PICTURED TOP LEFT Brian uses a grinder to level a section of pipe in preparation for the specialized TIG welding process at SeaCast.

PICTURED TOP RIGHT Brian works on a conveyor belt of a crusher at a local concrete/gravel business. The WBL assignment was a promotion to a paid position from the unpaid/training WBL job that he successfully completed first.

PICTURED CENTER Brian stands behind a jig designed by SeaCast to secure tubing that he and other welders forge (with the TIG torch he is holding) into parts that will later be used in specialized manufacturing projects.

“My parents were frustrated with me and my apathy for school; at least the one I was enrolled in and not attending at the time,” remembers Brian Giacomini. “My mom basically told me that I had two choices. I could either go to this local alternative school that isn’t accredited and would only offer me a GED, or I could go to Job Corps.”  The Anaconda Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center (JCCCC) graduate reflects that “the right choice was obvious.”

Obvious or not, good choices aren’t always easy to make. Even when presented seemingly clearly, by those who care deeply, taking the first step into the great unknown often feels just as cold, hard and mottled as the welding booth, metal and spatter appeared to Giacomini when he started toward picking up the skills in his trade of choice at Anaconda JCCCC. However, because he believed that it was up to him to make a better situation for himself, he was able to progress through the entire program relatively quickly.

Brian and his parents had no idea that just under a year and a half after enrolling at Anaconda JCCCC he would be earning a respectable wage with benefits, in his hometown, performing gas tungsten arc welding (TIG) for “a world leader in the production of precision investment castings,” known by the name of SeaCast.

Located in Butte Montana, with a workforce of 350, SeaCast steadily employs Giacomini, as well as six additional Anaconda JCCCC grads, in its TIG department.  Visit www.seacast.com to read how  the titanium vacuum melting facility, which was recently built in Big Sky Country as a fourth location for the company headquartered in Marysville Washington, serves a wide variety of industries including aerospace, industrial pumps, industrial gas turbines, medical, transportation, and computer hardware.

As the third Anaconda JCCCC completer to be hired by and the first to earn placement with SeaCast, Brian describes his enthusiasm for learning the high quality welding process. “I look forward to the challenge of getting better at it. I was able to practice, take and pass the assessments, and finally receive my TIG welding certifications all within only four months of being on the job.”

Brian proudly declares his accomplishments and pleasant surprise of the immaculate and hospitable working environment at the foundry.  “[TIG] is harder to get good at, but it’s a lot safer and cleaner than the more basic welding you need to know to run your first bead.”

Giacomini’s initiative to move through the Job Corps program meant more than just running beads, however.  At six months, Brian had earned his GED and status as a leader among his peers. In his off-duty time, he took advantage of the opportunities offered to help shape the student culture and to develop personally as a contributing member of the Anaconda JCCCC community.

During their Job Corps education, few students earn a work based learning (WBL) slot for on-the-job training with real employers in the communities surrounding the Center. Because Giacomini maintained a balanced approach to his Job Corps experience overall, and successfully completed not only one, but two WBL assignments, staff members knew that Brian was the type of employee that Anaconda JCCCC is proud to place and the budding welder that SeaCast is currently seeking at this time of creation and expansion in southwest Montana. 

Mike and Bert Robins, the brothers who established the company in 1986, discuss the blossoming partnership:

“The Anaconda JCCCC has proven to be a strategic resource for supplying welders capable of meeting our stringent aerospace welding requirements. Their focused and forward-thinking leadership has fostered a training program that they tailored to meet our requirements. The caliber of the graduates from that program has been very high, and those hired by SeaCast will enjoy an exciting career in aerospace manufacturing here in Butte.”

Since Giacomini’s placement with SeaCast, Anaconda JCCCC’s employer partner has hired four additional Job Corps trainees on WBL assignments, later converting three of them to fulltime placements also in its TIG department. The fourth welder trainee is just beginning his WBL assignment and will be joined soon by the first female welder trainee to whom the Job Corps center has offered a WBL slot at the company.  Anaconda JCCCC welding instructors are constantly identifying which of their students can demonstrate that they have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to pass the first step of the process, SeaCast’s panel interview.

Forging this unique partnership has offered Anaconda JCCCC welder students some higher level training and job placement as well as afforded SeaCast the exclusively trained apprentices for its growing workforce in today’s highly competitive industry.

Anaconda JCCCC was the right choice for Brian back then, and the Job Corps program continues to be the right choice for so many who are at the same vulnerable age and facing similar critical decisions like Brian was. Brian chose to believe, achieve, and succeed because Job Corps Works!