Career Opportunities & Workforce Awareness

Career Opportunities

Come build with us!

Safe roads and bridges are essential to the movement of people, materials and supplies. From planning to design, construction and maintenance, OCA members keep Ohioans moving!

With programs geared toward Ohio high school, college and university students, OCA coordinates with members to facilitate jobsite tours and interaction with successful firms in the breadth of fields that comprise our industry. Hands-on exposure to equipment helps communicate the story of this opportunity rich industry.

OCA Chapter-Level Scholarship Program

OCA's nine chapters around the state are committed to nurturing the emerging workforce and work throughout the year to raise money for scholarship awards for students focusing on the Civil Engineering and Construction Management fields. In 2019, OCA chapters presented $22,500 to students.

The Rich DiGeronimo Constructor for a Day program celebrated its 34th year in 2019, serving 1,149 participating students around the state. Constructor for a Day programs expose the industry's future workforce to careers in heavy/highway construction through jobsite tours and interaction with area firms working in the industry. Many events also include job fairs, through which OCA member firms can connect with valid co-op and job candidates.

OCA'S Young Professionals Network

OCA’s First Young Professionals Network event launched with an enthusiastic crowd

OCA is piloting a YPN in Northeast Ohio and the first event was met with enthusiasm from more than sixty young professionals. The event was held at Top Golf on Tuesday, June 21.

The goal of the YPN is to provide young professionals within OCA member companies an opportunity to network and build their peer group.

Friday, Sept. 16 is the next YPN event and is a deck board replacement service project at Lake Abram Marsh to benefit the Cleveland Metroparks. (Rain day back-up is Sept. 23). The project hours are from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and followed by happy hour. We encourage you to bring a group of young professionals from your company for socializing and community involvement.

More information about the Sept. event will be emailed as the event gets closer. For more information about OCA’s Young Professionals Network, contact Melanie Kitchen ([email protected]) or Dave Rule ([email protected]).

Please help us build the OCA YPN! If you would like to receive OCA Northeast Ohio YPN invitations in the future, Click here to subscribe. If you have others in your company that would like to receive this information, send David Rule a list of people (name and email address) that you would like to add to the OCA YPN invitation list.

Thank you to our June event sponsors: Overmyer Hall Associates, Marcum Accountants - Advisors, Hylant

OCA Future Leaders Forum

Preparing OCA members for future leadership roles in their companies, OCA's Future Leaders Forum provides an accelerated introduction and education on the working relationship between the transportation infrastructure and state government and agencies, as well as business management. Click here for more details.

OCA Scholarship Opportunities:

Hall of Fame State-Wide Scholarship Program

Since 1996, OCA has awarded more than $350,000 in scholarships to support promising future talent studying for careers in Civil Engineering, Construction Technology and Construction Management. Supported by the OCA Advancement Foundation, these scholarships are available for students in Ohio with graduation goals set at the associate and bachelor's degree levels. OCA recognizes the value that our Hall of Fame Scholarship recipients bring to our industry.

OCA is grateful to OCA Advancement Foundation donors; this group has given generously to establish an endowment to fuel OCA programs designed to build awareness of careers in our industry, and to engage our workforce. It is their eye-to-the-future that makes OCA’s Hall of Fame Scholarship Awards possible.

Special thanks to Taskforce Committee members Parr Peterson (Paul Peterson Company), Mike Dinneen (AGG Rok Materials), Jackie Guttman (The Ruhlin Company), and Chris Szabo (The Ruhlin Company), for their time, leadership and dedication to the future of the industry. Additional thanks go out to the many member firm representatives who took time to send in letters of recommendation for applicants.

Congratulations to the 2022 Winners Who Shared $32,500 in Scholarship Awards!

The OCA Estimating Competition is a two-day student competition that connects members with future civil engineering and construction management talent being developed at state universities. Members are positioned front-and-center to help prepare, shape and mentor the industry's future workforce.

Want to learn more:

Click here to see the Competition Overview video
Click here to see a full length training video on the estimating process

With many thanks to the volunteers who make this happen, we congratulate our 2023 Winners!

1st place – Case Western Reserve University

2nd place – Youngstown State University

3rd place – University of Akron

2024 Competition Dates - February 9 & 10

Industry and Education Collaborate to offer Skilled Trade Expo for High School Students

Union Skilled Trade Expo 10/28/2021 - Click To See More!