Genesee: Made for the Trade, Volume 4

Campaign highlights variety and quality of jobs available at the state's oldest brewery

Note: This newsletter is a sponsored partnership between the Genesee Brewery and the Cleveland Prost.

Some of Tim Flaherty’s earliest memories involve Genesee Light. It was his grandfather’s beer of choice.

And growing up, he remembers how much his parents highlighted the Genesee Brewery at their bar near Dewey Avenue in the city of Rochester. Going back even further, Flaherty’s great uncle worked in the brewery.

In a story that’s so uniquely Rochester, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that Flaherty now works at Genny. Because as it has been for generations, Genny is truly a family affair. Flaherty started working at the brewery before he could legally drink the beer.

Flaherty, a warehouse shift manager at the brewery’s distribution facility, is the latest Genny employee to be featured in the brewery’s Made for the Trade campaign. It’s Flaherty’s job to make sure beer (and other beverages) gets shipped to where it needs to be. He’s been in his current role for three years and is approaching his 12th anniversary.

The campaign shows the wide range of rewarding careers at the brewery. Genny employs more than 600 people and the brewing department, which numbers about 50 people, isn’t even the largest department at the expansive 28-acre St. Paul Street campus.

The digital campaign showcases careers in packaging, operations, maintenance, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, security, and so much more. It aims to show the range of careers available without a college degree, those that can be obtained through union and trade training.

More details about jobs can be found here: https://www.fifcousa.com/careers/.

Here’s a bit more about Tim:

Question: What do you do as a warehouse shift manager?

Answer: All of our product that’s being made (at the St. Paul Street campus), we see that it’s sent to our main distribution hub, which is over on Lexington Avenue. And then we’re the go-to for other departments. Like if somebody needs supplies or something moved, they always call the warehouse. We figure it out for them. Then on the distribution side of things, we’re over there on Lexington Avenue and all of our product ships out of there to across the entire country. Right around the same time I started, they moved over to Lexington. We have so many products going out all over the place, so we needed a bigger spot.

Q: How did you train for your job? Did you go to college, receive on-the-job training, complete a union apprenticeship?

A: It has been a long road for me there. I’ve been there 11, almost 12 years, and I started there when I was 19. I eventually jumped into a leadership role on one of our packaging lines which actually mixes all of the Seagram’s variety packs. I was a lead man. So pretty much responsible for making sure the line ran efficiently, getting it fixed, calling mechanics, whatever. On-the-job training really helped me prepare for my next step, which was moving into my management role where I am now in the warehouse. I really didn’t really see myself here five years ago, but it has been quite an experience. I jumped in the deep end and I’ve learned so much.

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Q: What are some of your favorite parts about working at Genesee?

A: I grew up in the city and I had older family members who worked at the brewery some time ago. My grandfather always drank Genny Light and my parents owned a bar that was filled with Genny stuff. For me, the first thing is always the nostalgia piece. Plus, the brewery has been around forever. It’s survived everything. I love being a part of that history. And then it’s all our brands and all the people.

Q: What advice would you give someone hoping to work at Genesee?

A: Being flexible and open-minded. It’s a great job. Anything you do in that place, every place you go to, you have your days where one day is better than the other. The job itself is really good and really fulfilling. And being open and flexible to working other shifts, because you know we operate around the clock.

Q: What’s your favorite Genny beer?

A: No. 1 is definitely Cream Ale and then a close second is the Bock.

Q: What are you most proud of during your time at Genny?

A: Being able to walk around that place and to see different parts on the inside, it’s really amazing. Deep down in the cellars, it’s so cool. When you consider the amount of history there, it’s really so cool to work there. The place where I started in packaging, it was probably 75 percent automated and 25 percent manual labor. In 2016, we made the jump to fully automated. We got robots and being able to troubleshoot and understand these robots to pick up cases, that was probably one of the coolest things we’ve done. And now we have a pick-and-place case packer (robot) on one of our production lines that is pretty much the same setup. Going back to the history, I hope we get to do it for another hundred years. This place is just a staple of Rochester.

More about this partnership

Genny wants to hire you! By highlighting the wide variety of positions available at the brewery, the hope is that folks will see a college degree isn’t a necessity for a great career. Many of these union and trade positions come equipped with opportunity for learning and advancement.

Over the next three months, we’ll highlight some of the people behind the iconic beers in this space.

“We want to continue to attract people to union and skilled trades. There is a shortage of skilled workers, and the industry needs to attract more women and minorities. There are viable career opportunities for virtually anyone who wants to work in beer,” said Mary Beth Popp, vice president of communications, FIFCO USA. 

To learn more about working at the Genesee Brewery, go to: https://www.fifcousa.com/careers/