Inside Metro Signs – Sue Curran, HR /IT /Office Manager

Wearing three different hats at work is a great way to insure your days are always busy. But three hats aren’t really enough to cover all the work that Sue Curran does at Metro Sign and Awning.

A typical day can involve her in anything and everything from setting up and networking a new computer to invoicing vendors, generating statements for customers, and handling payments, in addition to the never-ending Human Resources work that goes with that part of her title.

But her main priority, she says, is “making sure everyone is feeling good about their job, and about working at Metro.”

To that end, Sue tries to maintain a schedule of what she calls “extracurricular activities.” These can lead her to organize anything from a summertime BBQ or a Christmas party, to a corporate outing at a place like Mel’s Funway in New Hampshire.

Sue has been working at Metro since 2008, although she did take off a good chunk of time to deal with some health problems and is now full-time again.

“I remember our original location,” she recalls, with a grin. “It was only about 5,000 square feet. And I remember moving to our present location, which is about 15,000 square feet. When we first moved in here, we never thought we’d fill it up. But we certainly have.

“I’m very proud that we’ve come so far in the last ten years. We’ve grown beyond our wildest dreams. I think a big factor in our growth is that our customers are thrilled with our quality. I hear that from them all the time. That’s one of the reasons we have so many repeat customers.”

Metro Sales and Awning Is Different

Metro Sales and Awning provides a working environment for Sue that’s different from any other place she has worked. Here, for example, she routinely gets to interact with both vendors and customers. She works hard trying to make sure vendors are satisfied and primed to make their deliveries on time, which is an ongoing necessity if Metro is going to satisfy its own customers, in turn.

“It’s challenging,” says Sue, of her position at ‘pressure central,’ “but in a good way.”

Her IT knowledge and experience also come in handy as Metro seeks to update and grow. For example, one imminent change involves the company’s customer invoicing system. Under the new system, Sue will be acquiring another responsibility: taking over from product managers the job of generating statements for Metro’s many customers. “Product managers will still be entering all the line items,” Sue explains, “but now I’ll be generating the individual invoices for each job, in addition to the monthly statements I already do.”

Another piece of her IT responsibility: setting up and managing remote network connections. The company’s sophisticated computer system allows Metro employees to work “virtually” on their computers from home, from a prospect’s or customer’s office, or from just about anywhere they can connect to the internet.

But while she’s comfortable with the bits and the bytes, Sue’s favorite part of her work at Metro involves interacting with all the staff, getting to know them as individuals, and doing what she can to make sure they’re happy.

“After all,” she believes, “happy employees make for a happy company.”