Employee Spotlight: Sue Smith

For Sue Smith, joining Missouri Works Initiative (MWI) is an opportunity to help workers build lasting careers that can change the trajectory of their lives and families.

Sue brings a perspective shaped by her own workforce experience and years of helping people overcome barriers to employment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked in manufacturing, producing surgical packs, giving her firsthand experience with the demands facing frontline workers.

Sue first connected with MWI while assisting Austin Fox with interviews and graduations for the Apprenticeship Ready Construction (ARC) program. Sue soon recognized a need for a similar manufacturing program in Springfield. When a position leading such a program became available, Sue applied and was thrilled to be selected.

Sue was drawn to MWI’s comprehensive approach to preparing people for successful careers. “It’s not enough to learn the skills and meet the people,” she said. MWI continues assisting graduates for up to a year as they navigate challenges and explore long-term career and educational opportunities.

“It seems like everyone is always hiring,” Sue said of Southwest Missouri’s growing manufacturing sector. She hopes to bring local manufacturing leaders together to understand their workforce needs and to ensure that MWI prepares participants for available careers. She is also recruiting instructors with industry experience and seeks to help companies establish registered apprenticeships through the U.S. Department of Labor.

While apprenticeships are well established in construction, they remain less common in manufacturing. “In manufacturing, it’s few and far between, and we want to change that,” Sue said.

For workers, preparing to enter the manufacturing industry requires more than technical skills. MWI’s curriculum incorporates financial literacy, physical fitness and wellness, safety, and workplace skills to prepare the whole worker for long-term success.

Successful participants do not necessarily need manufacturing experience, but they do need consistency, reliability and a willingness to learn. Many have worked hard for years but reached the ceiling of what their current job can offer, and are looking for careers that can sustain their families. The key, Sue says, is being “hungry” and mentally ready to take the next step.

Through her work with MWI, Sue has watched participants overcome significant barriers and enter careers that allow them to support their families better. At graduations, she said, it is often clear that “the trajectory of a person’s life has been changed.” That impact happens one person and one family at a time, creating ripple effects throughout communities.

“I’m so excited to be a part of an organization that can help,” Sue said.