As a business looking for environmental staff, knowing how to find the right candidates can be the biggest challenge when you have hiring needs. That’s why we’re introducing you to Clayton – Assistant Branch Manager of EnviroStaff – who focuses on making crucial placements of environmental staff. Keep reading to learn why Clayton and EnviroStaff are the right solution to your hiring challenges.
Introducing EnviroStaff, Your Environmental Staff Solution
Before we dive into Clayton and his background, we need to learn about the division he oversees. EnviroStaff is a division of LGC and was founded to answer a demand we heard from our clients regarding the need for professional placements in the environmental industry. Our CEO – having had this experience pre-LGC – reached out to his former colleague Damien Flaherty to consult on launching LGC’s new division, EnviroStaff, that places environmental staff all across the country. And the rest is history.
Since then, EnviroStaff has been placing environmental staff with clients nationwide and “building your team for a better tomorrow.”
Enter Clayton Smith. In addition to Damien overseeing EnviroStaff, Clayton has been an integral part of the team, helping get this division off the ground.
Meet Clayton Smith
Originally from Cape Girardeau, MO, Clayton has been a resident of St. Louis since May 2016. Having received a degree in Hospitality Management, Clayton began his career as a restaurant manager, eventually moving up to general manager of a pizza brand local to St. Louis. This hospitality experience, plus Clayton’s magnetic personality and ability to connect with anyone, is what eventually led him to joining the LGC team in January 2020.
Originally Clayton was hired as a Regional Recruiter for St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Des Moines, and Austin. Despite the emergence of COVID-19 shortly after he was hired, he remained hopeful and grew close with the St. Louis team, saying: “I quickly grew a relationship with the Branch Manager Elizabeth Tomczak and Area VP Jennifer Sukup due to the fact we were the only ones left in the office during COVID. We all developed a strong bond, which has grown even stronger over the years as new people have been hired for internal positions.
I feel like at this point we have created a sense of family within the office and a space for new LGC team members to grow within the organization. The STL branch has a temporary branch, Perm recruiters and EnviroStaff within its walls, so the first thing new people see when they come to the office is the opportunities to move up within LGC. We all do our best to help and encourage each other to do great things!”
Clayton Meets EnviroStaff
Prior to the actual launch of EnviroStaff, Clayton was contacted by LGC’s Executive VP of Client Operations to talk with him about the new staffing division and his possible involvement. But what he didn’t know yet was that CEO of LGC, George Lessmeister, had taken notice of Clayton’s journey with LGC so far.
“[The executive VP of client relations] let me know George had a personal venture in starting a new division and was considering me for the role on the ground floor. When she first told me I was initially shocked because I knew George knew of me, but I didn’t think he was watching my career that closely with LGC to be taken into consideration for this brand-new division! I was happy, nervous, scared and intrigued all at the same time.”
Despite George’s confidence in Clayton, joining a division that operated in an industry completely new to him was nerve-wracking initially. “If I’m being completely honest, I definitely had hesitations. I knew nothing about the industry and would be moving into a ground floor role helping to create the framework of this new division. I had self-doubt and wasn’t sure I would be ready to take on the role.
Luckily, I had great support from my wife and my mentors within LGC that helped me push through the shadow of self-doubt and find the sunny side of self-reassurance. After speaking with George and finding out more about his plans for EnviroStaff, how I can make a difference in the lives of environmental staff, and what my future could look like within LGC due to its success, I was sold.”
Since launching EnviroStaff, Clayton has been instrumental in placing environmental staff in different positions with different clients. In an industry that’s integral to our planet, his work makes a difference not only in candidates’ careers, but in our collective futures. Throughout the last year he’s had successes and challenges with EnviroStaff. He’s learned more about the environmental industry than he ever imagined. He’s fine-tuned the strategy involved in recruiting hard-working environmental staff and has learned about the difficulty of making a name for yourself in the environmental staffing industry.
He goes on to say, “In my eyes, the successful moments come from us finding roles for our candidates that they feel like they can make a career out of – not just another job to add to their resume. From newly graduated college students making their first career steps to seasoned vets for in the environmental industries, these people are our success because the clients are happy with them, and the candidates are happy about the companies we connect them with.”
EnviroStaff has a lot to look forward to in the future. They’ve partnered with EnviroWorkshops who host environmental workshops and trains professionals from all over the world. They have plans to grow the brand and open other sub-offices of EnviroStaff within LGC branches, which will include growing the EnviroStaff team to place more environmental staff. All in all, the future for EnviroStaff looks bright, especially with Clayton helping steer the ship.
Clayton’s story is one we can all relate to. The fear of starting something unfamiliar to us, the need for a support system to help us navigate new waters. It’s not dissimilar to a business or a candidate in the environmental industry reaching out to a staffing firm (like EnviroStaff) for the first time. “I didn’t know what to expect with EnviroStaff. Our customer base doesn’t really know what to expect when they work with EnviroStaff. But all it takes is time and communication and patience.”
Something we can all benefit from remembering.
If you need assistance with hiring environmental staff or taking the next step in your environmental career, contact EnviroStaff today.