Never a Boring Day: John Finds New Lease on Life at Nestlé Purina

John knew he had opportunity to find a career that brought him greater personal satisfaction.

While scrolling through social media, he came across an advertisement for a new maintenance technician training program being offered at State University of New York (SUNY) Jamestown Community College (JCC). Not only did the program seem to align with John’s career advancement goals, it also was free.

John requested more information and set off on a journey to further his education and skills, which led him to Nestlé Purina. Now a Maintenance Technician in at Purina’s Dunkirk, New York factory, John saw considerable interest from several companies after he completed the training program. Throughout his job search, Nestlé Purina always seemed to stand out.

“One of the things that drew my interest in Nestlé Purina was the reputation with the local community,” he says. “I had only heard good things about the company and was very interested to see what it was all about. I can say, now that I’m employed, everything I heard is true. It is a good place to work with a lot of opportunities for growth, be it personal or positional in the company. I was also excited to hear about the opportunities to work with robots and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) programming, which was amazing to see as I enjoyed it so much during my courses at JCC.”

John has many great things to say about the training program that helped him develop the skills necessary to further his career with Nestlé Purina.

“The Industrial Maintenance Technician Program at JCC had really set me up for success,” he says. “It helped me learn to attack problems from a different point of view. I learned electrical diagnosis, which has helped me trace issues on recent jobs. Rigging, gearing, belt drives, and more have all helped me understand how machines work. The dynamics of energies and how they are controlled, utilized, and contained was a big one for me. All of these, and much more, have really given me a great head start to problem solving, creating, and understanding the equipment I’m working on at Nestlé Purina.”

John also reflects on the ways in which his new role at Dunkirk differs from previous manufacturing roles he has held, and why he sees his current role as superior to past ones.

“I have different jobs every day,” he says. “I came from a job where it became so dull and repetitive that I lost interest in it. I craved the ability to problem solve, to think deeper into my work; I felt like I was losing my edge. Now, I can say I feel more confident in myself and my work.”

And this rejuvenated sense of confidence has led to an evaluation of what could be possible regarding career development.

“I really want to get into controls, specifically robotics and PLC controls,” John says. “I excelled in the classroom setting and I want to work towards that. I think I would do well, given the chance to perform the tasks.”

John says his life has changed “exponentially” since signing on with Nestlé Purina. “I can’t believe how lucky I am to be in the position I’m in and I’m beyond thankful for that class and all the teachers who helped me pursue a great new career.”

John says he also enjoys the great people that he gets to work with, as well as the variety of factory jobs that there are to do.

“My experience at Nestlé Purina has been very positive; everyone is helpful and makes you feel comfortable,” John adds. "There is a lot to learn here, but I know I have a good team behind me to help me understand our processes of operation.”

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