What’s your background? How did you end up with KION as an Assembler Technician?**

I’m an assembler tech at KION. Basically, we build trucks. It starts with one screw and the next thing you know, you’ve got a whole truck. I’m from South Miami, Florida and I heard about how much work was coming out of Charleston. I graduated college in 2019 with a degree in industrial electronics technology and applied science. My plan was to come to Charleston because there was so much in my field. I was lucky that I knew someone here and they brought me to KION. I really, really love working here. It’s one of the best jobs I ever had.

When I came to Charleston, I also bought a home here. It was just that good. I like the weather because you don’t know what it’s going to be. In Miami, you just have sun, sun, sun, sun. Here you can have a pretty day. The next thing you know, you see some nice clouds, a little shower, rain here but two miles away the sun is shining. I love this about Charleston. Charleston to me, it’s one of my favorite cities now.

What are the biggest benefits to working in Charleston and/or KION?

One big benefit of working for KION is that you can grow in this company. KION is expanding. They will have their own parts building rather than getting them shipped in. So that’s going to create more jobs. We also do batteries now. So that’s another spot. It is great the way I’ve seen some people move up into the front office from off the [shop] floor. That’s what I like about this company.

And if KION is not the place for you (which it is the place for me), I would advise anybody to move to Charleston because of all the companies here that are hiring. It’s a beautiful place. You can pretty much get a job doing anything in auto [assembly]. You have so many companies here. You got a choice, a big variety of places you can work.

Describe your ideal, quintessential Charleston day.

One Saturday I decided I wanted to learn Charleston. I drove so much because there was so much to see. I went to Mount Pleasant since I wanted to ride the [Ravenel] bridge so I went across that. I love that Mount Pleasant is so beautiful. Then I went to the City of Charleston and saw The Battery. I was like, man, this is it. The people are so friendly. The people are lovely here.

I’ve heard about the hockey team – I like that and baseball. You’ve got so much to see and do. I want to go to some of the restaurants because there is so much variety. You’ve got so many different ethnicities here. It’s beautiful here. I love it.

**This was transcribed using video-to-text technology, so there may be grammar or spelling errors.**

Questions about working in Charleston? Connect.

• Find job openings in the Charleston region
• View careers at KION of North America