GENERAL SANTOS — SM Prime Holdings, Inc. is hiring at least 500 workers for a new mall here slated to open in the first quarter next year, the local Public Employment Services Office (PESO) said.

PESO chief Elizheba A. Valdez said the country’s largest mall operator tapped her office to help in the hiring of workers for the three divisions of its department store.

Jobs to be filled include managers, supervisors, customer service and sales assistants, and clerks, among others, she said in an interview with local media. 

Already, hundreds of construction workers have been hired for the SM mall here, which is nearing completion for its targeted opening in the first quarter of 2011. 

Construction started mid-2010.

Late last month, four construction workers were reportedly hurt when the third floor of the mall’s car park building collapsed. 

The P2.5-billion SM mall complex is said to be the biggest of its kind in Mindanao, said Hans T. Sy, president of SM Prime Holdings, Inc., who earlier visited the city to turn over to the local government the 440-meter two-lane concrete road the developer constructed to expand its front entrance road access. — Romer S. Sarmiento