Big Business
Keyek's dream job is to work for
The theme park employs roughly 900-1,000 people throughout the year, according to the
While public entities, such as hospitals, universities and school systems, are the largest employers in many areas, private sector businesses also employ large numbers of people.
Typically arriving an hour and a half before guests, Keyek, an admissions team member, spends her time at Wild Adventures working directly with customers handling complaints, compliments and ensuring the park's guests have the best possible experience.
Keyek is majoring in psychology at VSU and said her school work helps with her job performance.
"Sometimes people are upset, and knowing the things I know from school about how to calm people down and how to talk to people, it really helps with this job," she said.
Before Keyek worked for a large employer, she worked for a daycare center and did odd jobs such as mowing grass. Now, Keyek said she loves her job and plans to work at Wild Adventures at least until she graduates from college.
"I think that Wild Adventures does a good job employing a lot of people as well as taking care of the individual employee," she said. "Working in a preschool setting you're working with children one-on-one, but here, it's still one-on-one, but it's a shorter time, so the memories count more. Your first impression matters more."
Wild Adventures began as
Because of the park's size and wide range of jobs, it spends about
Wild Adventures continues to evolve and has grown into the area's premier entertainment attraction, Deese said.
"As we look to the future, we will continue to provide a place where families come to make memories worth repeating, and we are incredibly excited about the growth and changes on the horizon," she said.
Redish said a community benefits from a large employer because it creates stability and attracts residents from other cities and towns.
"(Large employers are) likely going to bring people in," Redish said. "It's not only going to bring consumers in but bring in people to work.
"Sometimes we say small business is the backbone of our community, but that does not mean we should discount our larger businesses. We are glad to have them and we need to have them."
Manufacturers
Manufacturers are often some of the largest private employers in a community. The SunLight report shows a majority of top employers are manufacturers of some kind.
Four of
As membership development director for the
Lassiter said the importance of
"When the economy went bad several years ago, a lot of the county's biggest employers ended up having to shut down," she said. "Between
In
National Beef is one of the largest businesses in the county and it continues to grow. It is in the midst of a
The meat-processing company is the second-largest private employer in the county. Expansion is expected to increase the local workforce.
When those employees are on board, National Beef will employ about 500 people, some 950 behind
"National Beef should be finished by October," said
National Beef had previously grown to 450 employees, but its numbers slipped after
As the second largest employer in
In 1929,
Today, the company manufactures boiler room equipment for commercial, institutional and industrial markets.
The company develops hot water and steam-generation products aimed at integrating and optimizing the total boiler/burner/control/stack exhaust systems to maximize energy efficiency and reliability while minimizing emissions.
The 216,000-square-foot Cleaver-Brooks facility in
More than 250 employees, including the ones in the
"The economic impact of their commitment to
"Those payroll dollars are spent in
Careers possible at the
In addition to
Kelley Manufacturing is
It builds equipment for "every phase of the farming process," according to its website.
The company specializes in peanut harvesting, tillage and poultry cleanup equipment.
The
Heat Craft is the fourth largest employer in
At its 560,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, Heatcraft creates refrigeration products: Coolers, condensing units, condensers and fluid coolers, among others.
Systems range from the size of a briefcase to the size of a school bus.
Triumph Aerospace Engineering,
In
Call Centers
Founded in 1998,
Employees at
"They take incoming calls from our clients' clients," she said. "They help answer questions ranging from billing to adding new services to general questions."
Prior to April, the
After the contract expired, the
While
The business is refreshing its current building to increase the number of people it can employ to about 400.
Before April,
Private Hospitals
In
Today,
In addition to
It has more than 700 unique job descriptions, but nurses make up the largest category of employees.
"Right now, I work Monday through Friday, 8 to 5," she said. "When I started my nursing career, I worked two years on the night shift. I prefer day shift just for my body's sake. But I really liked the work on the night shift. There was a little more downtime, so you got to spend more time with your patients. It wasn't as rushed."
In her current job, she is responsible for new nurse orientation.
"Hamilton has a residency program for new nurses. We (clinical resource nurses) do that. We do monthly education, and we are also out on the floors helping the nurses with patient care, so it's different every day, which I like," she said. "Some days I don't lay a hand on a patient. Other days, that's all I do."
She says technology has changed the job somewhat.
"When I first came into nursing, we were still paper charting. Now, it's pretty much all electronic," she said. "But the actual care we provide hasn't changed that much."
She said the winter months are usually the busiest at the hospital.
"We see a lot of pneumonia patients, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. That's largely the elderly," she said. "We also see more pediatric patients because of bronchiolitis and the flu. That's the season for that. We usually see a drop in the summer, but over the past couple of summers, it doesn't seem to have dropped as much as it used to."
Cope said she knew from a young age she wanted to be a nurse.
"My grandfather suffered from emphysema," she said. "I remember going into the hospital to visit him, and the smile those nurses put on his face. That made me want to do that."
Turning Point Hospital, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center with 325 employees is the third largest employer in
This is Part I of a two-part
***BREAK***
PART II
She's a purchasing graphics manager for
After more than 20 years as a marketing coordinator and administrative assistant for Flowers at the company's corporate office in
She and her colleague,
One of her biggest challenges recently has been the new nutrition labels mandated by the
"The FDA has extended the deadline to 2020," Armitage said, "but we've already completed about 85 percent of the updates."
When labeling for allergens or calorie and serving sizes change, Armitage manages the packaging updates. She works with
She also works with an external graphics company, individual print shops and other business partners to complete the process, which can take anywhere from four days to four months for each package.
"There are a lot of moving parts on any given project, but I know we have a deadline to hit, and I always work to be sure we meet that package print date," she said. "At any given time, I probably have 30 projects in the hopper, at various stages of completion."
Despite juggling so many projects, Armitage said she enjoys the work.
"My job is fun. I look forward to coming to work every day -- you never know what the day may bring. I wouldn't have been here 34 years if I didn't enjoy it," she said with a laugh. "I work with a great group of people -- I've always had a good boss, and our team works well together. We work hard, but we still enjoy what we do and working with each other. What more can you ask?"
Nationally, the publicly traded company has more than 9,700 employees and 47 bakeries. Its top brands are Nature's Own,
Today, the
With unemployment at a historic 3.8 percent, "the skilled labor market is tight everywhere," said
"At Flowers, we are addressing the tight labor market by putting more focus on recruitment and building internship programs with technical colleges," Taylor said.
Potential new hires should know that "when you work at Flowers, you work with good people," Armitage said. "You can take pride in what you do because no matter what your role is, you know the people around you also get their job done and get it done right."
"Flowers Baking and their corporate office are a cornerstone of
Large Retailers
In the retail industry, it should come as little surprise that
In
In
In
Distribution Centers
The average wage and responsibility for each worker at the facility vary by position.
Some of the job responsibilities in the regional distribution center include operations, quality assurance, maintenance, receiving vendors purchase orders on the receiving dock, loading product on trucks to ship to
"What all roles have in common is our focus on the customer and our commitment to serve," Jerome said. "Our saying is that 'You're either serving a customer, or you're serving someone who serves customers.'"
While the distribution center does not directly cater to customers, Jerome uses the company's saying to instill customer service in the distribution center workforce.
"To work at Lowe's Valdosta RDC is hard work, but it's very rewarding," he said. "To know that safety is the core value of everything we do at the RDC is very comforting.
"Also, to know we are a part of something bigger is exciting. We know that we aren't just moving boxes, we're shipping dad's Crafstman
While the wages at the company were not released, Jerome reviewed some of the benefits.
"We are focused on attracting the best talent to
The
Sitting on 165 acres of land, the Lowe's RDC originally opened as a 750,000-square-foot warehouse. With the growth in customers, sales and store count, the business expanded by 600,000 square feet in 2006 which expanded it to the current 1.35 million-square-foot facility.
Looking to the future,
"We're focused on providing dependable, convenient and faster fulfillment options for customers," he said. "
Founded in
The 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution facility will more than double the company's distribution capacity. The company's
American Textile began its relationship with
"We believe this operation will be the most sophisticated of its kind in our industry," he said.
"Partnerships are extremely important in our economic development endeavors and
Other Employers
"Around 25 percent of our staff has worked here for 10 years or more," Hinrichs said.
Due to the wide variety of jobs, an average salary was not available, but the company tries to pay competitively.
"We have to be competitive, so we do review these benchmarks periodically to make sure that we are competitive in each of the different fields," Hinrichs said.
ACV was originally a home for orphaned children and retired ministers and missionaries but has grown into a retirement center for everyone.
"It's a great place to work for people who want to make a difference," Hinrichs said.
ACV currently serves 800 seniors in three different levels of care. About 500 seniors are living independently in their homes, apartments or duplexes. The seniors living in
ACV is
Seniors on campus have many amenities within a short drive or walk from their residence. On campus, there is a grocery store, bank, post office, hotel, gift shops, resale shops, café, wellness and fitness center and medical center with a clinic, pharmacy, outpatient rehab and dentist office. The amenities are also open to the public.
ACV just completed the construction of
The business also offers the equivalent of condos with a homeowner association.
She said the condos will be low maintenance for the seniors because the maintenance will be included in association fees.
"We offer a wide variety of living options so that anyone can virtually afford to live here," Hinrichs said.
Looking to pass on the knowledge and experience to the next generation, ACV will start a mentoring program with high school freshmen this year, according to the company. Students will meet monthly with mentors throughout high school. Senior year students will receive scholarships for college or trade school.
Largest Employers in
Cleaver-Brooks: more than 250
Oil-Dri: 250
Aerospace Engineering: roughly 650
National Beef: 500
Turning Point Hospital: 325
Target Distribution: 550
Heatcraft Refrigeration: around 550
American Textile: around 375
Kelley Manufacturing: 235
Wild Adventures: 900-1,000
Lowe's Distribution Center: more than 900
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