Building a Talent Pipeline with the Next Generation

We’ve been busy spreading the word about Watco!

So far this fall, team members participated in 10 career fairs with plans to attend more. Our recruiting team has embraced the opportunity to connect with students across grade levels from middle school to college, faculty members, and even alums. For the recruiting pros, it’s all about building connections. They do this to build both brand awareness and a pipeline of talent.

At these career fairs, recruiters share the many opportunities that Watco has to offer, from full-time careers in trades and support services to internships.

The marketing team recently launched an internship landing page on our website to give a glimpse of what types of internships we offer and how to get in contact with our recruiters.

“One of our founding principles is that we value our people. We want to bring in good people that match Watco’s values. Career fairs give us that opportunity to build a pipeline of talent and find team members that match our culture,” said Phil Huttmann, director of talent acquisition.

In the last few weeks at Watco, managers in all areas of the company put emphasis on strengthening the workplace.

Watco leaders had finished analyzing results from the Best Practice Institute’s Most Loved Workplace survey completed by team members last spring. “It’s very important to us to understand and address team member feedback,” said Rachael Peterson, executive vice president and chief people officer. She said that as they shared results with other leaders across Watco and asked them to start taking action, “We wanted to strike a balance between busy team members carrying out day-to-day responsibilities and still taking time to dig into the surveys.”

In late September, Peterson sent leaders across Watco the survey results pertaining to their areas of responsibility. The reports, organized by state, feature team member ratings and remarks. “We’re maintaining team members’ anonymity,” she said, “and yet are able to identify some challenges that we might have at some locations.”

In October, leaders reviewed findings and set goals to address opportunities for improvement. “We want to make Watco an even better place,” Peterson said.