The company is looking for applicants with a solid work ethic .
“ You show up on time and show up every day ,” Winegar said . “ You ask questions and learn . Be a part of the team and contribute to it .”
Midwest ’ s team includes 400 employees in all of its facilities and 30 in Northwest Arkansas , Winegar said . he said . “ I didn ’ t have a mechanical background . That made it harder .”
“ When something breaks down , it ’ s all hands on deck ,” Winegar said .
Mechanical skills the company looks for in employees include welding , knowing how to trouble-shoot hydraulic systems , pneumatic operations and simple electrical wiring .
According to Winegar , taking classes in school that teach those skills can pay off . Machine operators , shift managers and some maintenance positions can make as much money as supervisors .
According to Alcala , to make it on the team , you need to be prepared for anything . “ Be ready to work no matter what the job is ,” he added .
You need to learn basic math and leadership skills , Crowell said .
“ Learn anything that can help you solve problems . It ’ s not any solution , but the best solution . Think independently ,” he said .
“ Stay in school and learn ,” Alcala encouraged . “ I didn ’ t like school when I was in it . You need to take advantage of the opportunity and be somebody .”
“ Quality and production drive compensation ,” Winegar said . “ Wages are directly connected to attitude and are incentive based . For promotions , you need to master the technical skills .”
Positions for people who can operate programmable logic control machines are hard to fill , Sales Manager Coltr Crowell said . The company looked for machine operators and couldn ’ t find them , Crowell said . It finally stopped looking . Midwest now offers onthe-job training .
“ About 90 percent of the applicants were under qualified ,” Crowell explained . “ We had to weed out the waitresses and cashiers . We decided to train from within .”
“ If you have a good attitude , you can learn on the job ,” Winegar said . “ You need to be adaptable .”
“ There is always something different ,” Alcala said . “ I ’ m still learning new stuff .”
Hiring new people who are trainable is important , Crowell said .
“ You must be willing to work and know how to work ,” he said . “ You need problem solving skills independent of instruction .”
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