When Honda officials said they were delighted by the response the company’s call for applicants returned, they may have been understating things a bit.

Tuesday, it was disclosed more than 5,000 job seekers applied for the 18 positions listed on www.indiana.honda.com. That is an average of more than 275 applicants for each job.

Jeffrey Smith, assistant vice president of corporate affairs, thinks he knows why so many are seeking to don the white jump suits.

“This is in line with other major hiring we’ve done. There is a general enthusiasm to work for our company,” he said. “Honda is a great place to work. It provides a challenging environment where excellence is encouraged. People are given a great opportunity to grow to their potential.”

Of the original 18 jobs, only four remain on the Website for potential employees to apply. This is down from eight just two days ago.

“There’s clearly been a flurry of additional resumes recently,” Smith said. “We’ve temporarily closed out 14 jobs so we can evaluate the applications received so far. They may re-open in the future but, for now, we have quite a bit of reading to do. That’s a good thing.”

Smith said Honda looks to find employees in a host of places. The company advertised in 37 newspapers, including many rural and other publications which appeal to a wide variety of readers.

“We’re committed to recruiting candidates from diverse backgrounds to be part of our team. We are very associate focused and people respond well to that,” Smith said. “Diversity helps make for an effective work environment and we want to reach out and offer this opportunity to everyone.”

According to Honda’s Website, the bulk of the 2,000 production-related jobs will come later. Some production hiring will occur in 2007, but the majority will take place throughout 2008.