All Ready: Former furniture-industry worker planned ahead

By: By Richard Craver | Journal Reporter
Published: April 30, 2006

The decline of furniture manufacturing in Davidson County didn't catch Marianna Frank by surprise.

As a purchasing and benefits analyst for then-Lexington Furniture Industries, Frank was an eyewitness to management's decision to pursue lower-cost production of wooden furniture in China.

That decision has led to the elimination of at least 3,920 jobs by renamed Lexington Home Brands since November 2000, along with the shifting offshore of about 90 percent of wooden-furniture production. Lexington's embrace of being a global marketer has left it with about 580 domestic jobs.

Frank, however, chose not to be a layoff victim, leaving her job of 14 years before the first major job cut occurred. "I saw it coming and I figured I'd better beat it before it beat me," Frank said.

After taking a similar, short-lived job with another furniture company based in Lexington, Frank made a clean break with the industry and began taking classes at Davidson County Community College.

"It was extremely intimidating going back into a classroom for the first time since being a teenager," the 40-year-old Frank said.

"But I knew that I had to keep the big picture in mind, that going to school was definitely the right path if I wanted to make what I had been making in salary at Lexington."

Frank completed an associate's degree in human-resources management in May 2004.

"I'd never been on the personnel side of a business before, but I like working with people and the job prospects were broader there than in other HR areas," Frank said.

Three months later, Frank was hired as the corporate human-resources and payroll manager for S&N Communications of Kernersville, a telecommunications and construction company with more than 700 employees and 35 offices in six states.

"Getting the associate degree proved to be a great experience for me in terms of giving me back my self-esteem," Frank said. "Earning a national certification from the Society of Human Resources Management was more proof that I had made the right decision."

Frank said that she would advise workers considering an associate's degree to figure out beforehand what jobs they would really like to do, but also remain open-minded to career paths that may open up.

"Change is hard, but it's necessary because being too segmented in your career choice can leave you on the outside looking in at the right job opportunities," Frank said.