When deciding on job applicants at the ConocoPhillips Ferndale Refinery, managers look hard at the customary credentials — education and experience levels. They also seek people who embody the company's "SPIRIT values:"

Safety

P>eople (appreciating diversity in the work force and respecting each other)

Integrity

Responsibility

Innovation

Teamwork

In a workplace where 105,000 barrels of oil are processed daily, producing primarily gasoline and diesel fuel, safety is a pronounced priority. Hiring personnel seek safety-conscious, responsible workers who also are encouraged to pursue volunteer activity beyond the plant.

"We want people who are accountable for their actions," says Kathleen Pennington, the company's human resources director. "We want people who will be good corporate citizens. We also ask our employees to get involved with agencies in their community."

With workers spread over a 900-acre operation that runs continuously, management uses several vehicles to try to bring them closer and foster a spirit of togetherness. They include a weekly e-mail memo and quarterly newsletter, periodic "all-hands" meetings and recreational events such as family water-park picnics, Easter egg hunts and holiday dinner parties.

The Unick Road facility, part of an international corporation that ranks fifth on the Fortune 500 list, has about 280 employees and 150 on-site contractors. The work force includes engineers, chemists and accountants in addition to skilled and unskilled labor. For most jobs, the company prefers candidates with at least a two-year degree and two years of experience.

"We try to hire locally," says Pennington, "if we're going outside the company." And most of the process operators, maintenance workers and laboratory employees come from the area.

The refinery has about 10 major processing units such as Crude, Waste Water Treatment and Reformer, each with a specific run life.

"Every second or third year, we're doing (preventative) maintenance, what we call turnaround activity on one or more units," says Jeff Callender, the public affairs director. The activity involves multiple contractors, providing temporary employment for hundreds of skilled workers.

The company works closely with Bellingham Technical College and expects to hire more of its graduates in the future — from instrumentation, electrical, welding and process technology programs. Most of the plant's lab technicians are degreed chemists from Western Washington University.

ConocoPhillips also helps to sponsor BTC's "Road Less Graveled" program, a job fair for women in non-traditional trades, and it does outreach to Lummi Nation.

The overall head count has remained relatively flat over the past five years, says Pennington, adding, "No more than a 10 percent swing in either direction." Turnover has averaged less than 5 percent annually over the same period.

"One of the biggest challenges in the industry is the growth in capital construction projects," Pennington says, "which has made for a tight market for engineers, especially chemical engineers."

About 60 percent of the work force receives hourly pay, with wages for process operators and maintenance personnel ranging from $21 to $33 an hour. Process operators who have considerable experience, are qualified to work multiple units and are willing to earn overtime can make six figures. Salaried engineers make from the low-70s to 100-plus.

Workers have several perks available, including: a fitness center, on-site medical facility, an employee park, open-gym basketball, a volunteer grant program, tuition refund plan (90 percent paid by the company) and a bonus program.