TalentEgg Trends

Today’s Talent, Tomorrow’s Leaders

Knowledge Hub For Employers, Career Educators And Coaches

Page 5 of 106

Providing Opportunities and Supporting Growth for Students and Grads at Worley

As the world continues to evolve, the demand and opportunities for new graduates and students with diverse backgrounds and skill sets in the workforce increase. Worley, a leading global provider of professional services to the energy, resources, and complex process industries, understands the importance of nurturing the next generation of leaders. We had the pleasure of speaking with Andria Matadial, the Campus Relations Lead at Worley, to learn more about the company’s initiatives and perspectives on various topics.

Career Initiatives at Worley

Andria expressed that her experience working as a Campus Relations Lead at Worley has been “delightful and rewarding.” She attributed her positive experience to the opportunity to work with a highly supportive Talent Acquisition (TA) Manager and team. Worley’s primary initiatives for students and new graduates looking to work within the industry are centred around learning, growing, and contributing to game-changing global projects. Recent graduates have the opportunity to take what they know and apply it to new initiatives, new ideas, and new teams. They also have a vast support network to help them succeed and build their careers.

When asked about international student opportunities at Worley’s Australian headquarters, Andria shared that the company had an International Transfer program until 2015. This program allowed a graduate to switch to another graduate at another location. For example, a student from Australia came to Edmonton for some time, and a graduate from Edmonton moved to Australia. Although this program is not currently offered, Worley would love to get it re-instated as it provides graduates with global experience.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are crucial components of Worley’s culture. Andria stated that diversity of background, skills, thinking, and expertise helps the company thrive and develop, enabling it to meet future needs. When we respect, value, and support each other, everyone can participate fully and reach their full potential.

Opportunities & Growth

The company has a Global Graduate Development program to help students and new graduates get involved with opportunities at Worley. Worley supports and develops its graduates to set them up for success. Through a self-directed learning approach, Worley gives its graduates the freedom and flexibility to direct their career paths.

Worley provides various career paths that students and graduates can enjoy, including opportunities to work with a global organization and projects worldwide. The pandemic positively affected the company’s recruiting process by allowing the TA team to recruit more flexibly since the world moved to a virtual work environment. At the same time, the company has moved to a hybrid model or is still in a work-from-home state, depending on the location. The employees have adjusted well to this change, and the company mobilized its staff to work from home at a record speed in 2020.

Leading into the Future

Looking towards the future, Worley foresees continuous hiring within the new graduate area to develop future leaders. In terms of measuring success in the industry, Worley places a strong emphasis on its values:

  • Valuing life
  • Rising to the challenge
  • Being stronger together, and
  • Unlocking brilliance

The company believes that the most successful Worley employees exemplify these values.

Lastly, Andria mentioned that Worley is the “Coolest Company to work for” and is leading within the industry regarding remote work, flexibility, and engagement. Worley eliminates bias from its hiring process by ensuring bias-free postings and promoting “bias awareness” training to individuals involved in the hiring process.

To learn more about Worley and its career initiatives, check out its employer profile on TalentEgg!

Career Initiatives and Career Opportunities with SNC-Lavalin

SNC-Lavalin is a global engineering and construction leader based in Montreal, Quebec. The company also builds public and private infrastructure around the world. Additionally, SNC-Lavalin is committed to connecting people, technology and data throughout their project lifecycle to drive better outcomes across safety, sustainability and efficiency.

We spoke with Mai-Gee Hum, Senior National Manager – University Relations & Early Careers, to learn more about how SNC-Lavalin supports students and new grads in their career journey with the company.

Initiatives for Students and New Graduates Looking to Work Within the Industry

SNC-Lavalin has a New Graduate Development Program for all those newly hired. It also is present at university and college career fairs, employer information sessions, and posts its internships and permanent positions on school job boards.

The team at SNC-Lavalin is looking for New Graduates from Canadian schools (universities or colleges) who are autonomous, collaborative, motivated, and have initiative. Previous work experience is usually optional.

The program welcomes new graduates from every discipline, not just engineering! The best way for students and recent graduates to get involved with career opportunities at SNC-Lavalin is to attend its information session, ask thoughtful questions at the school’s career fair, and to network with the team. Mai-Gee also invites students and new grads to go to the SNC-Lavalin career website to create a user account, set up their preferences and create job alerts.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at SNC-Lavalin

At SNC-Lavalin, diversity, equity and inclusion mean making a positive impact on society through more inclusive and accessible design – being sensitive to human differences concerning ability, language, culture, gender, age and other forms of diversity. And it means using our global voice to champion progress through thought leadership.

Internally, SNC-Lavalin is removing barriers in every region and at every level – spearheading change through trusted and inclusive leaders, increasing female representation across its whole  organization, and broadening its talent pipeline to include all under-represented groups. This is supported by ground-breaking learning opportunities that unleash potential – giving its clients world-leading expertise. It is essential for SNC-Lavalin because the team believes diversity makes them stronger. It builds a healthy and honest work environment and nourishes curiosity and innovation.

Employees’ diversity of characteristics, knowledge and approaches enhances the team’s ability to provide value-added performance and better serve our clients and business partners. With high diversity and inclusion, SNC-Lavalin can achieve a globally representative workforce and a supportive work environment filled with highly diverse and highly engaged talent.

5 Major Hiring Trends of the Future

Mai-Gee shares with us the five top trends that will take precedence in the future of the workplace:

  1. The job market remains tight and competitive
  2. Flexibility in the workplace is here to stay
  3. Work culture and environment will influence applicant acceptance decision making processes
  4. Employers will need to invest in regular up-skilling to ensure employees can tackle increasingly complex work
  5. Employer diversity and inclusion initiatives remain important to job seekers.

Measuring Success in the Industry

There are many ways to measure success in the industry. Some SNC-Lavalin metrics include retention rate, offer acceptance rate, and the rate of employees who, following employment elsewhere, choose to return to SNC-Lavalin for its values, work culture, and sense of belonging.

Final Thoughts

SNC-Lavalin is a phenomenal place for students or new grads to start their career. The company is focused on connecting new hires with professionally rewarding opportunities, delivery of complex projects with sustainable lifespans, and tackling the industry’s biggest challenges head-on.

To learn more about SNC-Lavalin and its career initiatives, check out their employer profile on TalentEgg!

Evolving, Growing & Becoming as a Career Coach

TalentEgg was fortunate enough to interview Shaunna-Marie Kerr, Career Education & Exploration at the School of Continuing Studies at York University, with 10+ years of career coaching experience. She is the leader of the virtual career services portal for students and recent alums at the School of Continuing Studies at York University. She provides support and services to students, conducts research and analysis of the labour market and works with technology companies to leverage digital and AI tools in their programs. In addition to her work at the University, she has her coaching practice, is a board member of an anti-violence centre, and is a mother to a four-year-old.

Career Inspiration

Inspiration for Shaunna-Marie’s journey into career education and coaching started after graduation when she faced challenges finding a job that aligned with her skills and values. She began working in a non-profit pre-employment and education program for women who were homeless or precariously housed and discovered her passion for helping people find meaningful work. She saw the positive impact of employment on people’s dignity and self-worth and realized that career and workforce development solutions were where she wanted to focus her career.

Greatest Achievements

We were curious and wanted to know what Shaunna-Marie’s most significant achievements were, and she was glad to fill us in. “In a general sense, my greatest achievement working with students or clients in my coaching practice is all the moments when I have witnessed that mid-conversation shift from frustration and hopelessness to a feeling of possibility and hope.”

Going from there, we asked what she would like to achieve in the future as a career coach. “I have no five-year plan, that’s for sure! My approach is more about seeing a range of possibilities and working to create doors I can walk through later. I feel like we are all ever-evolving, growing, and, as Michelle Obama says, ‘becoming.’ I don’t like to limit my future to only the things I can imagine right now. “

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Shaunna-Marie believes that career development and workforce development can only be effective with inclusion, equity, and diversity. She works from an actively anti-racist framework and constantly thinks about her role in systemic and structural oppression. “I recognize the power that place, identity, and perceptions of ‘other’ have as determinants in education, employment, health… everything.”

Kerr went on to say, “Something I think a lot about, in relation to myself but also that applies to employers, is how to engage in non-performative DEI work. It often feels like DEI work is being done as a favour or as good PR when we know that inclusive and equitable hiring is imperative if employers want to have the highest quality candidates, talent, and sustainable growth. In a practical sense, this looks like recognition of foreign and international credentials, skills and competency-based assessments and hiring, and culturally competent interviewing, onboarding, and retention strategies. “

Successfully Transitioning Students from School-to-Work

The Career Services department at the School of Continuing Studies is working on developing a map of the lifecycle of students to provide better support and services at the right time.

We want to make sure that students are receiving the right information, at the right time, in the right way – interview prep, for example, might not be the most helpful thing on day one of a full-time program, but some exercises around career pathway mapping in those early months of studies could be impactful! We are also expanding services for Alumni to ensure that we have a supportive off-ramp from career services when program alumni might be experiencing a lot of challenges and change and opportunities.” Kerr told us. 

Information Overload

We asked Shaunna-Marie to share her thoughts on what she thinks are some of the most common pain points her students face; she told us, “The biggest pain point students seem to have is the amount of information, often conflicting, about career development. We are in a time where so much information is available, but it is increasingly misleading, unrealistic, or just out of date, and many students feel overwhelmed by it. The pandemic and likely recession has led to an almost global sense of general uncertainty regarding the labour market, and we’re seeing more conflicting information about hiring trends across sectors.”

How Can Employers Help A Student’s Career?

With so many conflicting routes and varying information available, we wanted to know how future employers can help their new hires and students. “I believe it’s important for employers to understand the ‘new world’ that these graduates are emerging into and have empathy for the ways in which their last few pre-workforce years have been impacted.”

Kerr went on, ” At the same time, I believe it’s important not to underestimate their abilities and the value they bring to the workplace.  For example, the facility many new grads have with virtual and digital environments can go a long way towards bridging organizational gaps that may emerge in virtual/hybrid working arrangements. Many new grads have always lived some parts of their lives in virtual or digital settings, even pre-pandemic.”

She went on to say, “I can think of several ways that their ability to seamlessly integrate their virtual and digital interactions with their in-person interactions can be leveraged in support of team and culture building, inclusion, and even strategic and operational planning related to things like client relations in hybrid settings. I think other aspects of being an inclusive workspace for everyone in a virtual/hybrid environment, like ensuring meaningful check-ins and recognition, dedicated ‘quiet’ hours for deep work, recognizing things like Zoom fatigue, and open office hours for senior leaders can also be helpful.”

Advice for Fellow Career Educators

Advice for Employers Kerr believes that employers should understand the changing world of work and adapt to the new digital recruitment and hybrid work environments. They should provide clear information about the hiring process, be transparent about the skills they are looking for and be open to diverse candidates and new ways of working.

Shaunna-Marie had this final thought for her peers. “Don’t stop your own career development! Keep learning, exploring, and identifying new and promising practices, pursuing professional development, and building your own networks. I learn so much from talking to other people in the career development and workforce development spaces – including former TalentEgg Career Coach of the Year (2020) Ibiyemi Balogun, who always inspires me with her passion for career coaching, planning, and development.”

How to Support International Students To Get The Soft Skills They Need For Work

One of the top struggles career educators tell us is international students need enhanced support to enter the Canadian workforce successfully. The issue is exacerbated by two other issues we hear from career educators; although students need soft skills training, there isn’t enough time to fit it into the curriculum and it’s critical for your educational organization to produce successful graduates. So how can we take that added factor of international students needing enhanced support and turn it into a success story for you and them? 

Enter our e-Learning Soft Skills Training courses! We’re working with certified adult educators, clinical psychologists and other subject matter experts to tailor our lessons to help fill that soft skills gap through specialized programs for students and recent grads.

As the world becomes more interconnected and globalized, more and more students are choosing to study abroad. International students bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their studies, but they may also face challenges in developing the soft skills they need for the workforce. Here are a few ways that educators and schools can support international students through our backpack-to-briefcase course:

Relationships At The Core

  • Provide opportunities for workplace relationship success. One of the key benefits of studying abroad is the opportunity to learn from and interact with people from different cultures. Schools and educators can support international students by providing opportunities for future workplace relationship success. Relationships are a key driver of workplace success. It is pivotal that students build and nurture effective relationships with their colleagues, managers, customers, leaders, and stakeholders throughout their careers. 

Verbal & Nonverbal Communication

  • Help students develop their English language skills. For many international students, speaking, reading, and writing in English is essential for success in their studies and future careers. But learning other valuable communication techniques, such as the importance of body language, ways to structure your conversations at work so that they are meaningful, impactful and just as valuable.

Inclusive Outlook

  • Guide your students on the understanding of unconscious bias and that it is often rooted in or created by specific cultural, gender, or socioeconomic stereotypes that they may or may not be aware of. Through our course, we’ll help your students to develop their self-awareness of what may be their unconscious biases and learn inclusive communication techniques to broaden their communication horizons and help them make decisions through a wider spectrum of decision-making. 

We’ve built our custom eLearning programs to support the school-to-work transition and early career development of Canada’s top young talent. TalentEgg’s virtual courses are designed to help all of your students, international and locally to close the gap between soft skills and the Future of Work by offering virtual e-Learning Soft Skills Training courses and certificates. Career Educators can take the first step in preparing students for their future careers by tackling the need for soft skill development by contacting TalentEgg at elearning@talentegg.ca.

 

« Older posts Newer posts »