OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Like any new hires, only eight days on the job so far, Steve McCalister is concentrating his thoughts on making sure the oil field valves he’s assembling are done right, getting his hands used to working again after a long layoff.

“It was real slow,” he says of his unemployment.

It’s been the better part of a year since his old job disappeared, moved out of state.

Steve was home and out of a job for the first time in decades.

“There were days that were impactful, that were hard,” he admits. “My emotions, my stress, and everything else.”

He heard about this assembly job at Kimray through a friend.

When the company called to hire him, McCalister was more than just relieved.

Steve recalls, “I was dancing in my house, ready to go.”

These kinds of stories are not at all uncommon after a full year of economic slowdowns and even shutdowns.

Kimray wasn’t immune.

They suffered two rounds of layoffs and employee furloughs.

A lot of their support staff had to work from home.

But a few months back sales and orders started picking up.

Company officers like Organizational Development V.P. Kelly Jennings says the process of hiring back and hiring new made everyone feel good.

“We’re so grateful to have them,” she says of workers called back from furloughs and the new hires. “It’s a blessing on both sides.”

Kimray has yet to fill all of the positions they advertised.

They still want to add another assembly line in the building where Steve works.

Steve, himself, is fitting in nicely just like the parts he puts together every day.

From ‘in the red’ to ‘red letter days’, this color is shining in the best possible way around here, heading out the door as fast as Kimray employees can paint it.

For more information on Kimray, including their job listings, go to Kimray’s career page.