Life at General Mills
Blue Buffalo finds unique ways to welcome new talent
The Richmond, Indiana Blue Buffalo manufacturing team welcomed three recent high school graduates with a unique “signing ceremony.”
Attracting talent
Our Richmond, Indiana Pet plant is working in new ways to attract and hire talent to bring fresh energy, different perspectives and unique skills to the manufacturing team.
Earlier this year, the Blue Buffalo Human Resources recruitment team in Richmond hosted a booth at the local high school hiring fair sponsored by the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce. They were in search of high school seniors interested in starting a career in manufacturing following graduation.
Over 100 high school seniors attended, resulting in three new hires that we are excited to welcome to the Blue Buffalo team.
The signing ceremony
To drive excitement and recognize these new hires, the HR team partnered with the local Chamber to set up a “signing ceremony,” similar to student athletes who have signing ceremonies when they commit to a college.
“In the final week of their high school careers, when some of their peers are putting on a hat representing the college they’re going to or sports team they’ll be playing for, we wanted to do the same for the students starting their career in manufacturing,” says Chris Campbell, Human Resources manager, Blue Buffalo.
Blue Buffalo employees, teammates, high school teachers, family and friends celebrated these students for making the decision to enter the workforce full-time post-graduation in manufacturing.
“Just seeing the students get the opportunity to feel supported and excited for the change after high school was amazing,” says Campbell. “To see people in the community supporting them, including a high school football coach of one of the students and another student’s current employer, was just a really feel-good moment.”
Fostering a culture of learning, growing and belonging
All three new graduates started as operations assistants where they’ll have the opportunity to learn about each plant department and apply their education and skills to learning and growth opportunities.
Richmond, our newest Pet plant, which opened in 2018, has a culture best described as humble, hungry and smart, governed by its plant values.
The plant makes dry dog and cat food, producing over 1 million pounds of pet food daily.
Are you hungry for what’s next? Check out our manufacturing openings here.