* * Seymour Staffing may know about your next job

Are you looking for a job? Perhaps a better job? Are you mechanically inclined with a good job history? If so, Tracy Seymour-Miller may know about your next job.

Tracy is a transplant from North Carolina who arrived here in 2014 when her husband was hired as director of a company new to our area. She hung her shingle as Seymour Staffing and opened an office on North Franklin Street in Christiansburg. Her woman owned company has extensive experience in all aspects of manufacturing recruiting and human resources.

We’ve seen millions of manufacturing jobs leave America in the last couple of generations, and thousands of plant closings. But according to Seymour, rumors of the death of manufacturing in America are premature. “We always see ups and downs,” she told me, waving her hand like an ocean wave, “but right now we’re on a high. I worked for a manufacturer in 2008 when we let lots of employees go and shut plants down. Now we’re definitely on an uptick. We have client companies who are looking to hire 20 or more people.

“We are in the direct hire staffing business,” she said. “What that means is that we recruit and screen job applicants for companies looking to hire. We specialize in the manufacturing sector. A company might be having a hard time finding talent. If we send them a prospective hire, the company knows that we’ve already screened them for applicable skills and experience, in some cases for background issues and drugs. Many times, they’ll offer a job that same day.”

Tracy is an ebullient, dark-haired woman with a bright smile and infectious enthusiasm. “We hire at all levels from company presidents or vice presidents to maintenance and line workers and custodians. Right now, companies are having trouble staffing in technical jobs. High schools and community colleges are not educating enough students in the trades, people who can operate and fix equipment, things like lathes, milling machines, and robots. Many skilled people are retiring, and younger kids are often steered towards college instead of trade schools.”

She said her background in manufacturing has introduced her to the types of people and skills that can fill these positions. “We know people who know people who know people. We pay for referrals.

“We can use networking tools and social media to find people. Sometimes corporations have rules preventing them from using these tools. Lots of people we work with are already working, but for whatever reason are looking for a change. Sometimes they want to move to a new area. Sometimes they’re unhappy with new management or the direction their company is taking. People leave jobs because of bosses, not jobs. Money is not the factor it once was. People are looking to work at a solid company that provides benefits.”

Tracy explained that her company is compensated by the employer, her client, who pays a commission based upon the hires’ first year salary.

Originally from Maryland, Tracy thought of Virginia as that drive-through state on her way to North Carolina. “I never imagined that I would be living in Virginia. My husband moved first and then I followed with the kids a year later. We live in Riner and my daughter said she’d never want to go back (to NC).

“Business is really good right now. Lots of companies are doing well and are hiring. The unemployment rate is low, so workers are more in demand. Companies are paying better, offering signing bonuses, and better benefits in order to get good employees. A maintenance technician can make anywhere from $20/hr. to $33/hr., more in higher cost cities.” The company has clients in several southeastern states.

“Manufacturing is now highly automated, but companies still need people. Robots may do all the actual work. But people are needed to monitor the robots and fix them if they break. People are needed to install robots or move entire assembly lines to other parts of the facility. They need different types of people than in decades past, different skills.

“Kids are now mostly directed to college. The new generation doesn’t think manufacturing is exciting. It is, and there is money to be made! There are good careers for people who know how to put things together, know how to do wiring or welding or repair. Some people have an innate skill to look at how a machine is working and envision ways to make it work better, faster, and more efficiently. There is money to be made in manufacturing.”

I said, “We’ve been conditioned to think that manufacturing left America twenty or thirty years ago for China, Taiwan, or Japan.”

“It’s still here,” Tracy said. “America is still ripe for entrepreneurship. I know of companies started by individuals who invent a machine or a process and build a company around it. America is still a good place for manufacturing. Things are changing and that’s exciting. There are opportunities for good people. People can make good money, good livings.”