Matt Hohensee, a new manager at Family Video in Warrensburg, is originally from Wisconsin but took the job here after realizing he didn't want to sit behind a desk for the rest of his life.

WARRENSBURG, Mo.--Since the end of June, Family Video has been under new management here, and the crew at the 218 E. Culton St. store thinks Matt Hohensee, 25, has been just the person for the job.

“Matt is a fair, firm and consistent manger, which is an essential component to any successful company,” says Charlene Champion, a 20-year-old member of the Family Video crew. “He is dedicated to the growth and success of the business and his employees. Since his arrival in our store we have functioned, operationally, better than we have in the past four years.”

Hohensee, originally from Wisconsin, attended the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, double majoring in business management and economics, with a concentration in human resource management.

While in college, he worked at the Family and Children’s Center, a school for delinquent youths. After graduating, Hohensee had several job offers, but, not willing to be “sitting at a desk 40 hours a week,” he took a job with Family Video.

“The people I interviewed with were a lot of fun, which made me believe that it would be a fun job," he said. "There was also the chance to move around the country, which is something I want to do.”

After a year and one month at Family Video stores in La Crosse and O’Claire, Wisc., Hohensee moved to the Warrensburg store for “the opportunity to advance in the company.”

As store manager, he has an extensive list of duties: “Training, hiring, firing, accounting, paying bills, keeping up store appearance, movie moves (making room for the new releases the store receives every week, and often the store must be rearranged to accommodate customers and to keep a fresh appearance), running meetings, and developing plans with the district manager to increase revenue.”

At work,Hohensee is a whirlwind, as he darts from the register, out to the floor, and back to the register (in record time) to accommodate a customer. Watching him whiz by is comical. His employees shake their heads in disbelief at his “super-sonic speed.” While ringing up customers, he keeps a smile on his face, joking and making small-talk with customers and his employees.

Hohensee’s skills that help him excel in his job came from “life experience, college, and about six months of training with a store manager in La Crosse.”

What is it like moving to a new place on your own, leaving family and friends behind? “It’s actually pretty difficult,” he says. “I struggle sometimes, because there is a drastic difference between how I spend my time [now vs. then]. I don't know many people around here. Unfortunately, it hasn't really adjusted much with my family, because at the end of college, I was working full-time and didn't see my family, except for holidays. So that is pretty much the same.”

Does Hohensee like his job? “Yeah, I do. I get to be moving around. I work with great people. No two days are the same, and I basically just get to have fun with people all day.” Aside from the fun, he does tell of the struggle to find time to get things done “with almost no payroll to do it in.” Lower payroll means less hours for employees, resulting in a lot of work for very few people.

When he gets time off work, which is rare with his 48-50 hour per week schedule and his stop-ins to help out off-the-clock, he enjoys sports. “I love them,” he says. “Ultimate Frisbee being my favorite. I also enjoy doing origami. When I was still in Wisconsin, I had a lot of fun just being out with friends; watching movies, going to bars, rollerblading.” Hohensee also enjoys snowboarding, camping and backpacking.

If he had to start all over again…? “There is one job that I have regrets I didn't try. I was offered a job in the human resource department at North Central Trust Co. I would like to have tried that to see if human resources is really what I want to do.”

“I want to work to become a district manager and possibly stay with Family Video, if they continue to offer me new opportunities,” he says, in regards to the future. “Otherwise, I would love to work in a Fortune 500 company’s human resources department.”