While many of his classmates are just starting their freshman year of college, Collier Uesseler is already climbing the corporate ladder at Toyota. He has no student loans, no lecture halls, and no uncertainty about whether his degree will actually land him a job. 

The recent graduate of Empower College and Career Academy in Jackson County, Georgia took a different route — one that’s earning him a steady paycheck while many of his peers rack up debt. Through hands-on learning and smart career moves, Collier has positioned himself in the competitive tech field without setting foot in a traditional college classroom. 

It’s exactly the kind of success story that HireSmart Cares celebrates through its “Foot Forward” program, which gives graduates entering the workforce a practical boost as they start their careers. 

Collier always liked technology, but liking something and building a career around it are two different things. That’s where Empower’s information technology pathway came in handy. 

“I knew I liked technology, but I didn’t know if I would actually want to go to a job like that,” he said. “And that’s what Empower is good with. It gives you hands-on experience actually doing some of the stuff, so you can know if you actually want to do it.” 

Empower’s wide range of career-focused programming has also helped plenty of his classmates figure out their pathways, but also what they don’t want to do. 

“I know people who said that they want to go into health care, and they tried the health care pathway, and they’re like, ‘I don’t know. This probably isn’t for me,'” Collier said. “And that’s good to figure out now rather than down the line.” 

Collier didn’t wait until graduation to start working. During his junior year, he landed a position with Jackson County’s school system IT department.  

His job took him across three different schools, handling everything from routine maintenance to major overhauls.  

“One summer we had to take all the projectors off the ceilings and take their mounts down,” he said. “Another summer we basically got whole new Chromebooks for multiple schools.” 

That experience opened the door to Toyota, where he started working last August with Toyota-TACG (Toyota Automotive Compressor Georgia, LLC). His responsibilities keep growing. 

“Right now, I’ve kind of taken over the purchasing for the whole department,” he said. “So if somebody needs something off Amazon, or if they need a new computer, I buy that and then give them to other interns.” 

Collier isn’t naive about the challenges in tech. He knows the field is getting crowded. 

“Computer science is becoming more of a field that everybody’s going into, and it’s hard to find a job in this field,” he said. “I’m just glad I got my foot in the door with a company that will remember me.” 

That’s the key — relationships matter. While other students are competing with hundreds of other new graduates for entry-level positions, Collier has already proven himself to his employer. They know what he can do. 

Of course, Collier is not avoiding post-secondary education. He’s just doing it differently. His plan combines the best of both worlds: immediate income and continued learning. 

“What I’m planning on right now is I’m getting hired on as an engineer tech right out of high school, and I’m going to work on my cybersecurity degree while I’m working full time,” he said. 

The financial advantages are hard to ignore.  

“They cover all of it. I think it’s $5,000 a year, but since I’m going to technical school, that covers all of it.” 

Collier has a timeline mapped out with the company.  

“When I finish my associate’s degree, that will be around my five-year mark in the company. I will then get promoted to an engineer, and then from there, you can build and build on top of that, up to management positions.” 

Collier’s advice to younger students is straightforward: figure out what you actually care about, then go after it. 

“With me, I was very passionate about technology and computers,” he said. “So, I knew that I want to go into a job like that, because if I don’t, and I get a job that I don’t enjoy, I’ll just be miserable.” 

But passion alone won’t cut it. You have to put in the work. 

“Do as much as you can to gain opportunities in what you actually like, instead of just getting a job just because it’s right there in front of you,” he said. “Actually work for it instead of taking the easiest option.” 

Collier’s biggest insight might be questioning assumptions that most people never think to challenge. 

“Most people in the job market are very traditional, and they’re like, ‘You have to go to college, you have to get a degree,’ and go in debt for all this stuff,” he said. “But you really don’t have to do that, and you’re in some cases better off not doing that.” 

Greg Maxwell, the work-based learning coordinator at Jackson County High School, has watched Collier develop over four years. “He’s always been one of those top motivated students that want to get out there and just learn. He is eager to learn.” 

While many face uncertainties about their career path, Collier took steps during grade school to secure his future without taking on debt. 

“It’s definitely nice to actually have that planned out now,” he said.  

HireSmart Cares’ “Foot Forward” program provides work boot vouchers and military grants to high school graduates entering the workforce or military service directly after graduation. The nonprofit also funds a wide range of initiatives focused on helping students K-12 develop job skills prior to finishing grade school so that they have career options that don’t involve taking on burdensome debt. To learn more about supporting career-bound students, visit hiresmartcares.org.