REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- For a handful of young employees across the Aviation and Missile Command the summer and early fall of 2015 will be remembered for what it offered in the way of employment and employee experiences.
Eleven college-age students spent July, August and September working for AMCOM at Redstone Arsenal, Letterkenny Army Depot and Corpus Christi Army Depot as part of the Pathways summer intern program. Five of those students were assigned to AMCOM at Redstone.
"The Pathways Internship Program offers developmental programs that promote internship opportunities for students and careers for recent graduates," said Alysia Greer of AMCOM G-1 (Human Resources Management).
"The Summer Hire Program is a temporary internship opportunity that falls under the Pathways Internship Program. This is one of the authorities we utilized to support the Army Materiel Command's 1000. AMC 1000 is General (Dennis) Via's initiative to bring on 1,000 interns each year for five years within the AMC organization so they can get hands-on experience and develop an interest in civilian employment."
It has been several years since AMCOM participated in a large summer hiring program. But, with a growing number of employees retiring from the workforce and an ongoing need to introduce young people to the opportunities of federal employment, funding was put in place to once again offer a summer hiring initiative.
"The summer hire program is a great opportunity for the students because it gives them exposure to government work and it helps them decide if they want to pursue that after graduation," said Greer, who coordinated the program with former co-worker Kemah Barnes.
"It's benefits AMCOM because it gives us additional temporary employees to assist with our workload and to take on special projects that improve the work environment. It's a great way to build up our successor workforce, by providing opportunities to learn what we do at AMCOM."
At AMCOM, Pathways summer hire interns came on board at the end of June, and remained on a full-time or part-time status through the end of September. Because the summer hire program carried through to the end of September, AMCOM's summer hires were all from local universities.
"The students' school schedules and their manager's needs determined the work schedule," Greer said. "During the summer, they worked full-time. Then, once school started in August, they either worked full-time around their classes or they reduced their hours to accommodate their school schedule."
Greer said participation in the Pathways summer hire program was not mandatory. It also wasn't for managers to select temporary student hires for a few months to just answer phones or file paperwork. Rather, a solicitation for interest was sent out to all AMCOM directors and supervisors, requesting they provide meaningful work experience to the interns. Those that opted to participate made selections from a referral list of applicants.
"The managers who chose to do this program are managers who enjoy mentoring and developing individuals. They are interested in giving these students an employment experience and familiarizing them with federal employment," Greer said.
"Managers had the opportunity to tell us how many student hires they wanted, what kinds of positions they wanted to hire for and what types of skills the students needed to have."
Both Lori Reynolds, who leads the Career Management Division in AMCOM G-3 (Operations) and Michael D. Smith, who is chief of the Appropriated Funds Division for AMCOM G-8 (Resource Management), had specific needs in mind when they brought on Pathways summer hire students Tia Smith and Dortha "Dori" Bradford, respectively.
"It is so important to expose young people to federal employment because they need that type of exposure to help them understand what it means to be a civilian working for the Army," Reynolds said.
"As Tia's supervisor, I took the time to explain to her how the work she did for us fit into our mission, starting with our division and AMCOM and continuing to AMC, the Army and the Department of Defense, and ultimately supporting the warfighter."
An English graduate student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville with proficiency in computer graphics tools, Smith spent her internship working as a member of the Career Management Division's training management crew. She formatted and assisted with the development of a standard operating procedures document for training activities occurring at Toftoy Hall, developed graphics for leadership training materials and compiled course evaluations.
"I have gotten to see the training that is used to develop leaders. I also got to lead a class discussion on leadership. I helped edit the quarterly G-1 newsletter and I provided assistance with Adventures at AMCOM," Smith said.
"I'm so grateful to be here. It's been wonderful to network and use my degree. I learned a lot about what AMCOM does to develop leaders. I found it very enlightening and it allowed me to work on some things that maybe I don't personally view as the strengths I may have."
Bradford is the youngest Pathways intern and is now in her sophomore year at UAH majoring in Civil Engineering with a minor in computer science. During her internship, Bradford used her extensive software design background gained while a student at New Century High School. Her high school computer classes helped her develop SharePoint processes, applications and training for Resource Management employees.
"The employees here needed help and guidance in developing and using collaborative tools and automation processes to get their jobs done," Bradford said.
"I thought I would just be a desk asset in this job. But I've gotten to do all this cool stuff involving automation and programming. I was able to use a lot of the programming skills I learned at New Century to help employees here with SharePoint. My job was to make computer processing and automation easier for the employees."
Smith's parents both work at Redstone Arsenal, her mom with the Garrison's Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation and her dad with Close Combat Weapon Systems, Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space while Bradford's father works at the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center and her mother works for the Corps of Engineers.
"There are so many people interested in federal employment. I saw the summer hire program as a path to federal employment because when I get out of college I will be competing for a government job with others who have an established employment history. Now, I have an employment history, too, with the federal government," said Smith, whose previous work experience included food services and radio broadcasting.
For supervisors Reynolds and Michael Smith, it was important to get summer interns who could contribute to the work environment. Both looked for student applicants who had experience and educational backgrounds that would fit well with their directorate's mission.
"The key to making this successful is knowing what you need and being able to identify a resume that fits into your organization," Reynolds said. "Even before your intern comes on board, it is good to figure out what kind of assignments you can give them that are worthwhile and fulfilling. You need to ask yourself, 'What can I delegate to someone who is new to federal service but who has good basic skills to offer?'"
During Bradford's time with G-8, she not only worked under the supervision of Michael Smith, but worked closely with other Resource Management supervisors who provided guidance on the software needs of their employees.
"They knew the intent and processes that needed to be developed, and Dori was able to work with several different supervisors to get the job done. Dori became an integral part of the team's process improvement initiatives," Michael Smith said. "With little guidance and supervision, she was still able to accomplish the task at hand. She exceeded all my expectations in the way she just took ownership of the SharePoint system and helped our employees make it work for them."
For Bradford, being able to develop software and then work with the users of that software offered a unique learning experience.
"It was rewarding to be able to develop something and then see it in action. Once I developed the software and put it in place, I would then directly interact with those who used it so that I could find out what kinds of things confused them about the software and what things they liked about it," she said.
"In class, we would write what we called 'dry code,' code that was written but never really used. Here, what I wrote did get used and I was able to see if it really worked and what I needed to do to make it better."
Beyond learning about everyday work challenges, Smith and Bradford also learned lessons in teamwork, communications and leadership.
"This experience gave Dori the opportunity to learn about interpersonal dynamics because she had to coordinate across various platforms and organizations," Michael Smith said.
"This really gives a young person the opportunity to experience government service and also learn at an early age the life skills necessary to be successful. Dori has definitely been one who has endured the challenges of a professional environment. She's always ready to go and has a great 'can do' attitude."
Reynolds said Smith is one of a long list of student interns that has worked in her department over the years.
"Every time I get the opportunity to hire a summer employee, I do so. A good summer hire employee is really helpful to us because we are traditionally understaffed and we have a lot of less complex duties that lend themselves well to a summer hire employee," Reynolds said.
"If you are careful in your selection process you can get a really sharp individual. In our case this year, Tia had the right education, experience and graphics software knowledge to be a productive employee for us."
Both Reynolds and Michael Smith said their employees enjoyed the new ideas and energy their interns brought to the work environment.
"It's good to have that constant influx of new perspectives, fresh perspectives from younger employees who look at things with different eyes," Reynolds said. "It's a good lesson in showing all of us that we can learn from each other."
As part of their intern experience, Smith, Bradford and the other AMCOM interns were introduced to AMCOM and its mission in a special meeting with commander Maj. Gen. Jim Richardson and other senior leaders. They sent weekly work reports to AMCOM deputy commander Bill Marriott and they were invited to meet with AMC commander Gen. Dennis Via.
Plans call for offering the Pathways summer hire program again next year at AMCOM.
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