A chance trip to the restroom has led an Elizabethtown native on a journey into technology, procurement and engineering.
Once in a line for a career fair at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia, Ursula Jones is now a supervisor with budget responsibilities in a $68 million program.
Jones, the daughter of Charles and Mary Richardson and a 2005 graduate of East Bladen High School, has been on an upward trajectory at the shipyard since arriving in 2009 from N.C. A&T with architectural and civil engineering degrees. She completed a six-week nuclear training program upon arrival and has steadily risen through the ranks of her department in the past eight years.
But the beginning included an important chance meeting, before graduation when the university had a career fair.
“It just so happens that I was waiting in line, because you have to wait until the facility opens before you can go in. And I really had to go to the restroom. So I asked this lady, ‘Can I please just go to the restroom and come right back?’”
The lady told her it was OK; she gave her five minutes and said to come right back. She saw an old classmate while she was there, and was invited to come by and see her later in the day. Jones was remembered as a good student.
“She said we could possibly do an interview with you, because we are looking to hire at the shipyard,” she stated.
Jones had two other interviews, and upon graduating from A&T had an offer.
She’s got eight years in her current department, the last three as a supervisor. She oversees 10 engineers and engineering technicians. Her department buys equipment for facilities that work on ship components.
Her biggest challenge is making sure the customers understand what their processes are in facility, and getting the certain information that they need from the customer to be successful.
“And a lot of times the customer doesn’t understand, and they ask why we need the information,” she said. “Sometimes that is pretty difficult.”
She’s writing instructions and guidance to put into place to make sure everyone is aware of their policies and expectations for a smooth transaction. Jones has to buy things for places out of state, miles away from her.
Wanting to do a good job is what drives her to succeed, and she says her drive when she first started was wanting to make a difference.
“It became more of a drive the longer I worked here,” she said. “And when you first get to a place you are learning, and you don’t know how things operate in an office.”
This was especially true since she was working with more than 80 people. This also gave her a chance to learn what the pitfalls of her job were, what she could improve for her branch, and the division as a whole.
“Right now we have a lot of vacant positions,” she said, adding that she tends to talk to upper management a lot. “I tend to take on more work.”
Her duties include oversight of travel for about 80 members of the department, training and presentations. She’s among the most senior in rank, and often mentors new supervisors.
She said that she realized that some of the issues have been the same problems with different people.
“So obviously it’s how we are doing business,” she said. “And we need to come up with a new process on how we do certain things, if we want to see improvement. I’m constantly coming up with those improvement plans to better meet our customer’s needs.”
She is also getting more involved in the budget, where there’s competition with other shipyards for money.
“We have seen a huge increase with the changes that we have been implementing,” she said. “For example, in the past 10 years we have gotten on average $11 million. Since I have been the supervisor our program is at $68 million.”
In 2016 all she had was $2 million.
Jones said she tries not to micromanage, preferring instead to have training in place for everyone to do their job. That, she said, is a piece of what makes her team successful.
Ursula Jones, a 2005 graduate of East Bladen, is among the most senior in rank in her department at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Ursula Jones, a 2005 graduate of East Bladen, is among the most senior in rank in her department at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.