Steam Logistics Domestic Division President Jeff Wood (left), UTC student Lance Nelson, Steam Logistics Executive Vice President of Sales Travis Cook and UTC student Mason McKinnon meet on the company’s rooftop patio during the students’ summer internships.
When University of Tennessee at Chattanooga student Lance Nelson first drove into Chattanooga from his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, he made note of the color-blocked contemporary office building that welcomed him after exiting the interstate.
Now in his senior year, Nelson and fellow UTC student Mason McKinnon are spending their summer inside that same building as interns at Steam Logistics.
The two landed the opportunity after meeting company representatives at a UTC career fair. Nelson, a business administration major in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business with a concentration in entrepreneurship, works in domestic sales. McKinnon, a communication major with a business administration minor, works in drayage operations.
Before joining their teams, both students completed the same three-week onboarding program as every new full-time employee.
“Once we get on the floor, we’re just a little bit more flexible,” Nelson said. “I’ve been able to help out some of the other managers who have someone out for a week or have an influx of work.”
Nelson spends much of his day coordinating domestic freight, communicating with carriers and customers, and researching prospective clients for the sales team.
“I really do like the fast-paced kind of go, go, go,” he said. “Everything’s changing all the time.”
Lance Nelson
McKinnon, who hails from Clarksville, Tennessee, found himself drawn to a different side of the business.
“I like the drayage side more because it was a lot slower burning,” McKinnon said.
His work consists of tracking incoming shipments, building loads into the company’s system and making sure freight continues moving through the supply chain.
Though they work in different departments, both students said their experience at UTC prepared them to go into their internships with confidence.
Nelson said the curriculum in the entrepreneurship program provided a foundation in nearly every aspect of business before he arrived at Steam.
“We get accounting, finance, economic, marketing and management classes,” Nelson said. “It gave me a very strong base for everything we learned during training week.”
McKinnon said classes like principles of marketing and professional sales introduced him to the fundamentals of the business world. The UTC experience also helped prepare him for a professional working world.
“I think UTC as a whole is just a very good environment that helped us become our best selves for the future,” McKinnon said.
The environment was one of the reasons McKinnon chose UTC in the first place.
“It was just the perfect distance from home and it was still in-state,” he said. “I also took the tour for the first time and I kind of fell in love with the city itself, so I had to come here.”
Though Nelson—who graduates next spring—plans to one day own a beachside café, they both hope the internship is only the beginning of their time at Steam.
“Hopefully we get to come back here,” said McKinnon, who will graduate in December. “That’s the game plan.”
They encouraged other students looking for internships to put extra effort into every prospect.
“Tailor make every opportunity,” McKinnon said. “Whatever opportunity you see, make sure you have a specific goal for that opportunity. Cover letter, resume, have a game plan set just for that one.”
Nelson told students not to overlook companies they are interested in because they don’t advertise internships.
“Reach out,” he said. “Even if you don’t know if a company has internships, reach out just in case because they may not post about it or be public about it, but they do take on a couple and you might just be the lucky one.”
Mason McKinnon
Travis Cook, Steam Logistics’ executive vice president of sales, said the internship program is familiar from both sides of the desk.
A 2014 graduate of UTC’s Gary W. Rollins College of Business, Cook said he attended the same kind of career fairs now attended by McKinnon and Nelson. He accepted a position in logistics immediately after graduation and has spent the last 12 years in the industry.
“UTC is a phenomenal school, especially on the business side,” Cook said. “I had a choice to go to UT Knoxville or UTC. I chose UTC.”
He now helps recruit UTC students like McKinnon and Nelson.
“You get somebody that’s just about to graduate that’s hungry, that wants to go start something,” he said. “You get to really work with them and see who they are as people, what’s their work ethic, what’s their ability to be coachable and learn. Hopefully, if they’re a good fit, they can accept their diploma and already have the job lined up, ready to go.”
Cook, who is from Chattanooga, said that UTC has only become a stronger community partner for local companies and organizations as it grows.
“It’s definitely put itself on the map,” he said. “You don’t think Chattanooga without thinking of UTC at this point.”
Jeff Wood, president of Steam’s domestic division, said that is one reason the company continues recruiting at UTC.
“We feel like there’s a lot of good talent in this town that go to UTC,” Wood said. “It’s an opportunity for us to almost reinvest in our people here in this town versus just heading up the street to Knoxville.”
Wood, who recently relocated to Chattanooga after helping launch Steam’s Minneapolis office, said the University’s growth mirrors the city’s own evolution.
“UTC is bringing people in from the outside too and not just Chattanooga residents,” he said. “We’re a people-first company, and we always look at the people and the personalities of the people more so than maybe even the resume. We’ve had success and want to keep having that with therelationship with the University.”
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