Co-op Lays the Foundation for a Career in Electrical Operations
John Malgeri, E’78, electrical engineering, completed his co-ops at Consolidated Edison Inc. of New York after pursuing an opportunity offered to him while still in high school. His co-ops allowed him to discover career interests through experience and taught him communicative skills that were essential to his decades-long career in electric and gas operations.
John Malgeri, E’78, electrical engineering, almost had a very different professional journey than the extensive career he led. After deciding to withdraw from his spring semester courses during his third year at Northeastern, Malgeri had banked on using the connections he formed through his co-ops at Consolidated Edison Inc. to secure an electrical technician’s job. His co-op advisor quickly hit him with the reality of his situation.
“I asked him if he thought they would hire me as a technician,” says Malgeri. “He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘No degree, no job. Now go back to school.’”
As a requirement of the ongoing co-op opportunity at ConEd that he received while still a high school student, Malgeri needed to obtain an electrical engineering degree with a concentration in power systems to be considered for postgrad employment. After conversing with his advisor, he re-enrolled in classes for the following semester and knew he had to dig in.
Despite a delay in his scheduled graduation in 1977, Malgeri’s hard work paid off, and he completed his degree program the following April. He began working full time at ConEd that month after receiving a job offer while on his final co-op, marking the beginning of his decades-long career.
Now in his retirement, Malgeri reflects on this experience as an important lesson from his undergraduate years and a key moment that shaped his career outcome. “They had criteria at the company, and they weren’t going to make any exceptions,” he says. “It was the best thing for me because I wound up with an almost 40-year career in the industry.”
Under his father’s guidance, Malgeri was introduced to the engineering field at a young age. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School, where he chose electrical engineering as his vocation to specialize in until graduation. His two younger brothers followed suit, each selecting a different technical major.
When it came time to apply to university, Malgeri was originally looking at state schools to continue his electrical engineering studies. However, a formative conversation with a friend who recently graduated from Northeastern steered Malgeri toward Northeastern. He was particularly impressed with his friend’s co-op experiences at a telephone company in New York, which turned into a full-time position after he graduated.
“The fact that he did not have to go to school full time, worked part time, and then was able to land a job right after college intrigued me,” Malgeri says. “It was something that I felt I would like to try to do.”
In the months leading up to his first year at Northeastern, Malgeri received a letter detailing a co-op opportunity run by ConEd for New York-based Northeastern electrical engineering students that would last until graduation. Despite not guaranteeing full-time work after college, the program offered students the potential to receive employment and, more importantly, the opportunity to network and experience the different sections of Electrical Engineering throughout their co-ops, along with a $1,000 scholarship in their first year. He interviewed with ConEd after receiving the letter and was offered a position that summer.
Securing a recurring co-op so early took away much of Malgeri’s stress, knowing he did not have to go through the application and interview process again. “So long as I performed to the company’s expected standard, I had a co-op job lined up for my entire five years at Northeastern,” he says.
Before his first co-op term, Malgeri worked a summer job at ConEd to get orientated with the company. This made for a smoother transition once his co-op started, having already begun developing relationships with his ConEd co-op advisor and co-workers. “I hit the ground running,” he says. “It made it much easier.”
The co-op program at ConEd allowed students to work in different sections of the electrical engineering department before graduating. For Malgeri, this exposure benefitted him greatly after he graduated by giving him a better understanding of his career interests before committing to a full-time position.
Malgeri’s co-ops coincided with the New York City blackout of 1977. This changed the course of Malgeri’s co-op that summer, where he found himself at the center of the action while making daily trips from the corporate office to the company’s System Operations Energy Control Center. “During the blackout, everything centered around the ECC,” says Malgeri. “I got to see all that.”
His positive experiences working in the ECC while on co-op solidified a desire to pursue working in electric operations after graduating. With his full-time offer, Malgeri was hired into the engineering group but continued seeking opportunities to transfer into operations. That moment came a year into Malgeri’s employment at ConEd when an associate engineer position became available in system operations.
Malgeri remained in system operations for over 20 years, working various on-watch operating positions and eventually becoming his department’s associate chief district operator. Two position changes followed, from control center manager in Brooklyn and Queens’ electric operations to underground construction manager in Manhattan’s electric operations. Both provided a valuable opportunity to manage field crews and the responsibility to oversee daily work activities and department spending.
For his final move, Malgeri transferred to Orange and Rockland Utilities, a subsidiary company of ConEd. Originally a move thought to gain further experience, with the plan to eventually return to ConEd, Malgeri quickly grew to enjoy the smaller scale of O&R’s operation and the people he worked with. His time spent as a senior manager at O&R allowed him to utilize the operating and management skills he developed beginning with co-op and throughout his career at ConEd.
“I always said ConEd was like Broadway and Orange and Rockland was like Off Broadway,” says Malgeri. “All the same requirements to put on a show, all the same high expectations for excellence and customer service but none of the pressure of working in the big city. It was a challenging and rewarding work experience”
Throughout his career, Malgeri drew on the lessons from his co-ops to build a rapport with his colleagues, including the operators who had preconceived notions about engineers. “I didn’t come off to these people as a know-it-all,” he says. “I was willing to listen, show them I valued their experience and their opinions.” His positive experiences in the co-op program led him to encourage his eldest daughter Amanda to attend Northeastern and to also implement a co-op program at Orange and Rockland to offer Northeastern students the same opportunities afforded to him. In fact, one of his hires is currently a Department Manager at O&R, recently completing 20 years with the Company including his co-op time.
Looking back, Malgeri takes pride in the extensive career he built from co-op. “I like to tell people when I left that I kept my co-op job for 34 years,” Malgeri says.