The Mining Industry Needs More Than Just Engineers And Geologists

5 October 2010.  TalentEgg Incubator.

Depending on your interests, education and training, there are more than 120 different occupations within Canada’s mining industry.

With new mineral deposits being discovered in Canada all the time, the potential for meaningful employment and high pay for students and recent graduates in the mining industry is looking great!

This dynamic and constantly evolving field needs young, educated workers who can achieve the goals set out by the mine, the division and the corporation as well as those set in regards to safety, efficiency and profitability.

“Yes, you require those pillars of engineering and science, but you can’t get at the resources without the foundational people who are opening doors and making sure they stay open.” —Sean Junor, Manager of Workplace Planning, Cameco

With the help of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR), we’ve compiled some information about just a few of the interesting jobs you might find in the mining industry right now.

Business, communications, sustainability, law and arts graduates

Although engineers and geologists are crucial to the industry, if they can’t access land and resources, or if they don’t have the support of the communities nearby, they can’t do their jobs. That’s where people with backgrounds in business, communications, sustainability and regulatory issues come in.

Sean Junor, Manager of Workplace Planning at Cameco, one of the world’s largest uranium producers, says there are many different kinds of career opportunities within the mining industry for young people outside of science and technology.

“Say you’re sitting in a business class or you’re wondering what to do with a communications program, there are a whole bunch of different usages for credentials within the industry. Say you do your communications degree from Ryerson, or a business degree from Trent, you’d probably think, ‘I couldn’t work in that industry because I’m not a miner, or I’m not an engineer,’ but there is a whole element of support [in the mining industry].”

Grads with these backgrounds are sorely needed because “as the industry expands and as land gets more and more scarce, you get into negotiations for more and more of it, and you need people with those backgrounds to do it,” says Junor.

“So yes, you require those pillars of engineering and science, but you can’t get at the resources without the foundational people who are opening doors and making sure they stay open.”

Community Liaison Officer

Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) work with mining companies as links to the local communities.  Specific to the mining industry, CLOs work with Indigenous communities and sometimes with environmental agencies.

This includes representing the community’s best interests, promoting events and services within the community, being an advocate for community members, and building relationships between industry and community groups.

Since many mines are located in northern locations, they are usually found in close proximity to Indigenous communities.  As a result, CLOs (sometimes called  Aboriginal Liaison Officers (ALOs) or Community Affairs Managers) work to bridge gaps between mining companies and Indigenous communities to create a common understanding between the two groups.

CLOs can come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds, including:

• Indigenous studies
• Social work
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Communications
• Education
• Anthropology
• Languages

Engineers

Engineers with training in a variety of specializations can find their place in mining.  Engineers in training must possess a bachelor of engineering degree and will eventually require their professional engineering (or P.Eng.) designation in order to have a stamp and hold responsibility for major decisions in the field.

“The young engineer’s exposure is rarely limited to one specific area and there is a lot of opportunity to see different disciplines in action at any given time.” —Mark Ashcroft, President and CEO, Stonegate Agricom

The day-to-day work of engineers in mining changes often. Mark Ashcroft, a professional engineer who is also the President and CEO of Stonegate Agricom, says, “The mining industry is a wonderful mix of professions.  The young engineer’s exposure is rarely limited to one specific area and there is a lot of opportunity to see different disciplines in action at any given time.”

“Due to the ‘extractive’ nature of mining, a mine is a dynamic environment that changes every day.  Nothing is ever exactly the same,” Ashcroft says.

“A young mechanical engineer could find himself in the pit or underground shop looking at maintenance issues on production vehicles.  A mining engineer could find herself collaborating with an electrical engineer and a telecommunications vendor as they discuss the management of wireless technologies and mining fleet dispatch software.”

Geologists and Geological Technicians

Geologists play a key role in many different aspects of the mining industry, from surveying locations for mineral and metal deposits, to the discovery, exploration, evaluation and production cycle of mining.  Their knowledge of geographical imaging (GIS) and other surveying systems is also valued.

Careers in exploration geology also offer opportunities to travel the world.

Geological Technicians supplement the work of geologists by collecting, preparing and analyzing samples.

This career path requires knowledge of chemistry, biology, environmental science, geology, computers and mathematics, but geological technicians can possess degrees in engineering technology, geology or computer science.

Mineral Processing Technicians and Engineers

 Mineral Processing Technicians process the ore extracted by mining crews and prepare it for shipping.  Mineral processing technicians usually possess degrees or diplomas in metallurgy, chemical engineering, mineral processing or metallurgical technology.

 Mineral Processing Engineers extract and refine raw minerals from ore using a variety of technologies and processes. They also find ways to reuse waste materials to leave less environmental damage on the mine site.

Surveyors

Mining  Surveyors revise and arrange mines, developing the direction and extent of underground operations as well as surveying techniques. In order to become a mine Surveyor, a mine technician/technologist diploma is usually required.

From there, they become a junior apprentice Surveyor for the first one to two years of employment.  They can eventually progress to an apprentice surveyor and then a surveyor as opportunities and training allow.

For more information about these career paths and others, including salary information, please visit the Employment Profiles and Career Paths pages of www.acareerinmining.com.

Editorial: Response to “For a new generation, an elusive American dream”

TalentEgg Incubator. 19 July 2010

Scott Nicholson graduated in 2008 from Colgate University, a private liberal arts college in New York State.

Unlike many students in liberal arts programs, Nicholson knew what career he wanted to pursue after he finished his degree. While he was a student, he won the dean’s award for excellence and sent multiple resumés and cover letters through corporate website hiring pages.

Nicholson still has no job.

In the past five months, Nicholson had only one job prospect: he was offered a position as an associate claims adjuster with a salary of $40,000 a year [approximately $41,844 CAD]. He turned the job down, because “Rather than waste early years in dead-end work, he reasoned, he would hold out for a corporate position that would draw on his college training and put him, as he sees it, on the bottom rungs of a career ladder.

The story continues, explaining how much Nicholson’s parents make (around $182,000 CAD a year), as well as how he is able to survive on a shoe-string budget supplemented by odd jobs and a considerable amount of help from his parents. Many students aren’t able to take the same liberties and time as Nicholson has to get a job, due to student debt, the cost of living expenses, and their parents’ financial situation.

Although Nicholson is American, there are many echoes between his experience and those of students and other millennial new grads here in Canada.

TalentEgg founder Lauren Friese was at a conference last month that featured a panel of students and new grads. When asked what their entry-level salary expectations were, some members of the panel said they expected a whopping $70,000, and one individual had expectations well above $100,000. They claimed that work-life balance wasn’t a priority for them and working 100 hours a week was okay.

There are 168 hours in a week, with 120 hours in a typical work week. Clearly, these individuals don’t plan on doing a heck of a lot of sleeping, eating, bathing, or using the washroom. That, or they are Cybertronic’s newest model. I’m not really sure.

So what am I trying to say here?

For starters, I think Nicholson’s choice to not take the job as an associate claims adjuster was a stupid one. How do you expect to get more than an entry-level position with no job experience?

I also question what Nicholson has been doing with his time: although he is “an active volunteer firefighter” (which is awesome), what is he doing with the rest of his free time? Is he just sitting around playing video games? Is hevolunteering with other organizations in his community, or is he trying to learn new skills?

In order to get an entry-level position, you need to make yourself stand out from the competition. I don’t believe Nicholson is doing that at all.

My advice to him (and all other new grads who are looking for work): keep yourself busy and show that you are doing something with the time you have. It is hard to get a job when there are thousands of other people with the same degrees as you, and you have limited work experience. If you don’t have any other skills to bring to the table (from volunteering, part-time work, sports teams, service learning or extra-curriculars on campus as well as after graduation), your application will be put to the bottom of the pile.

Most importantly, keep your head up: good things come to those who wait (and work hard for it).

Gen Y unemployment decreased slightly in April, says Stats Can

TalentEgg Incubator.

Statistics Canada released new data on Friday indicating that employment for 15-to 24-year-olds increased by 23,000 jobs last month.

Gen Y employment increased by 0.5% in April, resulting in an employment rate of 55.4% overall.

Youth in Alberta benefited from the greatest gains last month with a 1.6% increase in employment, while those in Saskatchewan yielded the highest youth employment rate, at 63.3%.

Are you still looking for a job for the summer or after graduation? We’ve got lots of useful tips for you at TalentEgg!

Networking

Networking is a skill that is very under-utilized by Gen Y. You never know what connections and possible job opportunities are available from the people you know. Worried about sounding awkward? Check out these handy tips:

• How can I network if I don’t know anyone?
• 3 ways to make network connections
• How to succeed before, during and after networking events
• 6 strategies to make networking less awkward and more productive

Resumés

Your resumé, like your cover letter should be catered to the position you are applying to. The more information you can provide about the job you are applying to, the better. Check out these articles for more tips:

• Career Launching Resumés: Focusing on your greatest assets
• Including short references in your resumé is unique and creates value
• How should you describe your work experience on your resumé?
• Recruiters’ Top 20 resumé pet peeves

Cover letters

All applications should include a unique cover letter. Why? Well, because it shows you have put some research into your application. Check out some tips from the TalentEgg writing team:

• Why you need to send cover letters and how they’re changing
• 20 employers tell us what they want to see in cover letters from students

Interviews

Having good interview skills increases your likelihood at landing a great job. Conduct mock interviews with people you know to help improve your existing skills as well as help you practice for upcoming interviews. Check out these articles with tips on interviewing:

• Asking for and participating in a phone interview
• Most common job interview mistakes by students
• Build confidence by selling yourself in 60 seconds or less
• Ace behavioural interviews by drawing examples from internships and classes

Don’t forget to check out the career-launching roles on TalentEgg! We’re still posting summer jobs as well as tons of great entry-level positions every day!

How you can prepare now so you have a job come April

January 15 2010. Globe Campus.

Many students don't realize that getting a job for the summer (or in the case of upcoming grads, their first "real job") means preparing months in advance.

Ideally, you should have already started your job hunt by now, but if you haven't, here are some tips to help you kick-start the process.

Start looking

You can't get a job if you don't start looking because most of us aren't lucky enough to have jobs fall into our laps. There are all kinds of ways you can search for a job, including through your school's career services centre andrecruitment events, and websites that focus on entry-level positions, likeTalentEgg.

Prep your résumé

No matter where you're applying, you will need to create a unique résumé and cover letter for each job.

The hiring manager will know what a generic résumé (or application email) looks like; they have undoubtedly received them in the past and other not-so-savvy applicants will use them in the future. This is one of the many pet peeves for recruiters.

In order to make your application stand out, ensure your résumé is catered specifically to the company you are applying to by using language found in the job description and on the company website to assist you.

It may also be worthwhile to try different résumé types, such as a Career Launching Résumé, or an achievement-based résumé. Once you've got a draft written, make sure it goes through a couple of edits by yourself, friends, family, and professionals, if you have the resources to do so.

Write a cover letter

All applications need a cover letter, whether they state it or not. If you do not submit a cover letter with your application, your résumé will likely end up in the trash. Just like your résumé, make sure you edit, edit, edit!

Check your digital footprint

Almost everyone leaves some kind of digital footprint due to all of the social networking sites available, and this can be detrimental to your job hunt if you aren't careful.

If you search my name on Google, it shows up 3.3 million times. Of course, I am not the only Danielle Lorenz in existence. Facebook tells me there are 22 people with the same name as me; however I am the only one who has attended McMaster (at least so far).

Nevertheless, I've taken strides to make sure my Facebook account won't impact my professional life and have done the same with other social networking sites that I use.

Consider utilizing social networking

Although some social networking sites can be detrimental to your job hunt, there are some that may be beneficial. Experts suggest that Twitter can be used to reach target groups.

Other people say that LinkedIn is a site that can help you find a job. LinkedIn functions like a mixture between an online résumé and Facebook, where your contact list contains people who know you and your work ethic.

Keep your family out of your search

In the end, your ability to find a job rests on how much effort YOU put into it. Parents of Gen Y kids have been deemed "helicopter parents" because of their tendency to be over-involved in our lives. Make sure that your parents aren't trying to help you get a job, because in the end it will only be detrimental to your search.

How you can prepare now so you have a job come April

January 4 2010. TalentEgg Incubator.

Many students don’t realize that getting a job for the summer (or in the case of upcoming grads, their first “real job”) means preparing months in advance.

Ideally, you should have already started your job hunt by now, but if you haven’t, here are some tips to help you kick-start the process.

Prep your resumé

No matter where you’re applying, you will need to create a unique resumé and cover letter for each job.

The hiring manager will know what a generic resumé (or application email) looks like; they have undoubtedly received them in the past and other not-so-savvy applicants will use them in the future. This is one of the many pet peeves for recruiters. In order to make your application stand out, ensure your resumé is catered specifically to the company you are applying to by using language found in the job description and on the company website to assist you.

It may also be worthwhile to try different resumé types, such as a Career Launching Resumé, or anachievement-based resumé. Once you’ve got a draft written, make sure it goes through a couple of edits by yourself, friends, family, and professionals if you have the resources to do so.

Start looking

You can’t get a job if you don’t start looking because most of us aren’t lucky enough to have jobs fall into our laps. There are all kinds of ways you can search for a job, including through your school’s career services centre and recruitment events, and, of course, TalentEgg!

Write a cover letter

All applications need a cover letter, whether they state it or not. If you do not submit a cover letter with your application, your resumé will likely end up in the trash. Just like your resumé, make sure you edit, edit edit!

Check your digital footprint

Almost everyone leaves some kind of digital footprint due to all of the social networking sites available, and this can be detrimental to your job hunt if you aren’t careful.

If you search my name on Google, it shows up 3.3 million times. Of course, I am not the only Danielle Lorenz in existence. Facebook tells me there are 22 people with the same name as me, however I am the only one who has attended McMaster (at least so far).

Nevertheless, I’ve taken strides to make sure my Facebook account won’t impact my personal life and have done the same with other social networking sites that I use.

Consider utilizing social networking

Although some social networking sites can be detrimental to your job hunt, there are some that may be beneficial. Experts suggest that Twitter can be used for you to reach target groups.

Other people say that LinkedIn is a site that can help you find a job. LinkedIn functions like a mixture between an online resumé and Facebook, where your contact list contains people who know you and your work ethic.

Keep your family out of your search

In the end, your ability to find a job rests on how much effort YOU put into it. Parents of Gen Y kids have been deemed “helicopter parents” because of their tendency to be over-involved in our lives. Make sure that your parents aren’t trying to help you get a job, because in the end it will only be detrimental to your search.

Why I walked away from a job opportunity

Why I walked away from a job opportunity

This is the first year in a few that I do not have a job for the school year, and am not involved in any way in Welcome Week (McMaster’s orientation/frosh week). But I happen to have McMaster’s campus events co-ordinator on Facebook, and in my news feed it showed up that a company she knows of was hiring a promotion team for a few days during Welcome Week.

It also turns out that I somehow managed to get both Thursdays and Fridays off for first semester this year (long weekend every weekend woohoo!). In my head, I thought “Hey, this could be a good way to make some extra money before school, and maybe turn into something a bit more permanent during the year.” So I emailed the contact person asking what sort of information they wanted from me, hoping for a quick response.

Shortly afterwards, I got a reply. They told me to send the sort of things I was expecting:

• Resumé
• Contact info
• Time available for a phone interview
• Availability during the school year

But there was another item on the list that really threw me off. I was required to submit a head shot. But I didn’t feel comfortable applying for a job where part of the basis for me being hired was my physical appearance.

This position instantly reminded me of the scantily-clad girls at sporting events and concerts handing out swag, samples or coupons. That is something I could never see myself doing. I do not ever want to feel like I’m using my body to sell a product – it would make me feel I had abandoned my values.

I’m not necessarily insulting my physical appearance here, but I feel that my ability to work for an organization should have nothing to do with what I look like, but the skills I possess. I have developed lots of skills that would be useful for doing promotions because I’ve previously done some niche marketing work.

Now, I’m not saying that the people who do this kind of work are knowingly using their physical appearance to sell products. Money is money and sometimes jobs in your field of interest can be hard to get, especially without a degree to back it up. I’m just saying it’s not for me because I feel it compromises my values.

Part of me still wonders if I should have gone through the application process. Maybe I’m making everything seem worse off than it is. I don’t know how likely it would have been for me to be walking around campus in booty shorts and a halter top hawking a product – as well as part of myself – to passers-by.

What I do know, however, is that having a bit more extra spending money right now would be useful.

Don’t turn away “artsy” students at career fairs

"Don’t turn away “artsy” students at career fairs", August 24, 2009

In high school, I was told that going to university would open a window of opportunities for my future and ultimately help me get a good job. I applied to university in a social sciences discipline since I did not have the mathematical aptitude to handle the sciences or engineering.

During frosh week, social sciences and humanities students were taunted by the engineers, who called out, “Spatula!” Meaning: we didn’t have any career options after university and were destined to work a low-wage fast food job.

Humanities students were specifically targeted with “A-B-C-D-E-F-G. H-I-J-K. L-M-N-O-P. Q-R-S. TU-V. W-X-Y-Z. Now I know my ABCs, so I can pass the humanities,” implying humanities courses are easy.

At the time, I just assumed this was a way for the engineering reps to promote faculty pride in their first year students, and this attitude wasn’t present throughout the rest of the institution.

However, it appears that was only wishful thinking: in the last few years, the humanities and social sciences have faced many budget cuts in instructors, number of classes offered and resources available, and I know that this is not unique to my school.

Once I completed a few years of school, I thought going to a career fair would be a good way for me to decide what I could do with my degree in the future. Not being in health sciences, engineering or business, meant few employers were interested in my degree.

I attempted to talk to a few different companies and was turned away when I told them I was in a combined humanities/social science program. I didn’t approach other groups because they had no information for students in more than one faculty. Quite frankly, the whole thing was a complete waste of my time, and I felt very frustrated and disappointed.

Does it mean those engineers were right, or do career fairs need to be re-worked in order to support the diversity of educational options out there?

I’m hoping for the latter. I was told to never to judge a book by its cover and, as an English major, that advice seems almost too fitting.

If your company is attending a career fair at a university or college, remember there will be students from all kinds of academic programs there and, as a result, students with a variety of different experiences, both in terms of education as well as employment.

Just because a student isn’t in a certain degree program does not mean they aren’t qualified for a job in your company. For example, I have experience in HR, public relations, marketing and management, which is something you wouldn’t know if you only look at what program I’m in.

Sure, if you’re part of an architecture firm you’re primarily going to want to hire architects or engineers. But if someone from another program comes to your table, you do not have to turn them away. Every company has multiple departments that need a variety of employees with different kinds of work and education experience, and your company should be no exception to this.

You attend career fairs to entice students, not to deter them. And just because your company doesn’t have anything to offer one student, it doesn’t mean the same student can’t pass on information about your company to a friend or two.