Huhtamaki, a global food packaging company with a large manufacturing facility located in Fulton, is one of CiTi’s industry partners; their employees have educated and mentored CiTi students on the role of manufacturing throughout Oswego County. Greg Hilton, engineering and maintenance manager at the local plant, recently joined CiTi’s second-year Industrial Electrical Technologies program students via a Zoom video connection to discuss pathways to employment.

Due to an aging workforce, upcoming retirements and an abundance of opportunities in the growing field, Huhtamaki has a plethora of open job opportunities at its Fulton plant. Hilton said he would highly encourage the IET students to apply to the open industrial electrical tech intern position, which, if hired, would provide the student with 40 hours of work per week in late spring through the summer.

“You’d be partnered up with a journeyman electrician and tag along, work under their wings as an extra set of hands and learn how to troubleshoot and replace electrical components, perform wiring installations, and you’ll become very familiar with basic electrical components,” Hilton said.

With a pay rate of $20 an hour, Hilton suggested students prepare their resumes and fill out an online application as soon as possible for the competitive positions. An entry-level exam and some hands-on work would be required. The students were elated to hear that the company has hired former CiTi students for temporary positions, who then moved on to full-time employment at the facility.

Carol Taormina, CiTis’ work-based learning coordinator, told the students that no matter the pathway they choose, CiTi’s CTE Career Center is ready to help them with application and resume preparation.