Collaboration between college, businesses creates 15 new hires

Modineer, the largest manufacturing employer in Niles, wanted to hire qualified candidates for a highly skilled welding process.

The manufacturer turned to Williamson Employment Services, which in turn had difficulty finding the people needed to do the job.

So Quen Potts, Niles office branch manager at Williamson Employment Services, brainstormed ideas with Barbara Craig, executive dean of Lake Michigan College’s Bertrand Crossing Campus in Niles.

They decided to conduct a job fair at the Bertrand Crossing Campus, but still there were not enough people with the skills needed.

Potts next asked Lake Michigan College to train welding applicants to meet her client’s needs. A training coordinator contacted Lake Michigan College instructors John and Heidi Closson and within two days a specialize welding training program was being developed.

Modineer’s human resources director and senior welding engineer worked together with employees and instructors from Lake Michigan College to create the program.

Students came from throughout southwestern Michigan and Kalamazoo, and were already skilled welders from past M-TEC welding academies and previous work experience.

Modineer offered to pay the trainees $10 an hour for the 40-hour course if they passed the company’s test and accepted a job offer.

After two weeks of specific aluminum MIG welding and safety training, 15 welding students demonstrated their new skills through practical and written tests, and were offered jobs at Modineer.

John Closson describes the relationship between LMC, Modineer, and Williamson Employment Services as a “great partnership” that resulted from out-of-the-box thinking.

“Reaching 100 percent job placement as a result of this recent welding training is great because we are getting people jobs in a jobless economy,” Closson says.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: John Closson, Lake Michigan College