Industrial recruitment is a many-pronged process.

And a key component of that process includes not only location and available workers, but the ability to ensure those workers are ready to hit the production floor when a new industry throws the “on” switch for the first time.

That’s where Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus comes into play in the local puzzle.

“Co-Lin is definitely — is as far as workforce training goes — the star in the crown,” Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ said.

“We include them on most of our prospect visits, meaning typically when we get down to a where we are coming close to a commitment or deep in the process, it is good for the client to be able to hear that Co-Lin can tailor a training program that meets their needs in order to do that.”

Co-Lin has two tracks of offerings for its students, an academic track and a vocational track.

When a new industry locates in the area — or an existing one changes what it’s doing — the college will tweak its vocational workforce training to ensure students who graduate will have the skills necessary to fill the new positions, said Teresa Busby, vice president of the Natchez campus.

“We want to give them the education and skills to turn around and work in our community because we want them to stay here, live here and pay taxes here,” she said.

Co-Lin President Ronnie Nettles said the school met with officials with Great River Industries — previously Enersteel — to discuss the needs of the tankhead and steel-fabricating facility, which has expanded several times in the last two years and needs dozens of welders per shift.

“We will probably still need to grow and develop as their needs change,” Netttles said. “We did refocus a lot of what we are doing to prepare folks who might qualify for a job with them.

“They are very specific about what kinds of things they need.”

GRI Vice President for Business Development Aaron Shermer said the company couldn’t be happier with Co-Lin’s willingness to teach the students what GRI needs and work with existing employees.

The relationship has had “nothing but positive outcomes,” Shermer said.

“GRI has been deeply involved with helping outline the content of study in Co-Lin’s industrial welding training efforts,” he said. “Co-Lin’s workforce training programs have had a positive impact to GRI’s business with regards to safety and industrial related topics, and we look forward to many years of partnership with them.”

In addition to GRI, von Drehle, Genesis Energy and Elevance have used the college to train new or develop their existing workforces, Russ said.

“We often call on them to help us in the recruitment side of things as well as to train workforce to demonstrate that we can deliver a trained workforce to clients and a program that meets their needs,” he said.

Nettles said he believes the college is doing more than most people realize on the workforce development front.

“We have invested quite a bit, not just in training people but in our facilities,” he said. “That is an important part of this. We spent a lot of money on our equipment and laboratories to position ourselves to do what we do.”

On the industrial front, Co-Lin offers courses in automation and controls, welding, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning.

The Natchez campus also has a commercial driver’s license program that trains students in commercial trucking and diesel mechanics.

“Workforce training is not something that is normally publicized, that you would say ‘We are training somebody’s employees,’ but it is about trying to increase the skill level in the area,” Nettles said.

In an effort to expand the ability to increase skills, Co-Lin has joined two college consortia.

The first, the South Mississippi Alliance for Workforce Solutions, was formed to pool resources to improve South Mississippi’s workforce. It includes Co-Lin, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Jones Junior College, Pearl River Community College and Southwest Mississippi Community College.

“These types of alliances have been set up in other parts of the state, and we felt we needed one for South Mississippi,” Nettles said. “By all of us working together, we can do a couple of things. First, we can respond to any industrial development quicker because there are strengths with each college.

“Second, it also allows us to apply for state and federal grants that may be available to us as a consortium. A lot of those grants do not go to individual institutions.”

The group has applied for a $9.9 million grant for a petroleum industry training project.

“It can have a tremendous impact on each of the colleges and the types of programs we can customize to meet petroleum demands, both onshore like you would see in Southwest Mississippi and offshore,” Nettles said. “We would be able to purchase equipment, hire personnel and mobilize and prepare workers.”

The second consortium spans four states and includes Co-Lin, Lawson State Community College in Alabama, Atlanta Technical College and Central Louisiana Technical Community College.

The four-state consortium is seeking a $10 million federal grant to help create a Southeastern transportation network training program.

“Our position was that potential growth around the (Natchez-Adams County) port and the potential growth around the petroleum industry would position us to do some additional training in that area,” Nettles said. “Our part in that (grant) would be $2 million if it were to be funded.”

Co-Lin’s automation and controls program is currently full at 44 students, as are welding at 18 and HVAC at 14, Busby said.

The school’s other vocational tracks — culinary arts, hotel and restaurant technology, practical nursing and respiratory therapy —  are likewise full.