'We're hiring into entry-level positions at our plants, at headquarters and in our field locations," says Peggy Sibila Buck, college relations coordinator at American Electric Power (AEP).
With 36,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S., AEP is the largest electricity generator in the country. It is also one of the largest U.S. electric utilities. More than five million customers are linked to its eleven-state electric grid that serves Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. AEP has a service territory of 197,500 square miles and operates 39,000 miles of transmission lines and 210,000 miles of distribution lines. It has about eighty generating stations across its service territory, including its Cook nuclear power plant in Bridgman, MI.
Buck says that AEP needs new grads with specialties across the board: EEs, ChEs, CEs. CS and MIS grads are also on her list. New engineers work in areas like new plant construction, environmental control or infrastructure development, as well as IT.
"Interns and co-ops are important to us too, especially in our engineering and IT groups," Buck notes. Co-ops are most likely to work on the transmission and IT sides of the company; internships are the norm in the generation business.
Co-ops should be sophomores and have completed at least one of their core engineering or IT courses. Some engineering co-ops rotate through the company's various engineering functional areas.
Interns generally come for the summer after their junior or senior year. "They work right alongside our engineers on analysis or outage tasks," Buck says. Interns may work in an office or at a field location somewhere in the AEP service area.
The company keeps in touch with students when they're back in school. A new mentoring program for interested co-ops and interns is in the works for 2005, with a special emphasis on women and minorities.
Both student employment programs are seen as pathways to a full-time job with AEP. "We encourage all hiring managers to get involved, and we council them that the student employees are not just an extra pair of hands," Buck emphasizes. "We hope that if they work out they will become full-time employees."
AEP recruits at a wide variety of schools. "This year, we went to Ohio State, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Wilberforce and others," Buck says. "It varies from year to year. We go to schools that have strong technical programs."
The company also turns to organizations like NSBE, SHPE and SWE, on campus and at the regional and national levels, for help with its recruiting effort. This year, AEP attended the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) national conference. "We're helping to set up a Columbus chapter of AABE right now," says Mary Cofer, director of personnel services and EEO.
Inclusiveness, Cofer says, is the cornerstone of AEP's diversity approach. "We don't just focus on race and gender. Our motto is 'everyone counts,'" she says.
Since 1998 all employees have been required to participate in diversity education. In the program, "We talk about different kinds of diversity and how to manage it effectively, inclusivity, and the need to value the opinions of everyone," Cofer says.
"We also make sure that they know about the programs we offer that help employees do their best work," she adds. One is educational assistance for both individual courses and degree programs.
Another is support for alternative work arrangements. Cofer says that one couple, both IT pros, negotiated to telecommute part of each week and spend alternate days in the office so that they could care for their new baby themselves. "We leave the specific arrangements up to the locations and the managers, but they know we support this kind of flexibility," Cofer explains.
At AEP headquarters, employees can drop off dry cleaning, rent videos and even pick up a take-out dinner for their families. The company sponsors many family-focused activities, from beach outings to an evening at the opera.
Employees are encouraged to join professional networks like AABE to foster their professional growth. Some recently formed an executive women's group where senior women could share their experiences with their newer female colleagues.
AEP's diversity council was set up in 1998 and meets several times a year. It is made up of the heads of diversity committees at each of the company's dozen major locations. Location committees work on recognition events for holidays and celebrations, and schedule a variety of seminars and informational events, Cofer explains. "We're looking at a 'Daddy Track' conference later this year," she confides.
D/C
www.aep.com
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Headquarters: |
Columbus, OH |
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Employees: |
20,000 |
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Revenues: |
$14.5 billion |
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Business: |
Power generation and distribution for eleven states |
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