CoServ partners with local universities to find the best and brightest

Like many recent college graduates, Justin Lee scoured LinkedIn looking for jobs and one day, saw that CoServ had an opening for a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Technician.

Memories flooded back from the time he and his Texas Energy class at the University of North Texas toured the CoServ Headquarters two years earlier. He met Paola Vizcaino, CoServ’s Employee Experience Specialist, Tommy Nylec, Director of Engineering, Gary Franzen, Senior Vice President of Energy Resources and many others.

“I remember it being a great place and everybody only had good things to say about working there,” Justin said.

By late September, the geography major had found his niche in CoServ’s GIS Department, updating maps with new power lines, transformers, switch gears and meters.

“We’re constantly updating the map,” Justin said. “This ensures that what the linemen see on their tablets is correct.”

The tour leading to the beginnings of a successful career is not by chance. CoServ makes a concerted effort to partner with universities to find the best and brightest graduates.

“We’re growing our relationship with universities, and we want to be positioned as a great employer in the area,” Paola said. “We also have several stories of interns who turned into CoServ Employees.”

There’s often a misconception that because CoServ is a utility, most of the jobs are outdoors and construction related – going up in bucket trucks or digging trenches. CoServ’s Recruiting Specialist Amy Mallet said some people would pass up speaking with them because they assumed the jobs being offered wouldn’t align with their career interests. In 2023, CoServ rebranded its Careers Campaign to emphasize that we have opportunities for everyone, from bilingual Customer Care Specialists to finance and information technology to human resources and everything in between.

“We have a lot of parts that come together in order to keep the lights on and the gas flowing,” Amy said.

As one of the fastest-growing electric co-ops in the country, CoServ is always hiring. Since 2020, CoServ has added 50 net Employees, bringing the total to more than 520.

“We promote from within and when we tell people we have folks who have been here for 30 or even 40 years
they are amazed,” Amy said.

Amy and Paola have both worked at CoServ for 20-plus years.

“People also love the fact that we are so involved in the community and have a Community Engagement Department dedicated to that,” Amy said. “It’s things like that that make it easy for us to talk about CoServ and what sets us apart from other companies.”