The time is approaching for Severstal to begin hiring for 100 new positions to staff its Phase II expansion.
Ray Hamer, human resource manager for Severstal in Lowndes County, said the steel manufacturer will likely begin hiring in the second quarter of the year, which could be as soon as April.
But anyone hoping to land a job at the plant, at an average salary of $78,000, can”t just show up and fill out an application. The hiring will be handled almost exclusively through the WIN Job Center.
“(Job seekers) should start no later than the end of February contacting the WIN Center,” said Hamer.
The bulk of the available positions, according to Hamer, will be for operators, which can describe a number of jobs working directly with the steel. Support positions such as pipefitters and electricians will also be added.
Operator Brandon Howell, of Louisville, for instance, works with the Ladle Metallurgy Furnace. There a great pile of scrap metal is dumped into a gigantic furnace and chemicals are added to melt the metal into molten steel.
From a control room near the furnace, Howell uses machinery to get the molten steel from the furnace to the caster at the proper grade, chemistry, temperature and time.
Previously, Howell had worked as a mechanic for Caterpillar and John Deere. He”s able to apply some of the knowledge he brought from those jobs, but had no experience working with steel prior to working at Severstal.
Hamer says 85 percent of current Severstal employees had no steel working experience prior to being hired.
Only a high school degree is required for consideration, but Hamer recommends applicants brush up on their math and writing skills in addition to researching the company. Several batches of applicants will be presented to Severstal by the WIN Center, some of which will be chosen for testing. Hamer doesn”t know how many applicants will be tested, but the number will be greater than the number of immediate openings to create a pool of alternates for future hires.
Those applicants who advance through testing and interviews to be hired will receive several months of supervised on-the-job training before working independently. Howell says it took him roughly a year to get comfortable in his position.
“The work is under extreme time pressure,” he said. “It”s always stressful. It”s something you have to get used to.”
Safeguards exist to prevent accidents and all employees look out for one another, but much is at stake in terms of safety and production. Howell says written procedures are on hand for every process and employees attend periodic classes to learn new procedures.
“It”s very intense labor,” adds Hamer. “It”s a lot of hard work. The heat in those furnaces can get up to 3,000 degrees (leading to temperatures over 100 degrees on the floor). Operators wear a lot of personal protective equipment. They get paid well but they earn every penny.”
He points out employees don”t start out making $78,000, but work up to it via raises and performance bonuses.
Operators typically work a four-days-on/four-days-off schedule with rotating night shifts. The plant operates 24 hours a day.
Howell says he”s generally exhausted on his first day off but enjoys the schedule. Being at work, too, is an experience due to the sheer size and scale of the Severstal plant, which is about to double.
“It”s amazing. It still is. But you do get used to it somewhat,” he said. “Everybody who comes in at first is in awe at the size of the cranes and the furnace and 170 tons of molten steel coming out of the furnace. It”s something to behold.”
Two additional steel processors, New Process Steel and Mississippi Steel Processing are also gearing up to begin hiring and production on the Severstal campus. Those companies will cut, slit or manipulate Severstal”s steel to customer specifications.
More than $900 million was invested in the mill”s Phase I construction and more than $500 million will be invested in Phase II construction, for a total of $1.4 billion invested in the mill.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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