Nancy Tyrrell
Dislocated Worker
On-the-Job Training Program
Success > Nancy Tyrrell" height="187" width="200" align="left" border="2">She's Got What It Takes
Nancy Tyrrell, a single 48 year old former teacher, knows her priorities. When her father was ill and passed away in 1995, she helped her mother with his care, while holding down a full-time elementary school teaching career in the Mobile County Public School System for five years, before moving on to the Catholic parochial school system in Mobile one year. After her father passed away, she eventually left teaching because her license was due to expire and she was faced with having to go back to school to renew it. She then went to work at the local pest control division for a large nationwide firm where she coordinated work schedules for the pest extermination services offered. She says she learned a lot while there about managing internal work schedules and working around customer schedules as well. Unfortunately, she was laid off after six years there.
At that critical point in her life, her mother's Alzheimer's disease worsened and her health began to seriously deteriorate. Her mother was afraid to live alone and didn't want to be faced with going to a long-term care facility and Tyrrell didn't want that for her mother either. She decided to focus her energies on her mother and took care of her for the last three years of her life. Her mother was in the hospital during Hurricane Ivan and passed away soon after. Tyrrell is thankful she had the resources to take care of her mother while being out of work for over three years.
Soon after, in October 2004, Tyrrell went to visit her brother, a manager with extensive responsibilities at Hewlett-Packard in Idaho, to consult with him and take advantage of his expertise so she could decide how best to look for a job. He advised her of many things, including the local resources she could take advantage of, such as the Alabama Career Center. While using the services there, including the resource room, she was talking to another jobseeker who advised her about Mobile Works. She was told that since she had been laid off and had not found another job since then, even though it had been three years, she would be a good candidate for our On-the-Job Training Program.
Tyrrell met with Belinda Thomason, who concurred, and set about finding a suitable job for her skills. She sent her to see Bruce and Michelle Buechner at Simply Shutters who interviewed her and decided she would be a great fit for the company. Simply Shutters began in 1989 and designs, creates, finishes and installs high-end custom interior shutters throughout the Gulf Coast, with sales and installation services available in Alabama in Mobile, Dothan and Huntsville, and in Florida in Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Destin and Panama City and in Mississippi in Biloxi, Gulfport and Jackson and in Louisiana in New Orleans. Success > Nancy Tyrrell" width="300" height="262" align="right" border="2">
Tyrrell started her new job in January 2005 and works to schedule all incoming custom shutter orders for installation as it flows through the production facility. It's an extremely complex job and she must allow enough time for the shutters to make it through six phases of production, manage internal schedules so that jobs in one city are done on the same day if possible, yet still deliver shutter on time and working within the customer's schedule, which can differ greatly from the company's.
Tyrrell also must allow enough time for custom framing and extra requests, while working in extra time for factors that affect installation such as the number of windows, if there is siding on the house, etc. All these factors affect production and installation and thus affect the finished installation date. According to Bruce Buechner, "Nancy has one of the most important jobs and most difficult jobs in the company-but she's fantastic at it. She's extremely organized, detail-oriented and she can handle many things at once, which is critical. She keeps it all going and we're so glad she's with Simply Shutters and not somewhere else."
Tyrrell looks forward to expanding her knowledge and responsibilities as Simply Shutters continues to expand and grow. When asked what makes her successful, Tyrrell says, "I'm a team player and I have to be in my position. If I didn't work well with everyone else, nothing would get out on time. I also have a lot of energy-the energy to do what it takes to make it all work and make every custom shutter job a successful installation. That's my commitment to the company." Mobile Works knows that with experience, energy and a great attitude like that, Tyrrell's got what it takes.
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