A Hammond automobile parts supplier plans to add a third working shift as a result of Ford Motor Co.’s plans to do the same at its Chicago Assembly Plant.

Contract Services Group President Mirko Marich said Monday the company is looking for between 35 and 40 people to fill automotive parts assembly and quality inspection positions. He said the hiring boost is the result of improvements in automobile activity and production.

CSG is a supplier of seating sub-assemblies to Lear in Hammond, which sends finished seats to Ford to install in its vehicles.

In connection with the planned employment boost, CSG is working with Staff Source to field a pool of applicants for the full-time positions. The recruitment fair will be from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday at the StaffSource office, 2500 165th St., in Hammond.

“Our main customer is Lear Corp.,” Marich said. “So Ford hires a third shift, Lear hires a third shift — we’ll hire a third shift to support that.

“It’s a function of reducing overtime. We have people working five and six days a week, 10-hour shifts; it’s not sustainable.”

Marich said the wage for employees depends on the working shift and location. Applicants have to pass a pre-employment drug screening and have the flexibility to work overtime and weekends.

New hires will be brought into CSG at the lower wage of a two-tier wage scale, which is about $8.50 an hour, said Jaime Luna, president of United Auto Workers Local 2335. Luna said workers were really busy at the plant, and there is a lot of new employee-training activity happening.

Luna said there are about 160 union workers at CSG now, which is about three times the number of workers employed there 18 months ago.

The union local represents workers at the CSG facility and at Lear’s Hammond seat manufacturing plant. Luna said by the time Lear completes hiring employees for its third shift next month, there could be nearly 700 union workers at that plant.

PORTAGE | Businesses in Portage, Hobart and Valparaiso are looking for people later this month and next month to fill entry-level positions.

Hammond-based staffing firm Staff Source is holding recruiting efforts at the Portage WorkOne office to field candidates for jobs as batch makers, machine operators, quality control technicians, packers, and forklift operators.

The recruiting effort will happen at the WorkOne office in Portage, 1575 Adler Circle, from 9 a.m. to noon Friday and on March 23, March 30 and April 13.

HAMMOND | Staff Source, a local staffing and recruitment firm, celebrated the holiday season by giving back to the global community. A fundraiser was held to raise money and awareness for a charitable nonprofit organization, Worldwide Impact Now.

Staff Source and WIN teamed up to showcase struggling people and cultures around the world, raising more than $25,000. All donations went to WIN to help landmine victims, orphans and medics.

The night included raffle drawings and a silent auction.

The program opened with a showing of a documentary, “On the Edge of Existence,” filmed in the jungles of Burma, to help people visualize the oppression occurring in that area of the world.

According to Timothy Heinemann, founder of WIN and an Iraq war veteran, WIN continues initiatives in Kenya and Mexico, but because of dire need, remains committed to a “Burma First” stance.

“WIN remains a modest, all-volunteer effort from the U.S. and Great Britain,” Heinemann said. “The hope it is that humanitarian efforts at grassroots levels can make impacts for these people in their fight for survival.”

Visit http://www.worldwide-impact-now.org/.

HAMMOND | A Hammond staffing and recruitment firm is hosting a series of open houses to help recruit candidates to fill more than 100 jobs for a local automotive industry supplier.

The first open house is 9 a.m. to noon Thursday at Staff Source’s corporate office, 2500 165th St.

The remaining open houses are from 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 28, 9 to 11:30 a.m. Jan. 4, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 11, 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 14, 9 to 11:30 a.m. Jan. 18 and 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 25.

More than 100 positions are open ranging from production and assembly to material handling for a local company that couldn’t be named for competitive reasons, said Erin Trzcinski, who is working with Staff Source to host the open houses. Trzcinski said the company wants people qualified by February and the full-time positions start in April.

Attendees are expected to bring their high school diploma or GED, a photo ID and a recent copy of a resume. People will be considered for the position if they have a high school diploma or GED, pass a criminal background check and drug screening exam, and are open to working long shifts and weekends.

Applicants also can apply online at www.staffsourceUSA.com before coming to the open house. For more information, call the Staff Source office at (219) 989-9675.