EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — Cleveland-Cliffs opened a hiring pool for hourly union jobs at Indiana Harbor Works and Burns Harbor Works. The steelmaker is staffing two of the Region’s largest remaining sources of high-paying mill work.
Key facts
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Employer | Cleveland-Cliffs |
| Mills | Indiana Harbor (East Chicago); Burns Harbor (Porter County) |
| Apply via | Indiana Career Connect |
| Pool opened | 8 a.m. Monday after The Times’ Aug. 13 report |
| Requirements | 18+, full time; ID; diploma/GED; pass screening |
Hourly utility pool
Cliffs posted notice that it would take applications for hourly utility jobs through Indiana Career Connect, the state’s job-matching site, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported.
Applicants must be 18 and able to work full time. Shifts may run 8, 10, or 12 hours. Candidates need identification, a high-school diploma or GED, and must pass pre-employment screening.
Cliffs expected heavy interest. The applicant cap can fill. Candidates who hit a closed pool should check Career Connect again rather than dropping a resume at the gate, according to the company notice as reported by The Times.
The pool is a roster for openings as they occur — not a guarantee of an immediate start. Cliffs did not publish a target headcount in the August notice. Utility classification is the hourly on-ramp; posted engineer or maintenance jobs hire to a requisition.
Technical and professional openings
The same Times package listed jobs already live on Cliffs’ careers page:
- Process-control engineers and steel-operations workers at Burns Harbor
- Lead quality engineer and associate quality engineer at Burns Harbor
- Human-resources representatives at Burns Harbor and Indiana Harbor
- Process-coordinator maintenance workers at Indiana Harbor
- Steel-operations workers at East Chicago
Utility-pool applications run through indianacareerconnect.com. Technical titles are separate clicks on the company’s careers page. WorkOne offices can provide a computer if a candidate does not have one at home.
Why it matters in NWI
Along the Lake Michigan industrial shore, Cliffs and U.S. Steel still run the integrated mills that have historically been among Northwest Indiana’s largest private employers and best-paid union jobs, The Times noted. Indiana Harbor sits in East Chicago. Burns Harbor sits in Porter County. Both campuses buy local contractor hours when they hire and when they maintain furnaces and finishing lines.
This is a hiring story, not the Sept. 13 USW 30-day contract-extension coverage. Those talks cover wages, healthcare, and capital spending. The August pool is Cliffs filling seats while bargaining continues. A hiring notice does not settle open economic issues the USW has flagged at Cliffs.
It is also distinct from U.S. Steel’s Gary Works No. 14 reline coverage. Gary Works hiring tied to that restart is a different employer and a different mill.
What job seekers should do now
- Create an Indiana Career Connect profile
- Watch the utility-person listing
- Apply separately to any engineer or operations title still live
- Treat Career Connect as the live board — the August 8 a.m. Monday start is not a Sept. 15 event
For the Region, each filled mill job is another high-wage industrial paycheck in East Chicago or Burns Harbor — the same employer base that underwrites local tax rolls and supplier work.
Region N3 will update if Cliffs or Indiana Career Connect posts a new pool date or a headcount of hires from the August opening.