WCCO Belting CEO: Immigration reform could hamper hiring efforts

WAHPETON, N.D.—The type of work experience that Tom Shorma often is looking for takes his search to all ends of the U.S.—and even the world.

How Congress eventually handles immigration is of utmost concern for his business, WCCO Belting Inc., a manufacturer of specialized rubber products for agriculture and manufacturing in Wahpeton. He doesn't feel the current laws are in any way business-friendly.

"It makes absolutely no sense that we educate our professionals here with global knowledge in a business or skill and then force them to go back overseas where another country will benefit," Shorma said.

Shorma, the CEO of WCCO Belting, is in a unique position. His company and its 270 employees (200 in North Dakota and 80 at a plant in Texas) are part of the North Dakota economy, which is the fastest-growing economy by state in the U.S. His firm is based at the edge of the oil rush in North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale formation has resulted in an influx of new residents to the area.

North Dakota economically was healthy even before oil was found, with a balanced state budget, a strong and largely unknown technology hub on the eastern side of the state and other thriving industries.

But the booming state economy doesn't serve one of Shorma's greatest needs.

Finding qualified employees is a challenge.

WCCO Belting provides customized rubber goods for its customers. The company has no inventory and manufactures no off-the-shelf products.

"We do the type of jobs that the big companies aren't interested in and the little companies can't handle," Shorma said. "So we're in between most of our competitors. We're never going to be a $100 million company, but this is a good spot for us.

"One of our challenges is always going to be staffing. North Dakota is far from the rubber hub of the U.S."

That level of customization provided by WCCO Belting requires that its employees possess specialized skills inherent with some of his higher-level employees. The labor force, though, in North Dakota generally does not offer the type of job candidates that he needs to produce for clients.

Even with a well-respected polymer research program at North Dakota State University, Shorma often has to use social media and other online tools to find the best and the brightest for the specific type of work required by the belt manufacturer.

The pool of qualified candidates stretches overseas, and many of those candidates attend U.S.-based institutions. Meanwhile, as the U.S. places less emphasis on manufacturing, talent in certain skill trades wanes.

Shorma hired one high-level manager from India, a professional with significant educational and job experience in the U.S. and abroad. This employee is the company's only non-U.S. citizen.

According to Shorma, his employee offers the skills of a rubber chemist, and he and other staffers understand how to design custom fabricated products.

"There may not be much more than a dozen people with his mix of experience, education and knowledge in the world, but he has provided a lot for our company and is helping us to grow," Shorma said.

Immigration reform is threatening to make it so that these types of candidates will be unavailable to American companies in the long term.

Shorma has had conversations with his congressional representatives and even North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple about the issue.

"That's one of the great things about this state—your elected officials are actually accessible because we are smaller," Shorma said. "There are gaps in the immigration law that are a serious issue for businesses.

"We need to get away from the one-size-fits-all approach. We can be limiting the ability of talented foreigners to get their green cards and apply what they learned at our colleges in the U.S."