West Virginia Department of Transportation

05/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/09/2024 05:44

WVDOT set to kick off 2024 Summer Co-op program

The West Virginia Department of Transportation's (WVDOT) Co-op program is set to welcome over 100 college students to the program this summer.

The kick off to this year's program is Monday May, 20, 2024. The program is designed to provide Engineering, Accounting, Information Technology, Law, Business, Environmental, etc. students with practical experiences related to transportation.

"This is an awesome opportunity for students, particularly college students, to get practical, real world experience, doing a lot of different things that we do at the DOT before they graduate," said Natalie Holcomb, Manager 1 of the Career Services Section, Human Resources Division. "This gives them an opportunity to solidify that this is the job and career path that they want to pursue."

To view the Co-op program application process, CLICK HERE.

Work assignments provide pivotal job experience including construction, design, bridge, traffic, materials and maintenance under engineering. Typical engineering assignments include inspecting work in progress at construction sites, calculating quantities of materials, reviewing and analyzing data, and participating in field reviews. College graduates with WVDOT Co-op experience find they are well-prepared for responsible entry-level engineering positions.

Finance, budget and auditing are the main aspects of accounting. Typical accounting assignments may include complex posting, encumbering of funds, examining records, making journal entries, and preparing audit narrative reports.

Typical Informational Technology assignments may include PC Programming requiring knowledge of Microsoft Visual Basic.Net and C#, Java Script, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft Office Suite; Engineering and Specialty Systems involving support, design, training, implementation and maintenance of Engineering and related applications.

Construction Inspection, Storm Water, Asbestos, Building Inspection, FEMA/GIS, Underground Storage Tanks are assignments of work under Environmental Resources.

The Co-op students work throughout the state, in the West Virginia Division of Highway's 10 districts and in the Central Office at Charleston.

"For us, it gives the DOT the opportunity to start looking for talent and employees at an early stage," said Holcomb. "It gives us the opportunity to train students that will hopefully become full-time employees when they graduate. We see it happen and that's what is so great about the Co-op program."

The posting to apply for this summer is still open. The application period for summer 2025 will open late fall, early winter 2024. Engineering student applicants must have completed at least one year of a four year Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Environmental, Chemical, Material Science, or Industrial Engineering BS program, a two or four-year BSCET program, accounting program or information technology program. Students must maintain a 2.0 grade point average to participate and be enrolled full time (12 semester hours) the semester preceding and succeeding the period for which they are applying.

As a Co-op employee you will be a temporary full-time employee and as such will not be eligible for retirement benefits, insurance, sick or annual leave, extended leave benefits, cost of living raises, etc. Co-ops can only be employed for a maximum of four months per work session.​