Looking at an audience of high school students at the Dalton Convention Center on Tuesday, Louis Fordham stressed the importance of planning ahead.
Fordham, the vice president of human resources for Engineered Floors, spoke during the 2024 High School High Tech College and Career Fair, a community-based program that links high school students with disabilities from school systems across North Georgia with area businesses and postsecondary institutions to help them meet the demands of a 21st century workforce.
“Today is all about you guys,” Fordham said. “Every adult in this room has one objective, and that’s to help you. But you have to want that help.”
Fordham shared with the students three important aspects to remember while looking for a job or career path post-graduation, along with a handful of tips.
“A lot of you might feel that pressure of not having it all figured out or having a plan,” Fordham said. “I’m going to give you a few things that will help you get started as you talk to these folks around the room.”
‘Know what you like to do’
The first piece of advice included not stressing about making “really, really big decisions,” Fordham said.
“Instead, focus on making little good decisions,” he said. “I see it every day, a lot of people that come into Engineered Floors and have trouble, it’s not because they made really big bad decisions, it’s because they made little bad decisions every day versus the little good decisions.”
Fordham told the students not every job they might apply for and get will be their ideal choice.
“Chances are, you’re going to get a job one day that you’re going to hate,” he said. “But you can’t quit, and you can’t do a bad job, because those things are going to stick with you.
“But there’s great experience from having a bad job. You’re going to get a chance to learn what you don’t like doing. Today, more than anything, I want to challenge you with that. There’s a noticeable difference between happy employees and unhappy employees. Happy employees are doing something they enjoy doing and unhappy employees are doing something that they don’t like doing. The more you know what you like to do and the more you know what you don’t like doing, the better off you’re going to be.”
Fordham brought up his time as a teenager working on his family’s tobacco farm in South Georgia.
“Every summer, from when I was 6-years-old to when I graduated high school, I cropped tobacco,” he said. “It was the most awful job in the world. But when I graduated high school, I didn’t know what I was wanting to be and I didn’t really know where I was wanting to go. But I knew one thing: I knew I didn’t want to crop tobacco ever again. So, what’s really important today is to get a chance to learn what you like doing and what you don’t like doing.”
Fordham said one thing that persists when looking for a job is competition.
“For every person that we hire at Engineered Floors, there’s at least five applicants that we don’t hire,” he said. “You’re going to be in competition for good jobs. There’s always going to be competition and there’s always going to be somebody else, so you’ve got to put your best step forward, you’ve got to learn and you’ve got to grow.”
Important fundamentals
Fordham shared a list of fundamentals for students who are applying for the first job or a better opportunity.
“The first one is to be on time,” he said. “If you think attendance is tough in high school, it gets worse in the real world. The number one reason that we involuntarily terminate people at Engineered Floors is because of attendance.”
Fordham said Engineered Floors currently employs 5,000 across 12 manufacturing and distribution facilities in Georgia, Alabama and California.
“We run seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” he said. “And we have multiple schedules. Those schedules are set for one reason — to service our customers. When people don’t show up, we can’t service our customers. Every day, we schedule interviews for somebody wanting a job with us. They come to us, they ask for a job, we schedule them for an interview and then they come in late. Attendance, dependability and being on time is very, very important. If you don’t want to work, don’t take the job. So, it’s important to remember to be on time.”
Another quality Fordham shared is to “be positive.”
“We had an applicant come in one time and they just had the biggest chip on their shoulder,” Fordham recalled. “They were angry, they were frustrated, they complained about everything, and then they got angry when we said we weren’t going to give them the job. Be positive. You get more flies with sugar than with vinegar.”
Fordham said maintaining a positive attitude can make a lasting impression on those around you in any setting.
“You’re going to want people to help you at some point in time as you go through your career,” he said. “So, how they look at you and how they deal with you is critically important. If you’re having a bad day, that’s OK. We’re all going to have bad days. But if you’re showing that you’re having a bad day, everyone else will feel the same.”
That also involves being polite, Fordham said.
“Who you are around people when you think nobody is looking is more important to us than who you are when you’re around people you know are looking,” he said. “Politeness, courteousness and treating people the way you would want to be treated, especially in the workplace, is huge. On the job, the number one problem that supervisors have is when employees can’t get along and can’t work together. So being courteous and polite is really, really important.”
Fordham also urged the students to “dress for success” when looking for opportunities.
“Be neat,” he said. “There’s a saying, ‘Dress for the job you want, not for the job you have.’ I know who I am interested in hiring by how they present themselves. I’m not saying you have to dress up or wear a coat and tie everywhere you go. But we have some people that come into interviews wearing pajamas and some that haven’t had a shower in three or four days. How are we to trust them with really important stuff when they can’t present themselves in a manner that’s going to (positively) affect those people around them?”
‘Ask questions’
Fordham said one of the biggest regrets for applicants is “not asking enough questions.”
“The worst thing we as employers can do is hire you into a job you don’t like or enjoy,” he said. “Ask questions. There are no stupid or silly questions; the only bad questions are the questions you don’t ask. It goes back to that scenario of finding out what you like, what you don’t like and how to best find that information. Be curious.”
Fordham’s final piece of advice for students was to “be responsible.”
“You’ve got one major responsibility and that is managing yourself,” he said. “A lot of you may worry about a lot of other things that you don’t need to be worrying about. Trust me, I’ve been there and gone through that as well at your age. If you can manage yourself, I promise you that your future is bright.”
Fordham said there are many academic and career paths to explore in the area for students graduating from high school.
“Take advantage of it,” he said. “You’ve got lots of good employers and postsecondary options in this area and lots of different types of jobs. So explore, explore, explore. Most of you are ready to get out of school, but remember this. Most people are going to be in education from 12 to 16 years, but you’re going to work for 40 years. It’s important to find a job that you like.”