Albany mayor holds job needs public forum with five industry leaders

ALBANY — Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard held a “How to Land the Job” forum for economic development Wednesday evening.

The panel consisted of five leaders of industry in the county — Marine Depot Maintenance Command Deputy Commander Trent Blaylock, Procter & Gamble Plant Manager Werhner Washington, Southern Ag Carriers President Hugh Nall, Webstaurant Store Team Leader Terasita Smith and Phoebe Human Resources Vice President Tracy St. Amant.

The sessions were held to explain the job hiring traits potential employees would need to possess to be hired at their respective companies. The industry representatives talked about “soft skills,” specifically STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and computer skills.

“No. 1, reliability, be at work on time. We need employees who can make sure we have product on the shelves and available to our customers,” Washington said. “Next is teamwork, you must be able to collaborate and work effectively with others. The last is work ethic. Every single day, for those of us who are employed, we make a choice on how we are going to do our jobs. Either we are going to give the bare minimum, or we’re going to be average or we are going to try and exceed expectations. At P&G we love people who are looking to exceed expectations.”

“The last soft skill is one I call agility, or being able to multitask. If you are a student right now I would also recommend you take a look at the 4C (Commodore Conyers College and Career) Academy. It’s a tremendous school. That’s where you will learn hard skills in addition soft skills. I’d also recommend Albany Technical College and its Industrial Operations Technician Program. “

The IOT program was the result of several meetings with ATC officials and “the industry round table,” which made curriculum suggestions at both schools.

Nall said Southern Ag’s needs are many, and he didn’t waste any time cutting to the bone of the company’s most important concern.

“I’m here today to preach about our need for drivers in our community,” he said. “We hand out about 400 paychecks every week. We are very diversified in what we do, but it’s mainly hauling peanuts for M&M and Tara Foods and a wide variety of customers. We run over 300 company trucks and another 100 outside trucks. It’s an every day logistics equation we have to do on a daily basis to make sure we are doing a good job for our customers. And one of the biggest problems we have right now is a lack of drivers.

“Right now we need 25 drivers as I speak. Across the country you are looking at a 300,000 driver shortage. To get a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) is not that difficult. It takes around eight weeks of hard work, but after you get it you certainly have a chance to make a good living.”

Nall added Southern Ag is currently working with Albany Tech to try and encourage potential drivers to get their CDL.

“To get a CDL takes eight weeks. It’s hard work, but we are sponsoring them to help pay for some of the schooling. If they come to work for us we will pay for that eight-week course, ” he said. “Once somebody gets that CDL, there are no requirements other than that eight-week class. They can immediately start making from $45,000 to $70,000 a year — and that’s good money.”