The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) hosted a Transportation Industry Hiring Event this week in Milton. Launched in 2024, the initiative, Road to Your Future, is designed to recruit workforce talent for Florida’s growing transportation sector.
The hiring event, held Wednesday at the Santa Rosa County Auditorium, was the first to be conducted in the western-most region of the state. And it was very well attended, with over 520 people pre-registering for the event and many more showing up at the door.
“What we have today are open positions, not only with the Florida Department of Transportation, but our industry partners who are looking to hire, and it runs the gamut of positions,” said FDOT spokesman Ian Satter, pointing out that the job openings go beyond the vested roadworkers and dump truck operators that tend to come to mind.
“You could have people who need advanced degrees for certain positions. You have everything from laborers, clerical work, accounting. There’re a lot of things that go on behind the scenes when it comes to actual road construction here in Florida and we need people to be able to fill those positions.”
Available positions include heavy equipment operators, CDL drivers, apprenticeships and internships, and FDOT roles such as highway maintenance technicians and equipment operators. Several of the opportunities offer on-the-job training and pathways for career advancement within the transportation construction industry.
Ahead of the Milton job fair, FDOT has hosted similar Road to Your Future hiring events across District Three, including Chipley and Tallahassee. According to Satter, the opportunity to connect job seekers with careers in the transportation industry speaks to the growth of this sector in the state.
“If you look at the state of Florida, the amount of road construction that’s going on, how we’re seeing the expansion of the state, people moving here, the need for infrastructure; there’s always going to be that need for people that are qualified to do these jobs,” he stated. “The positions that we have available here today are going to be here in this region, here in the Milton-Pensacola area. So, we’re looking to fill positions, locally.”
Inside the auditorium, those attending the job fair were greeted by agency staff members who were available to help them navigate to the proper vendors.
“If somebody says I’m a heavy equipment operator, I’m looking for those kinds of jobs, then they can walk them through and show them who would be hiring for those positions,” Satter said, adding that FDOT also provided a section where participants could get assistance with their resumes and instruction on use of the state’s People First job portal.
In addition to job offerings from FDOT, 30 engineering and construction firms participated in the free hiring event, with representatives available to talk to prospective hires.
About half-way through the three-hour event, engineering firm Neel-Schaffer, Inc. had collected numerous online and in-person applications, with hopes of interviewing and hiring soon.
“Right now, we’re looking for inspector aids,” said Craig Wyatt, area manager for the engineering firm. “CEI inspector aids, so construction, engineering and inspection. We’re looking for the new guys coming straight off the street, that (don’t) have any experience, from 0–2-year (experience) guys that are trying to get their foot in the door in the market for construction engineering.”
Such was the case for 25-year-old David Huffman, who’s dad brought him to the event and helped guide him through it.
“I would like to build something for a career, but at the current moment, a job is a job for me,” said Huffman. “I’m just eager to do something to get out of the house and make some form of income.”
On the other hand, attendees included others looking to start a profession.
“We’ve had students that have come to our construction career days event, where we show them what the industry is about,” Satter said. “I have seen some of those students at that event here today, who are getting ready to graduate and want to get into this field.”
Satter added that this won’t be the last job fair planned for the community.
“We probably will return here in the near future for another hiring event, whether it’s here in Santa Rosa County or if we move it into Escambia County,” said Satter. “It really just kind of depends on what positions we have available and the need that we have. But this is not a one-time thing; we will be back in this region.”
