“ We struggle with trying to reach out to market and find the person with the skills we are looking for,” Swank said.“ We need to grow our own.”
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Money for school and a stable career are just the beginning of the benefits of working at Riggs CAT.
Riggs CAT holds the Arkansas dealership rights to Caterpillar equipment and generators. The company offers parts, sales, service and rental, said Richard Meshell, Vice President of Employee Development for Riggs.
Riggs started in 1927 as a family owned business. The fifth generation is now involved in running the company. Riggs CAT has 400 employees and eight locations throughout the state.
The company has highly qualified people that are the best of the best, said Les Swank, Northwest Regional Manager. Those people include sales representatives, parts representatives and mechanics, also called technicians.
“ We have people that come in as a technician and move to other spots,” Meshell said.“ They move to rental, product support, sales.”
Those mechanics need special training.“ We work only on Caterpillar equipment and generators,” Swank explained.
Finding mechanics has become more difficult as the company grows. In the last four years, the Springdale office has grown from 23 to 39 employees.
One method of growing their own is by sending new high school graduates to a Caterpillar school in Okmulgee, Okla., run by Oklahoma State University.
“ It’ s for working on CAT equipment only,” Swank said.“ We pay a fee to send students there.”
The company looks for high school seniors who are good in math and science and interested in mechanics, Meshell said. The school runs in eight week cycles. You have classes for eight weeks, work at the local dealership for eight weeks, and then go back to classes. It is a two year program.
Technician Colby Willis graduated from the program in 2010. At the end of his schooling, he ended up with an Associate of Applied Science degree and a job.“ It gives you a good base of technology,” Willis said.
The program starts in the fall, so students work at the company through the summer after their high school graduation.
The ones that finish the classes come in ready to work at a very good starting wage, Swank added.
Riggs CAT also offers a tuition reimbursement plan for employees in the program. How much money they receive is based on their grade point average.
If the student keeps a 3.5 GPA, they would get $ 1,400 per semester in reimbursement. At a 3.0 grade point, the student would receive $ 1000 per semester