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. accepts a corporate recognition award from National Hispanic Employees' Association (NHEA) president Eduardo Salaz. Wal-Mart introduced the Spanish language version of its national recruitment campaign: "Sus amigos y familia," which is intended to attract Spanish-speaking employment candidates. The nation's top retailer also made a corporate contribution of $7,500, in support of NHEA's third annual conference and career expo during a meeting of their board of directors in Santa Clara, CA. NHEA is the nation's largest Hispanic membership organization with some 20-thousand active members.

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