Dalton Thompson is proof that a four-year college degree is not the only path to a successful career. Just two years after joining JT Services in Claremore, Oklahoma, as a summer yard porter, the 19-year-old is now a team lead in the company’s septic service division.
The company operates separate divisions for septic system maintenance, installations and pumping as well as full-service plumbing, HVAC and portable sanitation services.
“Dalton Thompson? You want to talk about a stud!?” says Jason Birdsong, owner of JT Services. “This young man is only 19 years old, yet he is our top revenue producer and has the fewest callbacks out of all our employees.”
Starting from the bottom
When he joined JT Services, Thompson had no idea that it would turn into a career. “I figured it was just going to be a summer position, just what they needed around the yard, mowing, weed-eating, just taking care of stuff like that,” he says. “I actually had a buddy that worked here, and he ended up giving my name to the company just as a high school kid to get hired on to handle that kind of work for the summertime until school started.”
Once Thompson was on the job, it didn’t take management long to notice how dedicated he was to his work. “Ever since Dalton came aboard, I was impressed with the fact that I could give him a task without really any direction and he could problem-solve it,” says Birdsong. “We knew he had way more talent than just doing yard work. He was the kind of problem-solver that we needed in septic services.”
So why does Thompson think he caught management’s attention? “I would say they saw that I was consistently showing up every day,” he replies. “I mean, there’s not very many 17-year-olds that I’ve seen that show up and work full time. In fact, I worked quite a few hours that summer because they would have me go out and help whenever they would have guys that would get stuck and need an extra set of hands.”
Based on his obvious diligence, Thompson was assigned as a fill-in worker on a portable sanitation route. When the summer ended, he adjusted his senior year school schedule so he could run the route in the afternoons.
By his second semester of high school, that career path became clear as Thompson began transitioning into septic service, performing maintenance visits on aerobic systems. Birdsong saw him as a natural fit for the complex equipment.
“Onsite septic systems, especially the aerobic systems here that we have in Oklahoma, every installer installs them differently,” says Birdsong. “So it takes somebody that can really problem-solve on site. That’s when we moved him into a service expert role and he quickly picked it up.”
Thompson’s promotion to full-time status happened as high school concluded. “The day I graduated, I was given a service van and started full-time that day,” Thompson says. His rapid rise to team lead was due to his coachability and willingness to learn. Today, JT Services is putting the 19-year-old through leadership training to prepare him for even bigger management roles.
Mastering the process
Thompson is well briefed on the company’s customer service playbook, and he does his best to execute it flawlessly.
“He follows the processes that we’ve put forth and he is a sponge,” Birdsong says. “For example, we actually put a red carpet out at customers’ homes that we stand on, and that’s where we put our floor protectors on our shoes. Sometimes it’s challenging to get people to follow the process because they don’t understand it, but it’s just a standard that we have. Dalton follows it.”
Thompson has learned that being meticulous on the job goes a long way. “It’s just being thorough through every single diagnostic that I go out to, making sure that I look over the entire system front to back. When I do complete work, I take the extra time to double-check every wire connection made or anything glued on before leaving. Whenever possible, I also bring the homeowner out to check over all the completed work to make sure they’re completely satisfied.”
Tools and surprises
Today, Thompson drives a RAM ProMaster 2500 and relies on DEWALT power tools, Klein hand tools, CORETAKER MAX sludge judges (Raven Environmental Products), Mighty Probes (T&T Tools) and Scout 3 inspection cameras (Inspector Cameras) to get the job done. Even though he is relatively new to the field of septic tank inspections, he already has his share of war stories — including what can only be described as the “propane tank surprise.”
Thompson was called out for a clogged septic drain and found a wet spot in the yard. When he began digging, he hit metal. As more soil came away, the top started caving in from rust.
The “septic tank,” he discovered, was actually an old propane tank that had been converted into a shared septic system between two houses.
“It had plumbing running into it and an outlet pipe coming out,” says Thompson. “It was pretty nasty because it had never been pumped — it had no access to be pumped. It’s probably been there for close to 40 years. The whole tank had finally corroded away and was caving in on itself. It created an issue for the environment because it was right on the lake, with sewage right at the surface.”
With environmental contamination looming, Thompson brought the homeowner outside and walked her through the diagnosis.
“She had recently purchased the property, so she had no idea because she’d never had a septic inspection completed,” he says. “Once I talked her through what I was seeing, we pumped out all the sewage right away and then moved forward with looking into replacement options.”
To protect the nearby water and fit into the tight lot layout, Thompson proposed and installed a drip aerobic system.
“Instead of having spray irrigation, there’s a dosing timer sending water through drippers under the ground that doses water into the soil,” he says. “That’s what we typically have to use when we’re close to lakes and small yards like that. We completely got rid of that tank and set in place a new and safe septic system.”
Learning on his own terms
Today, Thompson is a certified septic inspector for real estate sales, and he regularly takes courses through the Oklahoma Onsite Wastewater Association to sharpen his skills and advance his career.
Ironically, he is committing to ongoing professional education despite admitting that traditional schooling was never his favorite pastime. But high school had nothing to do with building a career he is genuinely passionate about.
“School drove me crazy,” says Thompson. “That was the main reason why I really didn’t want to go to college. I had plenty of buddies that wanted to go that route, but from the beginning of high school, I knew that was not the route I wanted to go. Just sitting in a classroom and doing schoolwork was not one of the things that I enjoyed.”
Thompson is a product of how he was raised. “I didn’t have a ton of handouts,” he says. “I have a couple of buddies that were given a lot of stuff, so I’m very grateful to my parents. They got me to where I was willing to work and knew that I needed to."
“You really don’t need to go to college to have a great career and to make pretty good money,” Thompson adds. “Just keep your head focused, work hard, stay consistent and show your worth.”
Leading the pack and looking ahead
It can be tough for a 19-year-old to serve as a team lead above older technicians. But Thompson makes it work through a combination of hands-on expertise and genuine emotional intelligence.
“I just treat everybody the way that they should be treated, with honesty,” he says. “There are definitely some times where being the younger guy has been a challenge. But typically with the guys I work around, we joke around and build a relationship to where it’s really not too complicated.”
As for what’s next? As JT Services continues to expand, Thompson is taking full advantage of the company’s leadership training to prepare for the long haul.
“I started here because I needed money to enjoy my summer,” concludes Thompson. “It turned into building a career without even realizing it.
“My next step is just moving up in steps. As the company grows, my goal is to get more leadership training so I can move up into a management position and eventually become a septic service manager.”
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