Automotive Alternative Career Fair Highlights New Opportunities

November 9, 2022

The college today welcomed 10 employers to our first annual Automotive Alternative Pathways career fair. At the fair, Automotive students were exposed to careers beyond traditional automotive dealership technician roles.

Alumni Cedonne Petion, Business Change Lead Specialist at National Grid, said he hoped his career story would help Benjamin Franklin Cummings students understand how far their education can take them. Petion earned his associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in the college’s Automotive program and is now enrolled in an MBA program at Bentley College. He started his career as a technician at an auto dealership before moving to National Grid. Three promotions later, he is now overseeing the utility’s plan to shift to an electric fleet in Massachusetts.

“In my classes, I learned how things operate, not just how to remove a part and replace it,” Petion said. He said other transferable skills he learned in the Automotive program included critical thinking, how to complete projects in an orderly way, and how to work effectively with other people.

Petion’s career pathway is a perfect example of what the Alternative Pathways fair was designed for. “This fair is about exposing students to nontraditional areas that students [in our Automotive programs] may not have known about before,” said Michael Felix, director of Career Services. He said the fair offered Automotive students a chance to see how the sought-after skills and knowledge developed in their Automotive Technology courses can offer an opportunity to delve into a variety of Automotive-related career paths.

“I like the non-traditional path, especially for those students who are not sure they would like to work in a large dealership. Most of the students I talked to liked and took cards from the employers,” said Jim Dellot, chair of the Automotive Technology program.

As Michael Mullarkey, Auto Appraisal Manager for Arbella Insurance Group put it, “General auto knowledge is incredibly helpful in our industry and it’s relevant to just about every department in our company.” Critical thinking is also helpful: “A lot of claims adjusting is being able to solve puzzles,” he said. Michal further said automotive skills are very transferable to many jobs in insurance, including an adjuster and an appraiser.

Arbella Insurance Group’s Talent Acquisition Manager, Carla Lynch, stated about our students, “These are great partnerships. We have two (Computer Information Technology) interns from the college that started in the summer and have continued with us. They’re doing a fabulous job.” Proving that the auto insurance field is not exclusive to Automotive students but can also be a meaningful career path for students in other programs we offer.

Other employers at the fair provided more hands-on, yet nontraditional career paths for the Automotive students. Cyd Coyne, Human Resources Manager for Boston Duck Tours, helped to paint a clearer picture of a local favorite: “When you think of Duck Tours, you don’t necessarily think there’s a whole fleet of mechanics working behind the scenes. We’re a seasonal business, but the mechanics work all year round.”

Jacky Tran, a student in our Automotive Technology associate degree program was surprised at how flexible the roles were at many of the employers. As he learned about the part-time roles with Goodyear and student internships with Tesla, he said he was excited to see how our industry partners are focused on helping students keep their foot on the pedal both professionally and academically.