MINNEAPOLIS, MN —
Braun Intertec and a group of experienced employee-owners recently welcomed this year’s co-ops to the team. This year, Braun Intertec had more than 50 co-ops join them in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Braun Intertec Co-Op Program Overview
The Braun Intertec co-op program was created more than 10 years ago and has evolved ever since. The program is a six-month paid internship that allows currently enrolled students to gain industry experience with the engineering and construction materials testing group. Before the program kicks off, Braun Intertec recruits and interviews students from more than 30 different colleges and technical schools and, once the co-op positions have been offered and accepted, the program officially begins with training followed by field work.
“At Braun Intertec we feel, and have heard, we provide an industry leading on-boarding experience for our co-ops and interns,” said Matt Balster, Operations Director and Co-Leader of the Co-op Onboarding Program. “Our blend of safety and technical components provides our new team members with the tools, knowledge, and attitudes to quickly become contributing members of the Braun Intertec team.”
On day one, co-ops start integrating with their local teams by training with senior level Field Technicians. Soon after, they attend a four-day multi-phase onboarding process. The first phase of training is a dive into the technical aspect of the co-op role. This includes discussions about site communication, plan and specification reading, small group exercises, and presentations. Co-ops also take a hands-on soil compaction and classification class during this part of their onboarding.
Co-Op Safety at Braun Intertec
As an employee-owned company with Field Technicians, Environmental Scientists, Geotechnical Engineers, and more, Braun Intertec employees encounter hazardous situations at work every day. When the company trains the co-ops on the importance of safety, they start with discussing the Braun Intertec safety non-negotiables, safe by choice, hazards and mitigation, and safety tools and applications.
Once safety and the technical aspects of the co-op program are completed, Braun Intertec administers nuclear density gauge training and an in-house ACI Concrete Field One Learning Program. The ACI program prepares the co-op to take both the written and hands-on examination.
Virtual Training
This year, what normally would be an in-house, hands-on experience had to be tweaked due to COVID-19. The program was converted into a virtual classroom. Braun Intertec was able to split the large incoming class of co-ops into several smaller classes.
