May 16, 2024
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JJC’s 10-year partnership with ExxonMobil gives students paid experience

Bradford: Mmost years, they been taking between two and six of our students into their co-op program.’

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Anthony Snow, 40, of Plainfield, went back to school at Joliet Junor College and performed an intership at ExxonMobil while he and his wife were raising their four children. Snow currently works at ExxonMobil's Joliet refinery and recently built a home. (Photo provided)

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a four-part series on Joliet Junior College academic and career-training programs.

Anthony Snow, 40, of Plainfield decided in 2014 that he wanted to work in the skilled trades.

Snow had been laid off from other large companies through the years and wanted a field with more job security.

So he started searching online for community colleges that offered his field of interest – electronics – and discovered the Electrical/Electronic Automated Systems program at Joliet Junior College.

While at JJC, Snow learned about the co-op with Exxon Mobil. His current company could not accommodate an apprenticeship, so he applied for the co-op program at ExxonMobil and was accepted.

For more than 10 years, Joliet Junior College and ExxonMobil have partnered to give student work experience and to help ExxonMobil fill certain skilled positions are their facilities: field mechanics, millwright/machinists and instrument and electrical technicians.

Jeff Bradford, chair of JJC’s technical department, said JJC hired him 25 years ago to start the college’s industrial maintenance program, which struggled with enrollment for years. At the same time, the area petrochemical companies needed workers.

Jeff Bradford is the chair of Joliet Junior College's technical department.

Jeff Bradford is the chair of Joliet Junior College's technical department. (Photo provided)

So Bradford reached out to companies for potential partnerships and one partnership that “stuck” through the years was JJC’s partnership with ExxonMobil, Bradford said.

“They do a lot of hiring locally,” Bradford said. “But they were just having trouble finding people with the skills they needed, so we came up with a plan. Since then, most years, they been taking between two and six of our students into their co-op program.”

When the program began, the students earned just $15 to $16 an hour, but they had to work at least 20 hours a week, while attending JJC and finishing their degree, Bedford said. So ExxonMobil began increasing wages, Bedford said.

But not all JJC students are 18. Many are working adults who are returning to school for career changes. Those adults weren’t comfortable leaving a job with benefits for a co-op program.

“So if they could get health care, it made it easier to leave that job and take a chance on this co-op,” Bradford said.

ExxonMobil held an informational session at JJC a few weeks ago and 35 to 40 interested JJC students from various disciplines attended. Bradford said six or seven should be joining the co-op. Their starting pay will be $29 “and some change” – which will increase to $36 an hour if they are hired.

The students, who work a minimum of 20 hours per week while taking classes at JJC, are also eligible for benefits, Bradford said.

After these new hires complete two to three years of training, they will make $46 an hour, which is a similar pay rate to other petrochemical companies, Bradford said. In addition, ExxonMobil is seeking to diversify its workforce.

Some students might even have their tuition, books and fees paid through a partnership with the Calumet Area Industrial Commission, Bradford said. Through a H-1B One Workforce Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, the commission can help students hoping to work in manufacturing and Bradford said the criteria is broad.

Bradford stressed that he tailors the programs development to the needs of the area. Students reasonably expect companies to hire them after they successfully complete the program, Bradford said.

Anthony Snow, 40, of Plainfield, went back to school at Joliet Junor College and performed an intership at ExxonMobil while he and his wife were raising their four children. Snow currently works at ExxonMobil's Joliet refinery and recently built a home.

Anthony Snow, 40, of Plainfield, went back to school at Joliet Junor College and performed an intership at ExxonMobil while he and his wife were raising their four children. Snow currently works at ExxonMobil's Joliet refinery and recently built a home. (Photo provided)

If Bradford brings in 100 students, all 100 students find a job, and companies “are screaming” for more workers, then the program needs more students, he said.

“What I don’t want is 100 students to graduate and have only 10 jobs. That’s not right for the student,” Bradford said. “It’s having the right size for your program for the community that you belong to.”

After Snow earned his associate degree and certificate in the EEAS program, he enrolled in – and completed the Process Control and Instrumentation Technology program at JJC.

“I attained these certificates and degrees all while being married with [four] children and working full time,” Snow said in a text message. “I worked 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Mondays, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, and fought through traffic to go to night class at JJC from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at least two to three nights a week for almost four years.”

Anthony Snow, 40, of Plainfield, went back to school at Joliet Junor College and performed an intership at ExxonMobil while he and his wife were raising their four children. Snow currently works at ExxonMobil's Joliet refinery and recently built a home.

Anthony Snow, 40, of Plainfield, went back to school at Joliet Junor College and performed an intership at ExxonMobil while he and his wife were raising their four children. Snow currently works at ExxonMobil's Joliet refinery and recently built a home. (Photo provided)

Snow started his apprenticeship in November 2017 and was hired at the Joliet refinery in May 2018. He worked as an instrumentation technician until 2021 and now works in the analyzer department, “another specialized role in the instrumentation side of things,” Snow said.

As a result of these opportunities, Snow said he found financial security and built a home in Plainfield in last year. But Snow said he also values the relationships he’s built at ExxonMobil.

“I’ve received learning from top skilled technicians and been exposed to a variety of different equipment and systems,” Snow said. “I really feel that I definitely evolved since getting the opportunity to work at ExxonMobil.”