All experience levels are welcome to apply, and Code Blue — a water mitigation firm that manages claims nationwide — will provide in-house training for all positions.
“We want to move as fast as we can — fast but not too fast that we can’t get the people acclimated if we are providing training and teaching them a new job. We want to make sure that they succeed in that job. If you hired 170 all in one day, you’d do a really bad job at getting them acclimated,” Gross said.
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Springfield’s Code Blue office will have about 350 employees with the addition of the new jobs, Gross said. That will make it one of the largest employers in Springfield’s downtown district, Heck said.
There are another 120 employees at the Eau Claire, Wis., branch, Gross said.
“Central Ohio, it’s got a great workforce and we think Springfield has a great workforce,” Gross said. “We felt we could find the available people inside of this market to help us…It just made sense for our overall business to experience its growth here in Ohio.”
Much of the leadership team is also in Ohio, Gross said, creating more opportunities for internal staff to quickly move up the ladder.
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“Each job is truly a career because a good part of our leadership team today started out in these positions and have ascended to senior leadership positions within the company,” Gross said. “So there’s a great career path for people who are really seeking more than a job.”
The job additions come from a new growth path since Gross and CEO Dan Wilson “transformed it quite remarkably” when they purchased the company Feb. 22 last year, Gross previously told this news organization.
Gross helped create Code Blue and served as CEO before stepping down to spend more time working on his retirement community in Madison County in 2015.
He and Wilson acquired the majority share in parent company Insurance Claims Management Inc. as part of an investor group that acquired all the equity and assets of the company in a cash deal last year.
Since then, the company has made “significant management changes” by introducing new products that resonate with the marketplace and promoting from within and bringing outside talent, Gross said.
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“They’ve been a big part of the downtown revitalization in our community as it is not only located in Springfield, but they’ve located in a historic building in our downtown, right on our core block,” Heck said. “The addition of these jobs is a big win for our community and shows the continued momentum that we have building in our community.”
The range of positions also helps diversify the city’s economic base, he said.
Incentives for the jobs are still in the works, said Tom Franzen, economic development director for the city of Springfield.
The company is in talks with Jobs Ohio for an incentive package that could help pay for some of the direct costs of training and modest infrastructure work to get the Bushnell Building ready for the expansion, Gross said.
The city is working with Code Blue on an employee incentive agreement, which could send some of the income tax generated from the jobs back to the company so it can continue to expand, said Bryan Heck, city manger of Springfield.
Anyone interested in the jobs can apply by emailing a resume to Nancy.Puerner@CodeBlue360.com. There’s also an application online at www.codeblue360.com. Benefits include a standard package with healthcare and dental. Both full-time and part-time positions are available.
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