Great Plains Region Pathways

Written by: HR Staff, Regional Office

Reclamation Pathways Students at the entrance to the Department of the Interior building, Billings, Mont.

We pay, you learn, the early slogan for the Great Plains Region's Student Employment Program, has elicited the interest of hungry college students for years.

The student program has undergone some changes over the years, but remains committed to recruiting and hiring degree-seeking students interested in careers with water and related resources.

The Pathways Internship Program offers many opportunities and benefits to students, such as hands-on work experience, tuition assistance and potential permanent placement upon graduation.

The summer rotational internship program, sponsored by the Regional Leadership Board (RLB), allows students from around the country to travel to Great Plains Region sites for a minimum of two summers to participate in a wide variety of projects at different facilities and offices. Students may receive a living stipend, an hourly salary and are stationed at a different office each summer until completion of their degree.

Each winter, the rotational internship program is reinvigorated in preparation for the summer's anticipated student hires. Human Resources requests intern needs from Area and Regional offices in December or January and posts positions early in the year.

For summer 2016, the Region hired 22 new students in the fields of Engineering, Natural Resources and Safety and Occupational Health. Nine current Pathways students returned for the summer for a total of 31 student interns in the Region's Pathways rotational program.

Outreach efforts for the Pathways Program engaged HR staff, Administrative staff and subject-matter-experts (SMEs). Regional staff attended events at more than 34 colleges and hiring events around the country from Montana to Texas, and from Washington, D.C. to New Jersey. The extensive recruitment efforts produced more than 600 applications for the five vacancy announcements posted; more than triple the number of applications received last year. That outreach paid off as 68 percent of new student hires are from colleges attended or targeted through the focused outreach.

The presence of Administrative, HR staff, and SMEs at career fairs is extremely valuable and was evident this year.

Anna Hoag, a Civil Engineer at Oklahoma-Texas Area Office and former Region SCEP student, attended a career fair as a SME. "As an alumni of Oklahoma State University and former intern, it was great to act as a SME and visit with the students in Engineering fields and to get the word out about the Bureau of Reclamation and the work we do," said Hoag.

Tom Sawatzke, Deputy Area Manager at the Montana Area Office, spoke to a number of students at Montana Tech. "We were impressed by the professionalism of the students and their interest in working with us," Sawatzke said.

In addition to the RLB sponsored summer rotational program, offices also have the option to hire their own interns if there is a school local to the duty station or strictly during summer months. Nebraska-Kansas Area Office (NKAO) hired a Civil Engineering student trainee who will be starting summer of 2016.

Jeff Zentz, Administrative Officer at NKAO, attended career fairs to recruit for both the rotational intern program as well as an Engineering trainee for his own area office. Zentz said, "I loved attending the career fairs and representing Reclamation. I enjoyed talking to the students and explaining our Pathways Program as an opportunity to try us out each summer and then potentially begin a career with us when they graduate."

HR anticipates coordinating similar outreach efforts next year to reach even more students and encourages Regional staff to participate in outreach efforts. A number of the employees throughout the Region have been introduced to Reclamation and hired through these internship opportunities. Since 1998, over 145 hires have been made through the program and that number continues to grow.

The Pathways Internship Program offers many opportunities & benefits to students, such as classes, hands-on experience & tuition assistance.

As part of their familiarization with the Great Plains Region, Pathways students visited the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, located in Park County, Wyoming, between Cody and Powell.

Published on June 20, 2016