| |
HNTB provides full architecture, engineering and planning services to public and private sector clients throughout the United States and abroad.
It's a multidisciplinary professional services firm for transportation, bridges and tunnels, rail transit, aviation, architecture, urban design and planning, environmental engineering, construction services and design-build. The company started in 1914 and now has sixty offices worldwide.
"Our world lacks a diverse pool of civil engineers. The female numbers are OK, but Hispanic and African American numbers aren't good," says Kyle Kromer, a recruitment manager in Kansas City. HNTB is helping to change that. At a meeting of the Dallas consulting engineers council, of which HNTB is a member, each company agreed to recruit diverse CE interns from across the U.S.
The interns worked for the summer, stopping Fridays at noon to see projects in progress at participating companies. There were weekend social events - a race at Texas Motor Speedway, a Texas Rangers game or a concert. The social program fostered a networking atmosphere that helped build ties in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.
Kromer calls the program, now into its fourth year, a success. "We've already hired people from the program," he says. "HNTB is looking to start a program like this in another city since it worked so well in Dallas."
Kromer says the company has engineering opportunities, including many for new college grads. "We're seeing a strong push for more hiring. We get weekly requests for help in filling positions," says Kromer.
Fifteen to twenty percent of the hiring will be new grads. "To help the new hires adjust, we assign them an Ôambassador,'" says Kromer. "The ambassador shows them the ropes: from ÔHere's where we keep the pencils' to on-the-job training with the CAD programs we use."
The new employee is usually paired with someone having a similar technical background and experience level. The relationship officially runs for three months, though it often lasts longer.
HNTB ensures recruitment diversity by reaching out to schools such as Howard University. Most new jobs are for civil engineers, so the company also turns to professional organizations like NSBE, SHPE and SWE.
"We go to some organizations' regional events. Washington University in St. Louis has a strong relationship with NSBE. Our Indianapolis office recruits at the NSBE, SHPE and SWE joint conference," Kromer notes. Internships and co-ops are handled locally by each office.
HNTB encourages its employees' participation in professional organizations like SWE and SHPE. "We'll pay for at least one membership," says Kromer. Some offices have several SWE or NSBE members; in San Antonio, TX, there was no SHPE chapter, so an HNTB engineer started one, and is now its president. Kromer notes that the national SWE president in 2002 was HNTB engineer Shelly Wolfe.
HNTB has a career planning and development tool (CPD) for new grads. At all HNTB offices, everyone does a plan within the first thirty days on the job. "Often, a college grad doesn't know what to focus on - technical, design, project management or corporate management," says Kromer. "That's why we have the CPD."
Most new grads have already taken the engineer in training (EIT) exam, and HNTB helps employees prep for the PE licensing exam. "During the first four or five years, new hires typically focus on the exam," says Kromer. Some also earn MBAs, with tuition help from HNTB. "It's an investment we like to make," Kromer says.
HNTB encourages its employees to get involved in the community. In Dallas, "We didn't just run the internship program, we helped shape college programs. One of the community colleges was using AutoCAD software and an HNTB engineer went there to teach the class."
D/C
www.hntb.com
|
Headquarters: |
Kansas City, MO |
|
Employees: |
2,700 |
|
Revenues: |
$500 million (private) |
|
Business: |
Architecture, engineering and planning services for aviation, construction, environmental, transportation and urban design clients |
|
|
|
