MANATEE -- Suncoast Workforce and Manatee Economic Development Corp. will host a hiring event for 240 workers at Pierce Manufacturing in Bradenton on Jan. 8.

Pierce Manufacturing Inc., a subsidiary of Wisc.-based Oshkosh Corp., announced 325 worker layoffs in November. Sixty-some workers have resigned and have found other work.

Manufacturers at the onsite-hiring event will be able to interview skilled, pre-screened Pierce workers who will be laid off. Some of the workers could walk away with a job offer. The hiring event is only for Pierce workers. The company makes emergency response vehicles and equipment.

Several manufacturers are expected to attend, said Sally Hill, spokeswoman for Suncoast Workforce, based in Sarasota. Suncoast and Manatee Economic Development Corp. have been recruiting only manufacturers with job openings.

Suncoast Workforce has held 30 hiring events for 20 employers between July and October. As a result, 237 people were hired.

The onsite-hiring event is only one of the ways Suncoast Workforce connects employers and workers.

Prior to the event, Suncoast Workforce offers workers resume and interviewing

workshops. Next week it will provide another workshop on interviewing skills.

"We're helping to get those employees impacted ready for the hiring event," Hill said.

Suncoast Workforce also pre-screens workers for employers and helps train workers who may need to update their skills.

The layoff process at Pierce Manufacturing will be gradual, beginning in January and ending mid-year.

The company, which makes fire trucks, is discontinuing its Medtec ambulance line. The company has seen revenue decline due to shrinking orders by municipalities.