The Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for Assured Staffing, Selma’s newest business, on Monday morning.

The newly opened employment agency seeks not only to find career options for job seekers, but provides a team of instructors who offer training to ensure candidates are prepared for possible employment opportunities.

“The whole thing is about taking Selma’s workforce to a new level,” said Assured Staffing President CEO James Crawford. “Not just by placing workers but by training workers and upping their skills. That’ll be the difference, I think, between Assured Staffing and other employment agencies.”

While the agency hopes to help as many as possible it isn’t looking to monopolize on Selma’s employment centers.

“We need all the staffing agencies out there though,” said Crawford. “We’re all working towards one goal. It’s not a competition. We aren’t trying to compete with anyone else, we’re just trying to do our part.”

Assured Staffing Program and Operations Manager Kerry Horton is excited to begin providing the community the resources to get to work.

“I look forward to the opportunity to give back,” he said. “I was born and raised here. I look forward to rebuilding the trust and faith in our community and our job force. Like Mr. Crawford said, we didn’t come into this to compete with anybody we’re just a small piece of the big pie. If we can play our role and contribute we’ll be happy with that.”

Dallas County Chamber of Commerce Director Sheryl Smedley feels that Assured Staffing will be a great asset to the community.

“They have all the tools to make sure candidates are placed properly in the work force and also the training they need to be a success,” she said.