Sanderson Farms has expanded its employee recruiting and training teams to include a second corporate recruiter and two additional training managers. Expansions to employee recruiting and training functions will help to support the company’s growing employee base of more than 12,000 employees spanning five states and 13 different cities.
Additions to the company’s employee recruiting team include the promotion of Katie Beth Walton to corporate recruiter. She will be responsible for identifying, recruiting and screening employees for the company’s corporate trainee and summer internship programs, designed to identify the talent necessary to lead the company’s growing poultry operations. Walton will also provide information regarding the operations of Sanderson Farms to all college campuses from which the company recruits in an effort to align qualified candidates with strategic employment opportunities.
Walton began her career with Sanderson Farms as a recruiting trainee in August 2013. A graduate of Mississippi State University, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. Walton is a current member of Jones County Young Professionals and Pine Belt Young Professionals.
On the employee training side of the organization, Sanderson Farms has promoted both George Dawson and Marcus Brown to training manager. Dawson and Brown will be responsible for designing training curriculum, as well as implementing and facilitating training programs intended to increase management and employee effectiveness. They will also be responsible for recruiting and developing corporate trainees to become successful members of Sanderson Farms’ management team.
Dawson began his career with Sanderson Farms in 2002 as a flock supervisor at the company’s Hazlehurst, Miss., production division. Throughout his more than 13-year tenure with the company, Dawson has held various positions including flock supervisor, advanced trainee, breeder/hatchery manager and, most recently, advanced trainee I. Prior to joining Sanderson Farms, he worked as a youth counselor for the Boys & Girls Club in Collins, Miss.
A graduate of Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Miss., and Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., Dawson earned an Associate of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. In 2014, Dawson received a graduate certificate in occupational safety from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.
Marcus Brown joined Sanderson Farms as an organization development trainee in June 2013. He facilitated training in the areas of employee safety, employee wellness, as well as leadership training for supervisory personnel.
Brown is an honors graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies.
