TEAMMATE SPOTLIGHT

BARBARA HOPKINS

Traffic Clerk, Nucor-Yamato Steel Hometown: Blytheville

Age: 47

Years with Nucor: 14

BLUEPRINT: When you were in high school, what was your goal career-wise?

BARBARA HOPKINS: My mind was pretty much made up that I wanted to be a secretary, working in an office. Two weeks after my high school graduation, I moved to Dallas and enrolled in Executive Secretarial College for legal assisting and that’s where my corporate career took off. From 1994 to 2007 I was in Dallas until the company I was working for started outsourcing and that was my opportunity to come back home to Arkansas.

BP: How did you get on with Nucor?

BH: Nucor was hiring a clerk; I came in with the quality department as a temp and six months later I was offered a position in the finance department as a temp. I did that for a couple of years, and then I got hired on.

BP: How have you improved your skills over the time you’ve worked at Nucor?

BH: I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do a little bit of everything. I started in finance, then went to the metal shop. The metal shop clerk position is something that is totally different from a finance clerk. And I was in the melt shop for almost seven years and that was brand-new for me.

Nucor gives you the opportunity to cross-train and learn the process. They can teach you everything you need to know if you’re willing to learn.

Nucor has also allowed me the opportunity to continue my education beyond the training they offer. Nucor reimburses you for college courses taken to improve yourself; this allows you to grow as well as help the company grow as you learn and share your knowledge.

BP: What’s something you want people to know about working at Nucor, especially young people just starting out?

BH: Nucor isn’t a cookie-cutter organization. They want you to bring in your own ideas to improve things or to make your job better. When I went through course certification in Human Resources and payroll, I’d pick up new training. I realized, OK, this is something useful.

BP: What’s the best advice you have for a new teammate?

BH: The main thing is don’t be afraid to step up and try something different. When you say “manufacturing,” you think big machines, but there’s so many other intricate parts that make a finished product. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes we don’t know what we really want until someone tells us about it.