Our Spotlight on Super series highlights the SRC team members who help keep SRC a great a place to work and grow. For this installment, we sat down with Jim St. Martin, a 32-year SRC employee who oversees the sales and engineering team at our Chaska, Minnesota Division.
Q: First off, where are you from? Where’s home?
JSM: I’m from the Twin Cities area – Crystal, Minnesota specifically.
JSM: I’m the sales and engineering manager. I started here as a sales applications engineer, so all my time at SRC has been in our sales and engineering department. I think my title was national sales manager at one point, but I’ve spent most of time as sales and engineering manager.
Q: How did you come to work at SRC? What’s the story there?
JSM: I was working for a mechanical contracting company before SRC, and unfortunately got laid off, so I was in between jobs, so I was looking for a new job and I interviewed with Super Radiator, and they made me an offer. I’d also gotten an offer from another company that, frankly, I felt was a little bit of a safer bet. It was something I was a bit more familiar with in an industry that I’d had some experience in, things like that.
So, I accepted the offer at the other place and told SRC “thanks for the offer, but I’m going to go with this other opportunity.” That was on a Friday night, and on Saturday, Jon Holt called me at my house and over the course of a couple phone calls that Saturday, Jon convinced me to come work for Super Radiator. So, then I had to call the other company and tell them – and this all happened over a weekend, so I turned down the SRC offer on Friday, was convinced on Saturday to accept it, then I started at SRC on January 7th, 1992. It’s funny, too, because during that time I was in between jobs I got married. So, even though I was unemployed at the time, she still decided to marry me.
Q: As someone with a lengthy tenure at the company, how have you seen SRC change during your time here?
JSM: There’s been incredible change over the years. There’s the technology piece of course – when I started, we didn’t have the internet, we were working with faxes, typewriters, all that stuff. We’ve also moved a few times – when I started, we were in St. Louis Park and now we’re in a much bigger facility in Chaska. Back then, there were maybe 20 people in the shop and now I think that’s close to 150 people. Back then, the facility was nothing like it is now. I remember thinking when we moved to Chaska in 1998 that we would never fill the place up in my career, but not only did we fill it up, we’ve had two additions, our other plants have expanded in massive ways, and we’ve just kept growing.
Q: What do you like about your job? What is it about the work here that’s kept you working here for as long as you have?
JSM: I think the biggest thing is that I like the people I work with. There are some really great people here. I also like my customers, some of whom I’ve been selling to the whole time I’ve been here. I also just like the nature of my job – I like selling. It’s exciting to get a PO and I enjoy the process – negotiations, breaking down how we did after we ship a job, all that. And I enjoy feeling that I’ve contributed to the company. You definitely feel valued here and like you’re a part of the team.
Q: What is something about SRC that you would tell someone who is considering working here?
JSM: I’d say that this is a great place to work if you’re looking for a real relationship with your employer. Family is very important to me, and I feel that’s what you get when you come work for Super Radiator. The Holts have always been good to me, and I know that a lot of people who work here feel the same way. I feel like I definitely made the right call when I decided to join the company.
Q: What about when you’re not at work? How do you like to spend your time?
JSM: I’ve got a cabin up north and I love getting out there when I can. My favorite thing is – we’ve got a patio on the lake side of the cabin that’s elevated. I like to relax out there. Pour a bourbon, have a cigar, light the fire pit and just sit there and look at the lake and enjoy it. I also like to hike, and I enjoy golf too but don’t get to do it enough. I like traveling, too – especially to national parks.
If you’d like to know more about working at SRC, be sure to stop by our Careers Homepage to learn more about who we are, what we make, and where we work. And stop by our job listings page to see our open positions. Manufacturing experience is preferred, but not required. If you’ve got a positive attitude and a good work ethic, we’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading.