Diversity In Action

FirstEnergy seeks diverse folks, stresses community involvement

"Baby-boomer staff depletion means we need to focus on bringing new people in, and many of those people will be minorities," says an HR leader

Valencia Woodard: many of the new people coming in will be minorities.

Delores Jones: encouraging employees to be active in their communities.

Nikki Farrell helped start the young professionals' network at FirstEnergy.

Like many other companies in its industry, FirstEnergy, which serves 4.5 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, is coping with baby-boomer retirement by actively seeking new employees, says Valencia Woodard, supervisor of talent acquisition. Diverse candidates are being sought for engineering and IT jobs, and corporate leaders are backing programs that support employees and increase community involvement.

"Until lately, utility companies in general were in a downsizing mode," Woodard says. But now utility industry demographics are highlighting the aging workforce, and people are retiring at an average age of sixty or below. "We know that we need to focus on bringing new people in, and many of those people will be minorities."

FirstEnergy is focusing much of its recruiting on diverse populations, Woodard notes. Since she joined the company less than a year ago, she and her staff have been working with many minority-serving organizations to get FirstEnergy recognized as an employer of choice. They include the National Society of Black MBAs, BDPA, SHPE and the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE). The company is looking for many categories of experienced engineers, with a special eye out for EEs.

"We have excellent benefits and training programs, tuition reimbursement and many more things going on," Woodard declares.

She explains that open-job notices are e-mailed to minority organizations and others nationwide. "There's opportunity here," she says. Job hunters can check out postings at www.taonline.com and www.moaa.org as well as First- Energy's own website, www.firstenergy corp.com/employment.

FirstEnergy is also looking for folks just leaving the military, especially Navy engineers with nuclear experience and people who've worked in aerospace with the Air Force. "We want the military community to know that we are a military-friendly employer," Woodard declares.

FirstEnergy encourages employees to be active in their communities, says Delores Jones, community initiatives director, who has been with the company for twenty-six years. Harvest for Hunger is a corporate-wide initiative and Habitat for Humanity is a major focus in Ohio. Many engineering and IT employees enjoy building the Habitat houses, Jones notes. Some IT pros are involved in a group that arranges to donate used computers and sets up computer labs for senior citizen centers and schools.

More than sixty employees in the Akron area have adopted an elementary school where they tutor students in reading. Some work at science fairs or career days. "We want our employees to be involved and we support their participation in community services," Jones declares.

FirstEnergy has employee organizations that provide both networking and additional community service opportunities. Two years ago a young professionals' network was launched, notes Nikki Farrell, a compensation specialist in the HR department who was one of the founders. About a third of the hundred members are engineers and IT pros.

The young professionals host social, educational and community events and are partnering with FirstEnergy's community involvement group to take up local causes like Keep Akron Beautiful, the American Cancer Society's Heart Walk and the United Way Day of Caring. The group also sponsors brown-bag lunches with company execs. "I think the leadership has embraced our group," Farrell says with pride.

"We have a large presence where we live and work," Jones concludes. "Everybody here is our customer, and we have a stake in the vitality of all our communities."

D/C