Employees who are in the science, technology engineering and math (STEM) fields are in high demand. The situation is no different here at PennDOT.
While some PennDOT careers are obvious — highway pavers, bridge inspectors, driver license examiners, and snow plow drivers — many careers vital to the smooth operation of Pennsylvania's transportation system are not. Those careers include app developers, internet technology managers, photogrammetry technicians, civil engineers and more.
In addition to STEM careers, the department needs those interested in in skilled trades, professional, technical, business, and administrative and clerical work.
PennDOT's School to Employment at PennDOT (STEP) program introduces eligible high school students who have completed their junior year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's operations and provides them with meaningful work assignments with the hope that they will consider PennDOT as their career employer after their education. The students are hired to support a variety of PennDOT functions, including skilled trades, professional/technical/business, and administrative/clerical work.
PennDOT worked with
Commonwealth Media Services (CMS), a full-service multimedia and marketing provider for Commonwealth agencies, and produced a video highlighting STEP participants and PennDOT employees in STEM-related positions. The goal of the video is to encourage students and those with an interest in these fields to consider PennDOT for their careers.
The video was debuted to high school students who entered and were chosen as finalists in PennDOT's
Innovations Challenge — a competition to encourage innovative solutions to real-world transportation challenges.
To gauge the effectiveness of the video, we prepared a two-question survey to give to the students after they viewed the video:
- Before watching the "This is PennDOT" video, did you consider a career at PennDOT? Yes/No
- After watching the video, will you consider a career at PennDOT? Yes/No
The results:
Before Watching the Video, of the 29 students who watched the video and took the survey:
- 19 did NOT consider a career with PennDOT prior to watching the video
- 10 DID consider a career with PennDOT prior to watching the video
After Watching the Video, of the 29 students who watched the video and took the survey:
- 28 WILL consider a career after watching the video
- 1 will NOT consider a career with PennDOT after watching the video
It appears that the video met our goal of getting high school students to "Think PennDOT" for their career!
PennDOT is a great place to work, and we have a great story to tell.
The creation of "This is PennDOT" gave us just one more opportunity to do so.