Maybe you’re looking for a new role. Maybe you’re a college student worried about how competitive the job market is. Maybe you know you want to grow, but you aren’t sure about what yet. While the reasons team members seek enrichment may differ, the transformative benefits are consistent across the board. Between feeling more capable, versatile, and prepared, utilizing education benefits may help increase your earning potential and open doors to new opportunities that may have otherwise stayed closed.
Mazzella Companies is committed to lifelong learning, subscribing to the belief that you’re either growing or dying. With that growth mentality at the forefront, it’s no surprise that Mazzella Companies offers multiple programs that help new and current team members learn and develop as individuals – helping Mazzella Companies learn and grow as a collective.
In this article, we’ll share what education benefits Mazzella Companies offers, how these benefits have shaped careers, and changed the trajectory for Mazzella Companies team members.
Internship Program
What originally was budded as a “summer work program” has blossomed into an Internship Program growing professionals on every level. The internship search begins with our hiring managers writing out a job description based on their business needs and creating an agenda of tasks and projects that will be expected of a prospective intern. Students from around the country who are entering their junior or senior year of college are eligible to apply.
The recruitment process can vary, and luckily, many colleges host online job boards of their own that we coordinate with for better exposure. The reasons why interns apply will also vary, as Evita Sola, a current Brand Manager-Metals in Cleveland, shared in a recent interview about her internship experience, “the job posting was for marketing. I had a minor in marketing and after taking the intro class at Cleveland State University (CSU), I thought it was interesting and wanted to do an internship in marketing to see what that side of things was like”.
When it comes to the day-to-day for our interns, Robyn Needham, Learning & Development Program Manager, says that while the tasks for interns will differ based on the department they are interning with, they are often treated as a cohort and enjoy social events together outside of just work. The Lifelong Learning team also makes it a point to round out their experience by interspersing helpful training in computer programs such as Excel, Outlook, Power Point, and Word.
The Lifelong Learning team made sure that they were in regular communication with the intern cohort by consistently checking in with hiring managers. Still, communication went both ways, with interns having the opportunity to interview several members of management, asking questions about their successes and pitfalls. Interactions like these are invaluable. As Evita put it, “I felt unnecessarily intimidated by people in managerial positions, and getting acclimated to the corporate environment made me realize nobody is too difficult to talk to and that we’re all just people”.
The lasting impact of the exposure is still felt by Evita, as well as the other interns who decided to stay full-time with Mazzella Companies after their internship was over, as she notes, “I feel like being poised in marketing is heavily dependent on firsthand experience,” noting that the top things she learned from being an intern were how to deal in the professional world and making mistakes observing, “as an intern, you’re in a unique position. You have a job, but you don’t because you’re trying to prove yourself deserving of a full-time job, and so you may agonize over tiny mistakes. Learning to let go of that is instrumental to someone’s career and personal growth”.
In 2024, the internship program expanded outside of the Cleveland area, giving rising stars around the country opportunities to gain firsthand experience and grow the Mazzella Companies family.
Related: Mazzella Companies Internships
Rotational Immersion Skill-Building Experience (R.I.S.E) Rotational Program
While some college students are entering the workforce with a career path laid out, many may still be wondering in what direction they’d like their way to take them. The newly implemented R.I.S.E Program can be a compass for those college students who don’t have their career path laid out yet. Robyn shared, “We are doing a lot of career pathing here at Mazzella Companies, so if someone is new to their career and wants to dip their toe into something new, this is a great way of doing that.”
The program was developed to target gaps that needed to be filled as an organization and offers three six-month rotations. The program provides working insight into the roles of an Inside Sales, Operations, and Supply Chain team member, with the last rotation consisting of three mini rotations offering first-hand experience as a Buyer, in Logistics, and Inventory Management. Robyn shared that “once they get to Supply Chain, they’ll already know something about our suppliers, our customers, and our products”, proving that each step of the program accounts for natural transitions and progression.
Different from the Internship Program, each candidate will have the guidance of their Hiring Manager. Robyn explained that the Hiring Manager’s role is to be a mentor. “That manager is there to ensure this is a successful experience for the participant in the program. They help ensure they have all the right meetings on the calendar.” Additionally, the Hiring Manager conducts a performance review after each rotation. Participants also receive support from their peers in their departments and other rotational program participants. There is a bi-weekly meeting with all the participants and managers to ensure they have the support they need and are staying on track with their learning path within the rotation.
The R.I.S.E. Program also includes education in Microsoft Office and Capstone Projects, giving fresh faces new opportunities to influence how the business can be run more efficiently. Once the program is completed, candidates are allowed to consider where they’d want to land, “we want these candidates to ask themselves which area they liked the most, which team they felt they fit in with most, and which team fit with the best – we want it to be an all-around good fit.”
Apprenticeship Program
The Apprenticeship Program at Mazzella Companies began at a state level in 2015, and after gaining traction, the decision was made to go national. As of March 2020, the Lifting Apprenticeship Program was offered through the Department of Labor (DOL) and federally recognized, with the program for Rigging Fabrication following suit in December 2021, and previous state-level participants were grandfathered in. Candice Smith, Director of Lifelong Learning, is proud of the company’s strides, saying, “We are the only employer that offers the Rigging Fabricator and Lifting Mechanic jobs as an Apprenticeship Program.”
One of Mazzella Companies’ team members, Ashley Shuey, now Quality Program Manager for the QSTR (Quality, Safety, Transportation, Reliability) team, began as a sewer in the synthetics room 11 years ago, trying her hand at nearly anything she could be taught including flat web, cordage, and round sling production. After three years in manufacturing, she began working as an assistant to an Operations Manager in Cleveland, where she was introduced to Project Planning, which was the catalyst that led her to the apprenticeship program. “I knew that I wanted to do more, didn’t know what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to grow, but didn’t know into what,” says Ashley.
The Apprenticeship Program itself is designed with a set number of required on-the-job training hours and related technical instruction:
Lifting Mechanic Program
- 8,000 hours of on-the-job training
- 400 hours of related technical instruction
- Four years for completion
Rigging Fabricator Program
- 6,000 hours of on-the-job training
- 300 hours of related technical training
- Three years for completion
When asked what a day in the life of an Apprentice is like, Candice answered, “A day in the life is going out and doing your job but approaching it from a learning aspect. In a lot of ways, it’s very transparent. You’re doing your job and learning how to do it better”. Ashley added that some of the programs were an even mix of hands-on training and instructor-led classes, while others you never sat down for involved a lot of direct manufacturing instruction.
Without knowing where she wanted to grow when she first started the program, Ashley shared, “I discovered through the apprenticeship program that lean projects are really where my passions lay.” She explained that after a Two Second Lean course, she fell in love with lean projects and began to rely on a “fix what bugs you” mentality, inspiring initiatives for monthly improvement projects, saying, “At first it was challenging, like running a marathon, where at first, it’s hard, but eventually you look forward to it. It’s really what got me into Quality”.
When asked what advice she would offer future Apprenticeship Program participants, Ashley said, “Remember your why. Sometimes it’s hard to see that long-term reward, but you have to remember it’s going to pay off in the end”.
Related: Crane Service Tech Apprenticeship
Technical Training and Education Assistance Program
A third education program offered at Mazzella Companies is a Technical Training and Education Assistance Program, which reimburses a portion of various technical, skill, and educational training and courses. The course or training can develop technical or personal skills or may be toward achieving a high school, undergraduate, or graduate degree. Sue Barstow, Sr. Regional Human Resources Manager and primary contact for the reimbursement program said that while the program needs to be job-related, she added, “Say you’re working in Inside Sales, but you want to become an Accountant, if there’s a career path here, we may be able to help you with that.”
While other programs at Mazzella Companies are offered starting day one, only full-time team members who have celebrated a full year of being a team member are eligible to participate. Another stipulation for the reimbursement program is that applicants will need to complete a Training and Education Reimbursement form and have it approved by a manager before the start of training.
Reimbursement Guidelines*:
- Pass or A = 80% of the cost of the course
- B = 70% of the cost of the course
- C = 60% of the cost of the course
- D or Fail = 0% of the cost of the course
- Students must submit a certified grade card along with receipts for tuition costs paid when requesting a reimbursement
- Reimbursement will be made no later than 30 days after required paperwork and receipts are submitted
- Team members will need to stay employed by Mazzella Companies for two or more years after receiving their final reimbursement, or they will need to pay the amount in full upon termination with the exception made for death, long-term disability, or reduction from force
- The total amount of reimbursement per year by law that will not be considered taxable income is $5,250 – anything above this amount will still be reimbursed but will be subject to regular taxation
When looking back on her journey in completing her degree, Ashley mentioned, “When I first started, I took one class and thought, ‘how am I going to do this?’ and fast forward now at the end I took four classes, and I realized how much I grew. I never wanted to feel like I was missing an opportunity, I never wanted to feel like I was stuck because I didn’t take something”.
When looking forward at the Training and Education Assistance Program, Sue really hopes that more people take advantage of the program, “it’s a fantastic benefit, it’s huge, but right now we have very few people across the company using it.”
Conclusion
Overall, job training and education in your field will help you close skill gaps, enhance your understanding, and magnify your exposure in the workplace while also increasing your earning capacity. At Mazzella Companies, we want to offer you practical options and opportunities to help you lay roots, grow, and blossom here.
*These conditions do not apply to internal training sessions or to courses chosen by you and your manager as a part of your direct job training. In those cases, the full cost will be paid directly by the Company.
