TSTC Drafting and Design students treated to employer spotlight
(MARSHALL, Texas) – Civil professional engineers Joe Chalifoux and Vance Liles of MTG Engineers & Surveyors presented the company’s first employer spotlight at Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus on Wednesday, Feb. 21. A total of 14 of the college’s Drafting and Design students were in attendance.
The company is looking for full-time employees and paid interns. Chalifoux estimated that pay would start at $20 to $30 an hour. Benefits, paid time off, and overtime opportunities also were discussed.
“Our hope for the drafting students is that they would come and work with us, and be able to stay at one firm throughout their career and grow into a design technician or a CAD manager role,” Chalifoux said. “I love that (TSTC) has a program that is geared toward drafting, and I enjoy seeing that these students are learning a lot of the same programs that we’re using.”
The Texarkana-based company is known primarily for engineering, land development and surveying services for residential, commercial and municipal projects. Though it mainly operates in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, it is licensed in 12 other states.
Chalifoux and Liles were keen to share examples of MTG Engineers & Surveyors’ projects with the students, telling them that in addition to a month of training, new hires learn as they progress with multiple types of projects.
“We’re very diverse in our civil land development,” Liles said. “One day you might be working on a hospital or a college, the next day you may be working on 10 miles of sidewalks.”
The company has a strong focus on integrity and a family mentality.
“Yes, a company is supposed to make money, but above all else to provide a good product to our clients and protect the welfare of the public,” Liles said.
Drafting and Design student Benjamin Woods is in his second semester at TSTC and was enthusiastic about what he heard in the presentation.
“They were really helpful with the information, and it’s a field I’m really interested in,” Woods said.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
