ECRU, Miss. — On January 4, Ashley Furniture Industries recently launched a Careers Program at the company’s Advanced Manufacturing facility in Ecru, Mississippi.

The program seeks to provide a structured career development path for high-potential Ashley employees into critical roles and place program participants into full-time positions upon graduation. The program partners with Itawamba Community College (ICC) aligning coursework with their Industrial Maintenance Program. 

Career advancement opportunities include electromechanical technician, HVAC technician, facility technician, and automation technician. The participants choose two of the four discipline areas to rotate between for the first half of the course, then select one of the two to specialize in for the remainder of the program. Outside of the rotational assignments, the participants will meet regularly and participate in group professional development opportunities to provide networking and relationship-building with other team members with similar career interests.

"The Ashley Careers Program is founded on our unwavering commitment to fostering employee development and individual growth," said Anthony Ebio, director of talent and succession planning at Ashley Furniture Industries. "Recognizing the importance of unleashing the potential within our workforce, we have made it a priority to nurture and support our employees' aspirations to achieve more."

The program includes self-paced eLearning, job shadowing, technical college courses, technical mentorship, and professional development, with a hybrid of classroom learning at ICC and on-the-job training. The class began on October 2, 2023, with seven participants and will be completed in May 2024. 

“Ashley has core values of being growth-focused and creating a culture of leadership,” said Todd Wanek, president and CEO of Ashley. “Our employees are the key to our success, and we want to provide the very best opportunities that allow them to grow their careers with Ashley. We are committed to empowering our employees to achieve their full potential and thrive in their careers.”

The Ashley Careers Program will expand to supervisors starting in February 2024.