McWane Ductile program offers valuable experience to college students
Students involved in McWane Ductile’s last round of internships were: Chris Barto, Sarah DePage, Marty Kurtz, Mitchell McKee, Cody McVay, Drew Rector, Devin Royal, and Sarah Stockdale. Not pictured is Liam Leonard. Contributed | Beacon
COSHOCTON – This summer nine college students were able to get hands-on experience in their chosen fields thanks to McWane Ductile.
The Coshocton manufacturer regularly reaches out to colleges and universities to make students aware of opportunities that become available in their various departments.
“They are paid internships and we’ve had students come from all over,” said Jolinda Kistler, human resources manager. “Some have come from surrounding states like Indiana and Pennsylvania, but most are local. We offer the internships every semester. Some come just for the summer and some do multiple semesters. It just depends on what they want to do and what our needs are.”
Interns are screened by phone first and then brought to the plant for a tour and onsite interview.
“If they seem to be a good fit then we make them an offer,” Kistler said
At the end of their internship all the students do a presentation.
“They get a lot of freedom and get to implement projects,” said Sydney Hadley, human resources assistant manager.
Kistler added that those presentations are often looked forwarded to.
“In the summer time there is shut down and so much activity that we know they are here working, but lose sight of what they’ve been working on,” she said. “It’s nice for everyone to get together and see what they’ve been doing.”
McWane has offered internships for quite a few years, but revamped its program in 2014.
“Since then I don’t think there has been a semester that we haven’t had an intern,” Kistler said. “Our poles department has even had them and this fall even our supply chain department will have one. They all really get hands-on experience. They aren’t just pushing papers and scanning files. They are out there working.”
The program is a great way for McWane to find people who have skills that they are in need of.
“Two of the interns who will be seniors we made offers to and they accepted,” Kistler said. “This is a way for us to fill positions with solid candidates.”
She is willing to share her experiences with the internship program with companies interested in setting up similar opportunities.
“We’ve had students tell us they really value our hands-on approach,” Kistler said.
Category: Business
