Recommendation Report

Unit 2: Employment Recommendation

Report

Tanner Olson
 Employment
Recommendation Report:
Construction Management Careers

ENG 320: Unit 2

For: Zachary Milton

By: Tanner Olson

8 September 2010
 Executive Summary
You indicated for your first job that you were looking to gain a variety of experiences in

the construction management field in order to build your resume and further your understanding

of the trade in an effort to one day own or manage an industrial construction company. The three

jobs that you have selected are all excellent choices giving you a vast array of opportunities to

learn and engage in the construction field.

Jobs:
-Coal Creek Construction
-The Industrial Company
-Mortenson Construction
Individual Needs:
-Pay above $12/hr
-The ability to work with your hands outside
-Challenging
-Opportunity to learn
Final Recommendation
My final recommendation for you is that you take the job for The Industrial Company. I

suggested this because it meets your needs for a job. You will have a mix of managerial tasks

and hands on experience, it will be a challenge learning about every facet of construction

management, and it pays at or above your desired salary. I feel that this job will be a good fit for

you for the reasons mentioned above.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary............................................................................................ii
Introduction.........................................................................................................1
Job Postings........................................................................................................1
Coal Creek Construction.....................................................................................1
Company.................................................................................................1
Position...................................................................................................2
Analysis..................................................................................................2
The Industrial Company.....................................................................................3
Company.................................................................................................3
Position....................................................................................................3
Analysis...................................................................................................3
Mortenson Construction......................................................................................4
Company.................................................................................................4
Position....................................................................................................4
Analysis...................................................................................................4
Recommendation.................................................................................................5
Works Cited.........................................................................................................6
 Introduction

Aside from deciding who you will marry, choosing a career is one of the biggest

decisions you will make in life. There are a lot of factors to take into account such as where you

want to live, what salary you want to have, what benefits you require, and what hours you want

to work. Research must be done for each company and the pros and cons weighed. After that it

is important to determine whether you share the same values and goals as the company to ensure

a good fit.

For this assignment I was instructed to interview you and research your three job postings

that you were interested in applying for. Your three job postings were Coal Creek Construction,

The Industrial Company, and Mortenson Construction. Throughout this report I will look at your

wants and needs as they apply to your career and discuss the relevant information that I have

discovered about the desired companies. After I have discussed these things I will examine the

data and give my recommendation for the job that I believe fits your wants, needs, and career

goals best.

Job Postings

Coal Creek Construction

Company Information

Coal Creek Construction is a company based out of Underwood, North Dakota (“Coal

Creek Construction”) and they do a variety of construction projects dealing mostly with power

and communication lines and buildings (Milton). They are a smaller local company mainly
working for energy companies and Air Force bases in Minot and Grand Forks, North Dakota

(“Coal Creek Construction”). This is the only job of the three that you are looking into that has

an actual position as a full time employee and not just an intern.

Position

The position for Coal Creek Construction is a full-time line worker position. The job

entails constructing power lines for the Minot Air Force Base both underground and

aboveground. The pay ranges from fourteen to twenty-two dollars depending on experience and

they will also provide temporary housing for you. The only requirements for the job are a high

school diploma or GED and a current driver’s license (Milton). You meet the position

requirements, but I will break down the position based on your want and needs.

Analysis

Due to Coal Creek’s size it was hard to locate a lot of information on the company, but

based on what I found, they fit your goal of working in a variety of industrial construction

positions. The job is not near Minneapolis, which was the main place you said you would “like

to live if you had an opinion”. You mentioned that you wanted a housing allowance and a

starting pay of at least twelve dollars an hour and this job in Minot has fits both of those

qualifications. I think that it would be a good starter job as you progress towards managing or

own industrial construction company (Milton).

The Industrial Company (TIC)
Company Information

The Industrial Company is based out of Colorado, but is a international company. They

are involved in a variety of major industrial projects for mining, renewable energy, and power

plants. They have been around since 1974 and pride themselves in a work hard play hard

attitude and try to promote a small family feel to their crews despite being a big company. TIC’s

core values are centered on their customers, striving for excellence, integrity, and a solid work

ethic (“About Us Overview”). Now that you have this information about the company, I will tell

you about the position you would take as an intern for TIC.

Position

The position for TIC is a full-time internship/co-op paying between fifteen and seventeen

dollars an hour. I was not able to find the location of the internship from the sources you gave me

or from my research. Due to the fact that the company is international, I can’t even assume

where the position would be at. The job itself would consist of mostly assistant supervisory

tasks and supervisor training (“Industrial Construction Internship”). This is in line with what you

are looking to do for a job.

Analysis

The pay for this job is in your range and the job itself allows you to gain a variety of

supervisory experience. This would be beneficial to you because you want to own or run your

own company (Milton) and this would give you a firsthand look at how everything runs from

coordinating materials, safety monitoring, and field discipline (“Industrial Construction

Internship”). Even though it might not be in or close to Minneapolis, you didn’t seem to place

location high on your list of qualifications for a job (Milton).

Mortenson Construction
Company Information

Started in the early 1950’s, Mortenson has a long history in the construction business

(“About Us”). Long history is a sign of stability, showing that the company can survive through

wars, recessions, and depressions. Mortenson is a nationwide company founded on the principles

of hard work, service, teamwork, and safety (“About Us”). They are one of the biggest general

contractors in the nation (“Intern”) working in almost all the construction fields but doing more

commercial building than industrial (“About Us”). The job you were looking at with Mortenson

Construction is another intership/co-op (“Intern”).

Position

As an intern for Mortenson you would be exposed to a variety of supervisor and

managerial roles. You would order materials, work on customer relations, oversee

subcontractors, learn about job sequencing, and prepare bid packages. The pay is unstated, but is

listed as competitive and is based off the year in school you are. Due to the fact that Mortenson

is a national company you would have the opportunity to work in one of their many locations

including Minnesota, or on a traveling team (“Intern”).

Analysis

This position fits your desire to work near Minneapolis, and to gain experience in a

variety of managerial roles. You would get your desired pay based on the competitive rates that
the other two jobs are paying and you would have the opportunity to work alongside people that

value hard work like you do. The only qualification that I don’t have information from you on is

that they strongly prefer a student with a GPA between 3.0 and 4.0 (“Intern”). If you fulfill this

qualification this job would be a good match for you based on your wants and needs.

Recommendation

All of the jobs you selected are in your pay range and all of them value a good work ethic

like you do, but after those two things they start to differ. The job with Coal creek is in Minot,

North Dakota and the other two are kind of a gamble based on where you will be. Coal Creek is

also the only one that doesn’t allow you a variety of experience on the managerial side, but

allows you to be hands on. During our interview you stressed the fact that you wanted to own or

manage your own business and that you biggest weakness was inexperience. Based on those two

things I would suggest that you take the job with TIC because it is a mix between management

procedures and hands on experience. This would be a great start to managing or owning a

construction company because it gives you the full effect of what running a crew is all about.

This is in contrast with my second choice of working for Mortenson which is mostly just the day

to day procedures of a manager and not as much procedural or hands on. I believe the hands on

approach is better because you will understand your worker’s jobs more thoroughly.
 Works Cited

“About Us.” < http://www.mortenson.com/AboutMortenson.aspx> (accessed 29 September

2010).
“About Us Overview.” < http://www.tic-inc.com/> (accessed 29 September 2010).
“Coal Creek Construction.” <
http://www.fedvendor.com/contractor/CRR00000000000218563 /print_view.htm >
(accessed 29 September 2010).
“Industrial Construction Internship.” < https://ndsu-csm.symplicity.com/students/ index.php?
mode=form&id=5c7a7934a18c0daf17f66da61ace1a00&s=jobs&ss=jobs> (accessed 25
September 2010).
“Intern.” < https://ndsu-csm.symplicity.com/students/ index.php?
mode=form&id=33115a4ae63f61f459620b7c82ca0f26&s=jobs&ss=jobs> (accessed 25
September 2010).
Milton, Zach, Construction Management. Interview by author. Written. Fargo, ND. 27
September 2010.
Milton, Zach. “Re: Job Postings.” E-mail to Tanner Olson. 20 September 2010.