Workforce Pipeline: How Sioux Falls Businesses Fill Their Ranks

From Pigeon605.com

It wasn’t long after stepping into a classroom as a student teacher that Nick Bettin discovered his career path needed to take a different direction.

Three years into a four-year degree, the Sioux Falls native realized teaching wasn’t for him.

“I looked into switching degrees to computer science because I was interested in computers, but changing from one department to another would have added three years, and I knew I didn’t want to spend six years in college,” he said.

“At Southeast Tech, I got most credits to transfer, and I only had to take an extra year.”

Little did he know at the time, but the shift to Southeast Tech also would become a career move, connecting him a year ago with an opportunity to work at Workplace IT Management while still in school.

“At Southeast Tech, the professors are very good at connecting students to workplaces,” Bettin said. “And their connection to Workplace is definitely tight.”

It has been that way for decades, said Joe Zueger, who founded Workplace IT Management in 1997 and sold the business to Sioux Falls-based Direct Cos. earlier this year.

The company’s first intern was a student Zueger met working a summer job and later learned was interested in IT.

“He was an hourly, part-time employee doing real work for real customers while he was in school,” he said. “I think it was a very useful experience for him and valuable for us, and it grew from there.”

From there, Workplace began working with second-year system and network administration STC students to offer paid internships, and those students began encouraging first-year students to apply.

“We learned about everything you can’t learn from a resume – how punctual and respectful they are, listening skills, communication skills and how they think on their feet,” Zueger said. “It became a two-way test drive where the student is exposed to Workplace culture, and we’re evaluating if they’re a fit for our culture.”

Years later, more than half of the 40-person Workplace team is comprised of Southeast Tech graduates – and most of them began as student employees.

“Looking back, if I would have relied on four-year degrees to start Workplace, I don’t think we would have been able to grow the way we did,” Zueger said. “We ended up getting access to more young resources that were hungry and ready to grow in our culture, and they were available sooner and could get to work faster. It became the central strategy as we added technical staff.”

For Bettin, a paid internship quickly mimicked a full-time job.

“There were things as an intern I couldn’t believe they were letting me do,” he said. “Workplace is very good at putting you in situations you’d see as a full-time employee. They’d send me to install a computer, and you’re the IT guy when you’re there, so if someone has a question, you’re expected to help them out. It didn’t feel like an internship.”

And his Southeast Tech education prepared him for it, Bettin said.

“The program does a very good job getting as close as it can to what it’s like in industry,” he said. “They gave me a very solid foundation, so I walked in confident.”

When Bettin graduated earlier this year, like many Southeast Tech grads before him, a full-time job at Workplace was waiting.

“What’s awesome is how some of these guys have been here 15 to 20 years, and they went to STC,” Bettin said. “There’s a fear of getting stuck or not being able to grow when you take a job today, and obviously these guys have been here 15 or 20 years for a reason. Even as an intern you see that. And they obviously enjoy employees from STC because they wouldn’t keep hiring them if they didn’t.”

That’s true, Zueger said.

“It’s been spectacular,” he said. “We still need grads from four-year colleges as the work has expanded to require other skills, but they’re working side by side with our core team, which is predominantly Southeast Tech grads.” 

Creatives, Web Designers Find Fit

Workplace IT Management is just one example of a business consistently filling its workforce with Southeast Tech talent.

At Carsforsale.com, a group of Southeast Tech students toured recently and got a glimpse of the work environment potentially waiting for them.

“Creative people love what we have here – it’s a cool place to work,” human resources director Dawn Uthe said. “Not only is their creativity in their jobs but a great atmosphere to work in.”

Carsforsale.com regularly hires graduates from Southeast Tech for its creative web department, which builds websites for the dealerships using Carsforsale.com as well as other websites for small businesses.

“In the Southeast Tech graduating class of 2023, we hired six, and in 2022 we also had six, so it’s very steady,” Uthe said. “It’s been a great relationship from a business perspective because we get people with that specific skill set and then we can train them.”

The grads also have the opportunity to grow within the company.

Travis Mullinix graduated in 2002 with a degree in graphics communications and an emphasis on web design. After starting school in Iowa for graphic design, he tried working at a machine plant before realizing what was right for him.

“I realized I wanted to get back into some form of graphic design and started looking into local, affordable options,” Mullinix said.

“When I attended Southeast, we got to experience print, graphic design and web design. In the web design world, you often have to learn new things to stay up to date, and Southeast provided the essentials and fundamentals to make these moments easier. The familiarity of looking at, studying and figuring out code at Southeast has carried with me and helped me many times with keeping up to date in web design.”

He joined Carsforsale’s creative web department in 2014 and recently was promoted to a lead position.

“It’s a great group of talented people to learn from and grow, plus the company is quite flexible with schedules and generally has a low-stress environment,” Mullinix said.

He now attends Southeast Tech’s career day and speaks with students in media design.

“I continue to talk to the media design instructors to stay in tune with the curriculum they’re covering,” he said. “I also help interview prospective new hires coming in from Southeast Tech. This process has been a great way of finding out what students have learned, how comfortable they are with various programs and coding skills and what items they may need extra training with as they become employed with Carsforsale.”

Growing Their Own

Five years ago, professional engineer Trent Bruce realized how much his firm, DGR Engineering, had come to rely on Southeast Tech grads.

“As a company, we employ quite a few graduates from their civil engineering technology and land surveying programs, so I approached them to make sure the program was going to continue to grow and become successful because we had become dependent upon their grads to fill our ranks and provide a workforce,” Bruce said.

“With that, I became involved in their foundation and some advisory boards, along with other staff at our company.”

When a key instructor decided to retire, Bruce helped support fundraising to ensure a competitive salary for a new instructor.

“It’s absolutely critical to support the program,” he said. “It’s the only one of its kind nearby that provides the kind of specific training that best fits our needs and others in our industry.”

There’s essentially a 100 percent placement rate for the grads, Bruce added.

“There are great salaries with a great benefit package,” he said. “The Southeast Tech grads are outstanding. We have a long list – I think 25 current employees – that are Southeast Tech graduates, and many become owners in the company after they get their licensure.”

Joshua Vanderwerf is a good example. He graduated from Southeast Tech’s civil engineering technology and land surveying science program in 2003.

“I was young, just out of high school, and didn’t know what I wanted to do,” he said. “Considering the cost of a four-year college, I wanted to be sure this was something I wanted to make a career out of. Southeast Tech gave me options after graduation on whether to continue with a four-year program or join the workforce.”

He joined DGR Engineering in 2013 “and it’s been great ever since,” he said. “Southeast Tech provided a more direct focus and hands-on learning to succeed in this career. I was enrolled in classes that almost came naturally and opened my eyes to the different career paths I could take. It gave me the opportunity to choose a path and make sure I went down one that was appropriate for me.”

Vanderwerf now stays involved as a member of the STC land surveying advisory board and enjoys helping with land surveying field days.

“Attending the career fair and representing DGR Engineering is also something I feel is important,” he said. “Recruiting and retaining talent becomes a natural fit on both sides if you develop the relationships early. Current STC job placement is 100 percent in these programs, so it is important to start building relationships as early as you can.”