Recruiting the Next Generation

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

The importance of creating opportunities for women, minorities and the future workforce in your business.  

Season 2, episode 14 of Coffee Conversations dove into one of the most important topics in the roofing industry today – recruitment. In particular, this Coffee Conversations episode discussed what contractors can do to invite the next generation, women and historically disadvantaged groups into their business. Christee Holbrook, president and part-owner of Graham Roofing, and Jazmine Melton, Graham Roofing intern and the first African American female graduate from the Mississippi State University’s (MSU) Building Construction and Science (BCS) program, joined RCS Partner, Heidi J. Ellsworth, to dive deep into this crucial topic that affects the entire industry. 

Graham Roofing is a commercial industrial roofing company out of West Point, Mississippi that has been in business since 1968. Christee and her partners bought Graham Roofing in 2018 and have been proactively recruiting people into their company, especially as their older employees are beginning to retire. 

“We have had a lot of long-term time employees, been here 30 and 40 years, and starting to retire. We had one that had been here since 1978 and he retired, I believe, two years ago. We had one that has been here since 1971. So we're starting to lose some of our long-time employees to retirement,” said Christee.  

Jazmine Melton, senior at Mississippi State University works at Graham Roofing as a project manager and superintendent. Christee has been working closely with Jazmine as well as other new Graham Roofing employees.  

“[Christee] is teaching me, basically, from proposals all the way to the start of the job,” said Jazmine. “So I work on proposals when we get offered a job or if somebody needs a new job. I also help with materials, with purchase orders. I also help with some [communication work], as far as getting the information to our project managers and also letting our customers know everything that's going to happen with their roof." 

Jazmine’s program, the Mississippi State Building Construction Science program, recently got accredited in February. This is an excellent step forward for the students in the program as more classes will be added and the degree itself will be more valuable after graduation. While the accreditation will allow students like Jazmine to increase their skill set in the classroom, Jazmine still recommends young people interested in roofing and construction to get an introductory job at a roofing company. 

"[Working at Graham has] been a learning experience because instead of just being in school, this gives me a chance to brush up on my skills with project management, with organization, with paperwork,” said Jazmine. “I’m learning the things that I want to do after graduation.” 

Read, Listen or Watch the entire Coffee Conversations to learn more about how you can recruit tomorrow's top talent.