Public power officials on June 9 discussed how public power utilities can build pipelines for local talent and raise awareness of the variety of jobs within the utility sector.
The officials made their comments at a session of APPA’s National Conference in New Orleans, La.
Speakers at the session were Julie DeCook, Communications Manager for the Holland Board of Public Works in Michigan, Leslye Hartsell, Director, Community Relations at Tennessee public power utility Knoxville Utilities Board, and Dr. Harry Hobbs, VP for Employee Engagement at Alabama public power utility Huntsville Utilities.
In her presentation, Hartsell shared how KUB is engaging youth to build an employee pipeline program, discussed the benefits to partnering with educational institutions and ways to provide meaningful mentorship and internship opportunities.
Hartsell discussed KUB’s TeenWork program, which began in 1995 as a partnership with one local high school and expanded to others to increase impact. Over 500 students have completed the program.
The program educates high school juniors about careers and professional skills and offers community service opportunities.
The TeenWork Program’s Eligibility requirements include, among other things, being enrolled and classified as a high school junior at a partner high school, a minimum 2.5 GPA, completing an interest application and interview process and attending workshop sessions.
“After high school, we have a student program,” she noted. Students have to be enrolled full time at a college or university or at a trade school or certification program, have a minimum 2.5 GPA and the ability to work at least 15-29 hours per week.
She noted that Pellissippi State Community College, which is located in Knoxville, previously approached KUB about participating in its Earn to Learn program. “So we pay them while they go to school, but they work for us so they’re learning their skill or trade and so we’ve reaped a lot of benefits from that and we’ve actually hired several students.”
Hartsell also noted that KUB’s utility apprentice program provides a pipeline for entry-level skilled craft workers. “We started this program back in 2021,” she noted. It provides career opportunities for non-degree seeking candidates.
DeCook noted that a couple of years ago she was team lead for a special project team to study local youth development and community outreach.
The project looked at “the different ways we can engage youth in our community to make them interested in utility careers.”
She noted that Holland Board of Public Works has included the topic of workforce into its strategic plan.
“When we look at workforce, we care about how are current employees feel…but we’re also looking at that youth engagement, so this is really important for our organization and that’s why we’re able to be so intentional and have the support to do these programs.”
The utility wants the community to understand the “variety of jobs that we have in our organization and hopefully pursue utility-related careers,” she said.
“Another challenge is helping people understand that there are career paths to have these really good jobs at utilities,” DeCook said.
“So how are we going to do that? Through the special project team that she was in charge of, “we decided that we’d do it through marketing, recruiting and education. We’re going to reach different age groups in different ways.”
With marketing, “we’re reaching, probably, high schoolers and above. Recruiting – college age and above, and in the education space, it’s really a lifelong learning. We’re reaching small children to senior citizens.”
DeCook also noted that the Holland Energy Park Visitor Center “is a place where you can learn about the science of electricity. You can learn about the history of your community. You can see directly into the floor of our power plant and our control room.”
The webpage for the Visitor Center notes that the Visitor Center “spans the length of the iconic red spine visible across the front of Holland Energy Park. This unique exhibit features interactive experiences for all ages. The Visitor Center is open to the public on select dates throughout the year and can be reserved in advance for large groups or field trips.”
“Building the employee pipeline. We all know how important that is and that’s part of our strategic plan at Huntsville Utilities,” said Hobbs.
“We’re trying to set industry standards for workforce development and we want to create an education to workforce pipeline,” he said.
Referencing the utility’s use of internships, Hobbs said: “We’ve got to get young folks to come in to become familiar with this industry, this utility industry, which to some people is still a mystery.”
Also, “We’ve got to work with local colleges, so we have scholarships set up.”
Hobbs also noted that “we do education days for fourth graders in all three school districts.” The utility teaches them about gas, water, electric and fiber operations.
