welcome to bets on the future where we highlight the various career paths in the electrifying Metals World from the vehicle you ride in to the bridge holding and up metals are everywhere why not in your career too I’m Jennifer BS a medals industry veteran with almost 20 years experience here to highlight these incredible career paths As Told by the women who are living them thank you Amy this is uh obviously not the normal Zoom setup I’m actually in person you’re actually in person if you couldn’t tell we’re in the same room recycled Idaho we’re at United medals recycling with Amy Olden she’s the regional director for United Metals Recycling so we’ve known each other for several years I want to say yeah link but never actually in person absolutely right yep it’s good it’s good to get finally get together so this is good yes thank you for making the drive down I know you live about an hour and a half two hours away from where we are in Boise recording this so thank you I really appreciate the the the time for you absolute honor thank you I want to know how

did you even get into this business it’s not like folks are aware of the metals industry even about Metals Recycling even as a career yeah so um I actually was in between jobs and kind of just looking around at the time and my husband had said hey you know there’s this I seen an ad for an off office assistant um for this Metals place and I was like so I kind of looked at it and I’m like H it really doesn’t look like anywhere I really want to be um but I needed a job and so I thought you know what I’ll I’ll put in for the job and see if I get it so I applied for the job ended up getting the job um as an office assistant and to be honest it was probably three weeks into it just learning how the materials are bought and the money that’s made and where it goes and how much is out there I just I immediately fell in love with it so um it was actually a company that wasn’t on their best feet at the time by any means uh they did

diff things way different than than we do here at United medals um so but I just I fell in love with the whole just the hustle and go and the drive and you know just the the people dealing with different people and companies it just I just fell in love with it immediately this industry just flies under the radar I mean without that ad H how how would you have found out yeah never known I probably well probably today I’d probably see you know someone like you or you know United medals be posting all over Facebook so it’s really good to get it out there on social media super good advertisement um just to let people know what’s out there and educate people um yeah this industry has let the negative news stories Define us and so it’s been really great to see individuals like yourself like Brett eert owner of United medals to be posting online more consistently because there is a lot of good and a lot of positive and a lot of fun aspects of our industry like you’re talking about the hustle about um the trading about the all the

different customers and clients that you get to talk to that’s not every industry there’s a lot of desk jobs that are not as exciting as what we do on a day to day basis yeah yeah so one of my favorite things about this industry is um for me with you know my position specifically but even when I was just working in the office you have the ability to learn so much about all the other Industries out there that’s my favorite part I mean you get to learn about the a just the egg the how they make sugar I mean how they make brass bronze I mean there’s just so many different everything comes from metal like our whole our whole nation is built off like metal recycling and there’s nothing out there that doesn’t involve us so just learning everything about other Industries is definitely my favorite part the scrap metal SL recycled materials industry is one of the best places to learn about what we do here in the states or really anywhere in the world because you you can go anywhere and once you get experience here metals are everywhere I used

to joke around with a a friend from college that she should get a job at an office rental furniture company because that was something in my mind this was before the recycled materials industry you would get to know all the different career options that are out there but if you’re interested in manufacturing and seeing how we actually make things the metals industry is prime for you exactly yep yeah I can’t tell you how much knowledge I’ve gained from so many of my customers and other Industries businesses being able to tore their plants ask them how things are done I mean it just it’s a huge world that it just opens up so you got started how many years ago now so that was in 2016 that I first got that job um I was there for a year and a halfish I believe uh before I met Brett eart and I dealt a lot with um Jay Milligan as well he used to actually come down and buy all of our converters from us and so between him Jay Milligan and then I knew our transportation manager um Jim comes I worked with him

a lot over the phone and email and then of course Brian Ferguson so kind of knew the team pry pretty pretty well just not by face for quite a while before I actually was able to meet him and um Brett said hey we’re we’re uh we’re buying a yard and we want you to hop on over here and so the opportunity was um too good to pass up of course and uh kind of like when you know I was telling you a little bit before I thought it was I actually thought I knew quite a bit about you know recycling I’m like I can do this you know and then I come over here to United Metal recycling where they actually grade their material they separate it they they take care of their customers correctly and so it just it was a complete mindblown situation and um I’ve been here with United medals since December 27th of 2017 so that’s fantastic it’s it’s probably something that you didn’t expect to see in your career but going forward probably not expecting to leave it absolutely not yeah no this is um definitely my forever home

for one United medals love it here um the team here is is like a family the business I I truly believe that one of the biggest things I’ve learned from this company is to go out and be you know a Salesman or a buyer you have to truly believe what you’re selling or buying you have to believe what you’re doing and you also have to believe in your team 100% And that’s a huge thing that I’ve learned that I feel has made me successful ful because I have that faith and that trust and that belief in our whole team at United medals you know um you’re always going to disagree you’re not going to see eye to eye but as long as you have the same goals like you’re good on that know what do you think would be good traits for somebody to get into this industry like we were talking about this a little bit earlier um off off camera but are there any particular traits that you’ve know notice from people around you that’s worked for you um that’s just been successful and helpful in your career well you know in

my opinion for me like it runs a lot it’s it’s kind of parallel with life like if you have kids and a husband and you’re multitasking right so you if you can multitask and you set a goal and you’re willing and you’re you’re dedicated to get it done you know you’re going to get it done um you’re self-disciplined you know maybe you your self-disciplined whether it’s working out every day or a diet or even going to school like anything that self-discipline where you decide like you’re not going to wait for motivation to keep you going you’re going to be self-disciplined to make sure you keep going so there’s just those things I would say definitely multitasking um willing to just keep going staying dedicated learn you got to be willing to learn uh be open-minded and and curious at all times um I would definitely say those are the things that if you have those which a lot of us do and really don’t realize we do but a lot of people really do and to add on to that what we do in the metals world is quite

fascinating and nobody shows us videos of it like I didn’t know about it in high school so I mean I wouldn’t I I look back and I would have had a very different career if I had known more about this because I just find large equipment and processes very fascinating to be able take something and turn it into something else and if we can get more of that out there I think we’ll find more individuals in a few years saying I sought out our industry versus a lot of us kind of fell into it either born into it or fell into it yeah yeah and so um a lot of the neat things that I’ve seen is doing tours like we do tours like with colleges in our area and different classes will come through and tour and you know there’s some that are like eh but there’s a lot that are really like this is really neat you know especially when you educate them and you’re telling them like you know this is this material and this is approximately what it’s worth when we send a truckload you know like it’s a multi-billion

dollar industry that has so much potential for for anyone like there’s just there’s a lot out there so I feel like a lot of those things and we do like even little kids like they love to come in and you know in their truck in their dad’s truck or you know something simple like that seeing the equipment um but we’ve had a lot of college students really be like how do you get into something like this well it’s really simple you just apply mhm you apply and then you just you climb you keep going so one step back from applying how do you find this industry like what would you give an advice to someone that wants to get in like how do you find us I would say definitely get on Facebook LinkedIn Instagram um even Tik Tok I mean there’s so you’re great on Tik Tok um there’s just there’s so much so social media social media internet um get on even if you’re not looking for a specific company and you just want to learn more about it you want to see if if it is something you want to do

just watch videos I mean it’s all over social media uh United medals Jennifer Betts um we’ve made a few videos there recycled Idaho there’s there’s many many out there so just social media kind of you know dig in there and where do you think the future of our industry is going oh it’s going crazy I think it’s definitely growing it’s getting better it’s getting bigger um I think people are slowly starting to realize not just the importance of it but how how fun and neat it is people are becoming more interested and intrigued by what we do it’s more in the mainstream now I got into this you about a couple decades ago and I didn’t know what I was signing up for it was a job out of college and they were going to give me a company car an expense account and great I’m gonna I’m G to go travels sounds great I didn’t realize that I was going to go to junkyards or scrapyards or steel mills or aluminum smelters like I didn’t know what that meant right and now it’s the recycled materials industry right now it’s talking about circular

economies and sustainability and it’s it’s ES G and it’s interesting for people to find us for the first time but in reality this industry has been around for decades if not centuries exactly and it’s it’s lucrative career it’s it you can make a very good living support a family travel the the the world the country and you’re never going to run out of an opportunity to work in in this industry and you never stop you never stop learning there’s like there’s just so much knowledge out there you you get to a point where you where you think you know I’ve seen it all I I know it all and just don’t ever say that don’t ever think that there’s always something more something new something crazier that’s yeah it’s it’s a big world out there it is and I’ve been really enjoying seeing others posting online more because you know post postco or during Co um didn’t travel as much there weren’t as many conferences you you didn’t get to you know maybe walk the floor of your consumer as much so a little bit of that learning got lost so seeing companies take

the opportunity to go to social media and educate their customers their suppliers even just folks in their community on what they’re doing it’s cool and you exactly what you said you learn something from that what would it be kind of the craziest most interesting thing that you’ve learned thus far in this industry like has there been like a moment where you’re on like a a plant floor or you didn’t expect to see that there um gosh I don’t know that’s a good one probably the craziest thing I ever actually got to see work happened was um we we take care of a customer um that makes um like bronze faucets and just fancy stuff like that for you know some some of the fancier houses and whatnot anyways and to see the the pots everything smelter down and when they dump it into the molds and seeing it all molded out like that was probably one of the coolest things but I don’t know if there’s just one I think it’s just been kind of a a repeat of just ahas throughout my career so far that I’m like oh oh you know it’s

just the more you know and I I think I don’t know I don’t think that there is just one and you probably go about your life now not being able to unse the metal definitely everywhere oh yeah anytime we’re on vacation any anywhere we go it doesn’t matter what we’re doing my husband will be like stop shopping for scrap and I’m like I’m not necessarily shopping I’m just saying I was just was thinking you know they have a lot of opportunity there to get a lot of stuff cleaned up and recycled and that’s good material you know and or I wonder what they do and then my mind starts going and I’m then I’m looking them up online you know we can be in Nevada and I’m like he’s like you’re not going to get there bit and I’m like well I’m just curious you know so I cannot walk over a manhole cover and not look to see where it’s made and who made it every single time I I mean I did it the the other day walking around uh here and I was proud to see that it used to be

one of the foundaries that I used to do business with out in the Pacific Northwest uh but I’ve had co-workers go on vacation and they’re sending me the door frames of their hotel rooms because usually they’re made out of metal um and they’re like hey can you look up this company see where they’re based out and I’m like go back to your family like just take a minute go enjoy your vacation yeah and it’s funny how that stuff passes on to your kids too I have four kids and um it’s funny because they’re always like Mom let me see your magnet yes or or they’re like Mom I I hit this with a magnet and it didn’t stick but it seems like it’s really heavy for aluminum and you know it’s just funny how they’re like they soak it up and then they start doing the same thing and it’s like it’s really neat you’ve already given them so so much education from that perspective I mean I didn’t know that until after college like there there wasn’t really uh that that just wasn’t brought up in in my household which is kind

of crazy looking back my dad has a Metallurgy degree oh wow and yet that never that was never discussed yeah at the dinner table it was always like what are you doing in school or the sports or you know so it it I think that’s fantastic that they know yeah yeah it’s it’s neat they’re always asking questions and and that’s the goal you know we want we want our kids to know this industry we want other young people men women you know everyone to really know not just how important it is but how fun it can be and there’s a whole world out there and it literally all revolves around there’s metal and everything it is so surprising to me whenever I get a comment on social media or in in real life if you will you know friends or family that are learning what I do for you know the first time and they’re they’re always surprised oh we do that we do that here we yes we do a lot of that here I mean just for perspective the United States just the United States is the fourth largest producer of Steel

in the world that’s amazing and yet I recently got a comment on one of my social media pages of I think I was commenting about a recent steel news story and somebody’s comment was thanks for the info and also for letting me know but there is a steel industry in the United States like there’s a big Metals industry made you feel good though at the same like sad but good like how like how could you not know this but I’m so glad that I could bring that to the table so now you know and there’s more yes some of the posting online that I’ve been doing recycled media has been doing recycled Idaho Etc have been bringing folks from other Industries into our into our world I’ve had phone calls with individuals that work in Silicon Valley that are in the tech world that are in you know Financial or the medical fields and they’re looking for a shift they’re looking for a change and part of that is from the sustainability and the recycling aspect of it but it’s the first time that I’m starting to see people try to find us yeah

which is exciting to see that Talent come and join us and bring technology and Innovation and it it’s it’s really refreshing yeah very neat when you’re looking ahead what are you looking ahead to like what’s the next thing like what what are you excited about career-wise in this industry you know I would like to I’ve spent I spent about six years buying and customer relations and L HR I would really like to learn more of the outside Pro process um I know a little bit but I definitely would love to know more of that be more educated on that I would love to go visit a mill I have not been able to visit a mill yet um so that’s something I would really like to do out of all the other companies and industries I’ve been able to do that’s the one thing I have not so um that’s a goal of mine I definitely want to do and just seeing more of the the export side just you know on the other side I would love to learn more for translating to those that are unfamiliar you did throw out some

terms there that obviously we throw around uh rather frequently but I’m stealing this from another podcast where uh I’m going to just refer to my husband eston who is outside of our world he’s in the biomedical field and so if you were to describe to someone like atin what do you what do you mean when you’re talking about export what do you mean when you’re talking about visiting a mill for instance so obviously when we I we buy the material I buy the material we ship that out it’s to be melt it it’s to be melted down into new product and it’s it goes all over the world it goes all over the United States to see the process of our finished material actually go into the mill to be smelter down burnt down melted down and completed into new still it is a really fascinating process uh I will definitely be talking to Brad after this cuz you’re you’re like from here what is Plymouth two hours yes not very far right so uh Plymouth Utah I’m talking about the new core bar Mill and bar Mill is short for basically reinforcement bar

um I’m generalizing here but essentially what goes into structural uh you know infrastructure so putting in into concrete things like that and I used to help uh run the raw materials program over at that now oh my gosh uh during during my Seattle days I’d fly to Utah minimum once a month to go drive up middle of nowhere Utah it’s basically at the Utah Idaho border it has a gas station that has a Subway and a steel mill and that is plumouth that is all that is that is there and it’s fascinating we used to do supplier days I’ll have to find out if they don’t maybe they don’t do that anymore but the whole intent was to bring suppliers like yourself into the plant to understand from a safety perspective and also just an educ of look how cool like your truck came here with all of your scrap metal dumped it into the pit crane pick it up dumps it basically into the furnace I’m skipping over a lot of steps people this is for the masses but generally speaking it gets melted and then pushed out into new product and it

wasn’t until I left that world and worked more on The Brokerage side of things that it started Dawning on me more and more people have never seen yeah that world exactly like that was a pretty cool experience and I think more people would get hooked on our industry if they actually saw a charge bucket dropping scrap into a giant furnace that basically I mean it kind of looks like hell but it’s it is a really cool process to see that turns to Lava basically turn lava turns to Lava yep very very accurate and then you tap the the lava and it flows out which is also kind of a crazy process uh it yeah I I feel like we can we can make that happen that would be neat 20 I would recommend 2023 like winter time I wouldn’t really say right now sure it’s a little warm it’s a little warm little warm in there yeah I can imagine the first meal that I went to was in Colorado in August oh my gosh and it was a pretty big steel mill there got a little sweaty super fun super hot uh yes

so it there are all these different career pass like you could work in the mill for sure and even working in the mill doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re on the actual plant floor they have office positions and Commercial folks and accounting and and whatnot so it’s really cool to see you in the supply chain of you’re seeing the end consumers right cuz then you’re picking up the the scrap from it M but then also to get to see the the full the very end yeah yeah so more know more knowledge and experience seeing seeing seeing a lot of that would be would be neat it’s kind of my my goals when you’re taking a look at your competitive advantage in this industry what would you say has contributed to a lot of your success in it I’m going to have to say say to be honest finding that just finding finding that Medium place of knowing where you stand and being firm and and but also being soft and open is probably my biggest my biggest thing is as far as competitive I would also still say that because I feel like there’s a

lot of people a lot of I feel like there’s a lot of people that get out there and um it’s one or the other they either come on way way too strong MH or not strong enough and especially dealing with customers and other businesses Industries you you have to find a happy medium with each one and each one’s going to be different so I really consider it a talent or a skill I guess I should say a skill that you have to learn to do to work with other people at all times mhm there is conflict in our in Industry sometimes absolutely there are downgrades there are safety issues things like that where you have to work together you have to figure it out you need to prepare yourself for that and that’s a soft skill that not everyone has but can be a huge asset in this industry and it can be learned yes I do believe it can be learned you you can learn it it can be taught you just have to be willing mhm with an open mind I didn’t I didn’t come into this you know industry like this

know you know kind of knowing how to talk to different people it was a day by day and experience by experience and you know you’re going to have a different relationship with customer a than you are with customer B based off their wants their needs their demeanor their you know who the business they run even I mean so not being fake but there’s a different person that you kind of need to work with on each aspect and that learned skill translates to your personal life too absolutely yeah yeah I can’t tell you how much it’s changed my outside life I mean I literally go out and you know I’m I’m I’m lucky I’m not from a a very big place we have a population down in burle rert for oh 15 to 20,000 people maybe total um and so I know all the business owners and the managers not just from work but cuz our kids go to school together we golf together and you do these extra hobbies and then you also meet more people that just came in and so yeah it’s it just keeps going it it becomes part of

you always so it really does you cannot not stop you can’t it’s just it is what it is yes it’s uh something that my husband has picked up on now our children has have also started picking up on and identifying mom you know use this for your podcast it’s a metal or that’s so neat which is so great and some of it has to do with there’s just more of that content that’s going on out there and that we’re talking about it more with them and I want them to be aware of all the different career options that could be out there especially the ones like this that are not talked about that often exactly it’s a hidden treasure it it really is it shouldn’t be so hidden uh no so hopefully after this podcast people will go to LinkedIn they’ll find you absolutely they’ll they’ll look up United medals they’ll they’ll look up our industry and hopefully it gets more people interested and excited about what we’re doing yeah yeah um that’d be great and it’s it’s definitely worth every minute so thank you Amy Amy oldum she is the director of United

Metals Recycling very excited that you were open and available when I came to Idaho to drive on down for this so we’re gonna we’ll we’ll get get you to that steel mill tour sounds great thank you all right thanks Jen