Edison Electric Institute (EEI) is a utility industry sponsored R&D organization.  Over 80%of the investor owned utilities in the U.S. are active members of EEI.  In recognition of the large number of trained, knowledgeable Power Plant Operators and maintenance Technicians that are being needed in the industry due to new poeer plants being constructed and the aging work force, EEI has partnered with technical colleges, community colleges, and four year universities around the country.  EEI has developed a series of pre-employment instruments that all member utilites adminsiter for employment consideratin.  These instruments are the Maintenance Selection System (MASS) and Plant Operator Selection System (POSS) instruments.  Through the Technical Education Partnership with EEI, FHTC is able to offer it's Power Plant Technology (PPT) on campus Students the opportunity to participate in the EEI Career Assessment Diagnostic Instrument (CADI) upon entry into the program.  The CADI provides feedback to the student on each of the six categories of both the MASS and OSS, identifying those areas needing strengthing to be successful in meeting the member utilites cut off scores for the MASS and POSS.

Upon completion of the program, the on-campus student will be given the opportunity to take the actual MASS and POSS.  At that time the student will be asked to complete a geographical preference form, identifying the areas of the U.S. he/she is willing to work.  Their scores from both the MASS and POSS will be entered into a national database, available to EEI member utilities.  When a member utility has an opening for a maintenance technician or operator, they have the ability to search this data bse to identify potential employees who have successfully completed the MASS and/or POSS, are interested in working in that geographical area, and have successfully completed training such as that offered through the FHTC PPT program.  The utility then may contact the potential employee to make them aware of the position opening.