Area employers address high school students

Panel emphasizes work ethic, team player qualities

COLUMBIA BASIN - Columbia Basin employers were able to share information about the job opportunities available to area high school students Thursday.

Representatives of various local businesses and agencies answered questions in two employer panels in the Moses Lake High School theater, prior to the Operations Task Force "The Future Is Here" Job and Career Fair, which took place in the high school commons Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

After brief introductions from each panelist, panel facilitator Harlan Beagley fielded questions from the audience.

"How many seniors know what they're going to do for a career?" Beagley asked the audience. "If you haven't made a career decision on what you're going to do, you're going to have to, otherwise you're going to do something along the lines of fast food and asking someone to super-size their fries. That is the result of a non-decision."

Beagley told the audience the Columbia Basin area is growing, pointing to the arrival of

companies like Microsoft, Yahoo! Inc., Ask.com and Intuit and expansions at REC Silicon and Genie Industries.

"It's our intent here today to convince you, once you go out into the world, wherever you go to college or whatever you decide to do as a career, to come back to Moses Lake or the surrounding area of Grant County and Adams County, and make a life here, because the opportunities here are better than most other places in the United States right now," he said.

Questions ranged from the amount of benefits available at the companies the panelists worked for, what the hours are like, the level of education required, what would set candidates apart when applying for jobs, apprenticeship programs, how often someone is fired and when restaurants like Wendy's are coming to Moses Lake.

"Wendy's is a franchise and we've actually talked with Wendy's," Grant County Economic Development Council Communications and Research Manager Jon Smith replied. "Wendy's requires the person who owns the franchise to be in the store one day a week for a minimum amount of time. The person who has the franchise that covers this area lives far enough away he hasn't wanted to drive it."

In the past year and a half, Smith said, the council has worked with more retail companies than in the previous 15 years.

"We're on their radar now and the reason why, this is because of jobs that create other jobs, and those are manufacturing jobs," Smith explained. "When you make the product and sell it, that brings money back into your community. Those are the kind of jobs that create other jobs."

Industrial jobs like those represented by the panelists draw restaurants like Wendy's and Olive Garden, Smith explained.

"We sell things to people outside the community. Their money comes to us and our standard of living raises, and then companies that sell to us, they want to be here because now we have more money. We can buy more stuff at their stores," Smith said.

Smith anticipated announcements would be made this year or next year.

The panelists addressed a wide array of subjects, from drug testing and background checks to annual and hourly wages.

The employers stressed the need for potential employers to have soft skills and communicate effectively with people.

"You need to be able to articulate your thought process and critical thinking as well," Albert Garza said. "When you're in high school right now, you have the opportunity to learn to write, learn your math, your sciences, your technology, your engineering. Those are all going to be critical skills you need to focus on so you can succeed in today's jobs and in the future."

The employers don't want the students to leave the area after they finish training, Garza added.

"Focus on those types of things and you can come back and obtain the jobs we are all going to have here for you," he said.

Dave Cooper, human resources manager at Basic American Foods, said his company is looking for people with a desire or passion to learn more, in order to help them reach their full potential.

"The best advice I can give to you as students is find what you like, go after your passion and you don't have to get a four-year degree to make a good, comfortable lifestyle," he said. "The trick is to find out what you like, because you're going to work for a lot of years."

Express Personnel Office Manager Theresa Gaustad said her agency constantly hears about the need for work ethic.

"If it's your first job, you may not have to love it 100 percent and just be so enthusiastic about it, but you need to be dedicated to that job and show, 'Yes, I'm willing to put in effort and learn what you're willing to teach me,' so you can learn skills for further down the road."