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Next month, the population of High Point, N.C. (approx. 111,000) will grow by about 75,000 people as it welcomes exhibitors and buyers to the spring market. Over the course of a week, more than 2,000 exhibitors will unpack, display and take orders for their latest intros — across a campus of 180 buildings comprising close to 11 million square feet of showroom space.
Putting on such an event requires a lot of planning, logistical support and human resources. While most of the responsibility falls to the High Point Market Authority and International Market Centers, it couldn’t get done without the help of a lot of locals — whether hired by showroom managers, booked through the Chamber of Commerce or placed by staffing companies.
For more than 20 years, Pam Whitaker and her staff at Greensboro-based Key Resources have been helping market vendors find extra sets of hands to assist with everything from customer service and sales help to bartending and showroom setup.
Key Resources serves a variety of industries but considers the furniture market one of its specialties. “There are so many different facets to market, and the jobs run the full gamut,” Whitaker, the company’s founder and CEO, told Home Accents Today. “We have some exhibitors who contract with us to run their entire showroom and others who need help with something as simple as finding packing materials. Whether it’s for individual showrooms or the market center, we can handle just about everything.”
Armed with a full-time staff of 17, several offices across the state, and an on-site training lab and testing center, the female-owned business has earned a reputation as one of the area’s premier staffing companies, especially in the areas of manufacturing and distribution.
Consistently recognized by local business journals (14 years on the Triad Business Journal’s Fast 50 list), Key Resources is one of only two companies in North Carolina to receive a national Blue Chip Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The number of honors and awards bestowed upon Whitaker top those of the company; in 2017 she was named one of the “Most Admired CEOs” by the Triad Business Journal.
Ahead of market, we paid a visit to Key Resources’ Greensboro office and sat down with Whitaker and Angela Jones, the company’s vice president, customer services, to talk about the unique and varied staff needs of market.
Q. First things first: What’s the most unusual market placement you’ve ever done?
A. That would be the year we had an order for someone to dress up in a lobster costume. They had to walk the streets, wear a sign and hand out invites that said, “Come to our booth for a lobster appetizer.” It was hot, cumbersome … and touch-and-go. We had a different lobster person every day.
Q. Now, the basics. Let’s say I’m a vendor showing in High Point for the first time. How can you help me?
A. Our staff conducts interviews, does background checks and references, then matches skill requirements with positions. You can literally come to us for a turnkey situation.
For example, the market buildings will unload your merchandise, but they drop it at your showroom door. Then you are responsible for setting up your showroom. We can have material handlers there to accept it, get it in your showroom, unpack, dust everything off. When you come in, you set everything up, or we can provide people to help place product, hang lights … a handyman, sometimes a person more skilled in design and display.
If the need extends to sales or customer service, we can test, retrain, and obtain sales materials from the vendor so they can learn the product, terms and vernacular in advance.
Q. When does the spring market staffing process begin for you?
A. In January and early February, we send out market info and reminders to employee prospects and vendor contacts. Angela’s experience is invaluable here. She has so many relationships with showrooms; they just contact her and we’re usually able to secure the same people that worked with them before.
Companies will sometimes call her to brainstorm and say, “This is what we’re trying to accomplish …” and then Angela will figure it out.
Q. When I’m on-site at market, I run into Angela everywhere.
A. Absolutely. One minute she’s in the IHFC, next minute she’s on the shuttle, then in Market Square. Most days, by the time I catch up to her, she’s already walked 12 miles!
One thing that sets us apart is we’re very selective in who we work with. When someone calls us with a need, we do a lot of research to make sure it’s something we can do, someone we want to work with, and that it’s a safe work environment. It has to be a win for all three: the client, employee and Key Resources. Otherwise, the equation isn’t going to work.
Q. A few days ago, I listened to a report on NPR about staffing — specifically, the shortage of skilled labor in Dalton, Ga., the carpet capital. It sounds like business is booming there, but they fear White House immigration policies will make it harder to find skilled workers in an already-tight labor market. Are you feeling any of that?
A. You always feel that effect when unemployment is low, and we’re now at 4%. There aren’t as many people looking for jobs at the moment, so we’re in kind of a recycling stage. In a situation like that of the rug companies in Dalton, we would go in and make an assessment of ways they could enhance the job and make the work environment more appealing… things that would entice someone to leave an old job for a new job. But for now, we’re still busy all the time here. There’s never a dull moment.
Websitehttp://www.keyresourcesinc.com/: www.keyresourcesinc.com
