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Major projects throughout province may spark need for more tradespeople
BY NOA GLOUBERMAN
Growth in various industries throughout British Columbia means skilled trades workers – and students thinking about their career options – may look forward to future employment.
With plans for everything from ships to ski resorts to power projects in the works, more and more tradespeople will be needed to build – and, in some cases, staff – all sorts of new ventures.
According to the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation – which recently announced that a record-breaking number of skilled tradespersons qualified as journeypersons this year – 104,600 or so trades jobs should open in B.C. in the next decade.
This thanks to major projects like the federal shipbuilding contract won by Seaspan and the Northwest Transmission Line, which are creating trades jobs – now and in the coming years – that need to be filled by skilled men and women.
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Aerospace seeks new recruits in nanotechnology, robotics and space flight theory
BY DENISE DEVEAU, POSTMEDIA NEWS
Isabelle Tremblay’s been fascinated by space exploration since childhood. As head of exploration systems for the Canadian Space Agency (CAS), she’s now living her dream.
Her interest began when the world started receiving data from Voyager 2. “That really inspired me ... even after I started working in the mining industry.” Today she’s working on a telescope that will orbit 1.5 kilometres above Earth after it launches in 2018.
Tremblay’s career started in mining and metallurgy after she earned her mechanical engineering degree. But after a few years working on earthly pursuits, she decided to get a master’s in aerospace engineering from Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
In 1997 she interned with CSA, eventually landing a full-time job. “I started out in research and robotics, then onto flight projects,” she said. She also worked on sensor development for NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft, which was deployed on Mars.
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More than a dozen small businesses tried out for chance to cut a deal on popular TV show
BY BO GEMBARSKY, BIV
Amid the hustle and bustle of students looking to earn degrees at SFU’s Surrey campus, more than a dozen made their pitch to CBC-TV’s Dragons’ Den.
One group had an app that teaches kids how to cook. Another: an idea for charging electronic devices on the go. Still another: a mobile garburator and composter that turns organic waste into liquid.
Ann-Marie Fleming and her sister Jennifer were among the applicants. Their company, Dog Quality, carries washable dog diapers and pads and the “Dogger” walker. They sell from their home and website, DogQuality.com.
“We improve the quality of life for older dogs,” Ann-Marie said. “As they age, they have mobility issues and incontinence issues, and our products make life easier for them.”
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Sequins and spandex not the thing to wear for a job interview
BY NEIL HAESLER, POSTMEDIA NEWS
Showing up for a job interview wearing a cat suit is going to get you a few laughs – maybe. But more likely it will get you thrown out on your pointy little ears.
OfficeTeam, a staffing service specializing in temporary placements, found in a recent survey that people show up for job interviews in a confounding array of costumes.
OfficeTeam asked HR managers to recount some of the odd attire they saw on applicants. Interviewers reported a stunning variety of people who didn’t seem clear on the concept of impressing a perspective employer.
Take the person who showed up wearing a blanket as a shawl. Or the woman wearing a skirt made of plastic. And, yes, someone in a catsuit.
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Surrey bid to become an India film centre could prove a tough audition
BY FRANK O’BRIEN, BIV
The first thing Surrey has to do to become a centre for Bollywood films is to forget about Bollywood films, according to the only Surrey resident to produce a blockbuster within India’s movie industry.
“Bollywood is stagnated,” said Mike D’Souza, owner and executive producer of Silo Entertainment Ltd., a film producer with close links to India.
The “big ticket” in India films is the independent filmmakers who are more interested in international, contemporary themes than Bollywood’s muscular musical genre.
D’Souza, who produced the Bollywood hit Boom in 2003, added that Surrey should play to the strengths of the existing “world-class” Vancouver and Burnaby film studios if it wants to become a player in India’s $2.3 billion film industry.
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Your personal brand – online and off – can help set you apart from other job seekers
POSTMEDIA NEWS
A no-name brand might be just the ticket for a bargain-hunter at the grocery store, but it doesn’t do the job in a job search – not when your own brand may be all that sets you apart from the crowd.
A personal brand “is the ‘X’ factor that differentiates a person from other job candidates,” according to consulting firm PwC Canada. It’s about knowing who you are, what you can do and presenting yourself online and in person in a way that supports and promotes that persona.
“It’s important for students to accurately portray themselves online as they would in person,” said James Davidson, talent acquisitions manager for PwC.
“Having a profile you wouldn’t be ashamed to show your parents on all of the major social networks – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google Profiles – is the first step in managing your online reputation.”
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