QGS Development: A busy company with an abundance of career opportunities
QGS Development, which was founded in 1982, has grown into one of the leading site development, athletic field, golf course and grassing contractors in the United States and internationally. The company’s work as a full-service site development contractor includes large, complex projects in the residential, commercial and governmental realms.
The company is highly active with a wide array of ongoing projects – and a strong need for diligent, ambitious workers in a variety of positions. Joe Rodi, operations manager for QGS, shared his insights into the positions available with the company and what they prize in job seekers.
‘Getting things done with integrity’
I’ve got around 30 years of experience in construction and land development, and I can tell you that QGS is the best of the best when it comes to getting things done with integrity. They’re a great company to work for. The owners are incredible people, and when you work for really good people it makes you want to do a really good job. You’re not just a number or a cog in the wheel here. It’s a personal atmosphere where there’s a real understanding that the people out in the field doing the work are what makes the company go – what makes the company special – and they treat everyone here accordingly.
Career opportunities – and a bonus
Right now, we have openings for general laborers, skilled laborers, pipe layers, equipment operators, CDL drivers (either A or B endorsements), heavy equipment mechanics, project managers, estimators and take-off technicians. We occasionally have openings for superintendents, too. General laborers and skilled laborers are big ones for us. We can never have too many people for those positions. And we’re offering new hire employees a $500 bonus after they complete 30 days of active and continuous employment. And then there’s also a $500 referral fee for current employees. So, if you're a current employee of QGS and you say, ‘Hey, my cousin could use a job,’ and then they complete 30 days of active continuous employment, they'll get $500 and then you as the referring employee will get $500, too.
Key qualities in job seekers
For those general laborer positions, we’re really looking for people who are reliable and come to work every day. They need to be good listeners who ideally pick up things quickly, show up to work on time, and understand what they’re supposed to do and then go do it. You’ve got to have that desire to learn and do the work. If you’re the kind of person who learns how to do something fairly quickly, we’d love to have you. If you have a driving desire to figure things out, you probably are a good hire for us. As you move up into more skilled positions, we’re looking for that experience and background that shows you can do the work. Especially when you start looking at those bigger machinery jobs, experience with that equipment is really important because we take safety very seriously here.
Room for advancement
Advancement within the company is very important to us, and we make sure that a lot of our workers move through the ranks. If you show that you’re striving for something more than your current position and you’re always looking to learn and excel at your tasks, you’re going to get that chance here and people are going to help you get there. There are so many aspects to what we do – so many different types of crews you could work on. When you work here, you have so many different opportunities to learn something new. Our benefits include health insurance and a 401K. As you move up, there’s also a chance that you’ll get the use of a company truck. You’re also outside all day – that’s a great benefit. You’re not sitting in an office. You’re outside in this great Florida weather.
At home in Plant City
We’re very committed to Plant City. We have a large office in Plant City, and we’re involved in the community at a lot of different levels. We even lend out our offices for meetings of the Plant City Economic Development Corporation and the Plant City Area Schools’ Business Advisory Board. We think Plant City is a great place to do business and love being a part of this special place we call home.