Wal-Mart is looking for about 300 employees to work full time and part time at its new supercenter under construction on U.S. 90 in Pass Christian.

Most hires will start work in September to help get the 153,000-square-foot store ready for its grand opening in the fall.

To help with the employment process, Wal-Mart has opened a temporary hiring center in the Multi-Purpose Building at the West Harrison County Center of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in the Long Beach Industrial Park.

Applications will be accepted 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for several weeks.

“We intend to be in the hiring facility until we get in the building in September,” store manager Rob Richardson said.

He said Wal-Mart is looking for hourly workers and supervisors “across the board” to staff all areas of the new store.

“We are excited to bring Wal-Mart back to Pass Christian and bring more good jobs with career opportunities to the area,” he said.

Richardson has worked for Wal-Mart since 1997 when he was hired as an assistant manager in Saraland, Ala.

On average, full-time employees in Mississippi make $10.89 an hour, he said, and eligible employees will get benefits including insurance and store discounts. Some also may be eligible for performance-based bonuses.

The new store, elevated 6 feet higher than the one destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, will be the retailer’s latest prototype and “unlike any store on the Coast,” he said.