Congratulations to Jennifer Rivard, a recent graduate of STI’s Metal Fabrication & Joining Technologies program. Jennifer recently joined the Machine Fabrication Division of Hilliard’s Chocolate Systems in West Bridgewater. For 6 weeks she’ll be learning how to build chocolate production units with food grade sheet metal and various other components. Then she will transition into a hybrid of front office and shop work. The Division Owner/President is retiring soon and the current Purchase & Sales Manager/Vice President will be moving into that role. Jennifer will be trained to become the Purchase & Sales Manager.
The hiring process involved 3 different interviews including one with the President who informed her that she would not have made it past the second interview if not for her portfolio. She credits TI instructor Caryn Peterson for teaching the job readiness portion of the program & helping her to be fully prepared to seek employment. The computer skills she acquired enabled her to create, update, & share her portfolio. Jennifer is also grateful for Glen Bredberg “for being a wonderful teacher and giving me all the knowledge and confidence I needed to start a completely different career path.” Fun Fact: Hilliard’s new shop foreman, Joshua Bassett, is a classmate of Jennifer’s. Joshua was hired as a Manufacturing Technician while he was still in school at STI and has since worked his way up to company foreman. Josh’s responsibilities include directing the crew on what jobs to be working on, ensuring that they meet deadlines in a timely manner, checking their work to confirm it meets the required standards & filling customer orders for replacement parts.
We look forward to hearing about Jennifer and Josh’s future accomplishments with Hilliard’s Chocolate Systems!
A few spots available for the January Metal Fabrication Program! For more information or to apply click here.
