Tobyhanna partners with Northampton Community College for virtual job shadowing event

By Danielle E. Weinschenk, Lead Public Affairs SpecialistFebruary 1, 2021

Tobyhanna Army Depot teamed up with Northampton Community College (NCC) last month to give college students a virtual “on the job” experience.

NCC, which touts itself as one of Pennsylvania’s most affordable colleges, serves more than 35,000 students each year and offers degrees, certificates and diplomas in more than 100 fields.

The “NCC/Tobyhanna Army Depot Virtual Job Shadowing Event” was the first of its kind at Tobyhanna and gave nine NCC students one-on-one time with professionals in their desired career fields. Thanks to the conferencing application Microsoft teams, students were able to discuss what their desired career was like in the “real world” and ask questions about working at the facility. According to organizers, the initiative was mutually beneficial.

“Through this event, we were able to inform NCC personnel and students about our diverse mission as well as the many benefits of a career with Team Tobyhanna. We also further established our relationship with NCC,” said Rebekah Morgenweck, acting chief of the Staffing Advisory Services Division. Morgenweck works in the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center.

Students who participated gave the experience rave reviews, praising the experience as informative and insightful.

“It was interesting to learn what Tobyhanna does.  Before today, I thought the depot was mainly a barracks for military.  There is so much that you do,” said NCC student Nicholas Stine, an aspiring mechanical engineer. Fellow engineering student Kasey Hammel agreed.

“This experience opened my eyes to the many opportunities Tobyhanna has.”

One of Tobyhanna’s shadowing mentors was Peter Moore, a mechanical engineer whose diverse career has seen him working on many different depot missions. He says the experience was just as worthwhile for him.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to share what I do with a prospective engineer. Not only was I able to answer his questions based on my real world experiences, but it allowed me to reflect on my work and how it makes a difference to our Warfighters. We can lose sight of how important our jobs are when they become routine.”

In addition to the one-on-one meetings, students were treated to an overview of depot operations by Tobyhanna Chief of Staff Keith Hoffman, and briefings on the civilian hiring process for students and recent graduates. The Pathways Program provides streamlined Federal employment opportunities for students and recent graduates.  Current students can participate in the Internship Program for temporary jobs that can lead to permanent employment upon graduation while recent graduates can apply for permanent, entry-level jobs with promotion potential at Tobyhanna.

The initiative was directly aligned with Tobyhanna’s long-range strategic plan, Toby 2028, which has a line of effort devoted to recruiting the future workforce. Heather Fiedler, the overall lead for Toby 2028, says the line of effort (LOE) has a critical mission.

“This LOE’s work is integral to ensuring Team Tobyhanna remains relevant and is postured to receive future missions and workload – something that is important to our workforce and our entire region,” adding that the event was the first of many.

“This event honored our Toby 2028 goals of developing the region’s future workforce and building meaningful connections with our community,” said Fiedler. “Plans are already underway to host more job shadowing events in the near future.”

Students interested in future internship opportunities with Team Tobyhanna can apply through USAJobs at www.usajobs.gov.  For more information, students can visit the Office of Personnel Management website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/students-recent-graduates/. Job opportunities with Team Tobyhanna can be found at www.usajobs.gov.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is a recognized leader in providing world-class logistics support for command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C5ISR) systems across the Department of Defense. Tobyhanna’s Corporate Philosophy, dedicated work force and electronics expertise ensure the depot is the Joint C5ISR provider of choice for all branches of the Armed Forces and industry partners.

Tobyhanna’s unparalleled capabilities include full-spectrum logistics support for sustainment, overhaul and repair, fabrication and manufacturing, engineering design and development, systems integration, post production software support, technology insertion, modification, foreign military sales and global field support to our joint warfighters.

About 4,000 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, the command’s mission is to empower the Soldier with winning C5ISR capabilities.