August 10, 2010

Firms deploy young professionals to promote engineering careers

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Young professionals employed in consulting engineering firms in five provinces have mobilized to promote career development within their ranks as well as to boost engineering students’ awareness of potential careers in the industry.

Operating under the umbrella of provincial consulting engineers’ associations in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, YP groups host seminars intended to hone business skills, engage in outreach activities and organize social events.

“When a young professional enters the consulting industry after graduation, he or she possesses many of the required technical skills,” says Selena Wilson, a 30-year-old project engineer at the Surrey, B.C. office of McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd.

“However, they still require development in business skills specific to the consulting industry. Our goal is to fill this need by providing business training early on in an engineer’s career.”

Typical seminar topics include business management, finance and legal topics, project management, communications and contract law.

Young professionals generally are defined as engineers, engineering technologists or technicians with less than 10 years of experience in their field.

The first YP group was established in Alberta in 2005. It now has chapters in Edmonton and Calgary and more than 100 members.

Groups subsequently were established in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and most recently, Quebec. Currently, Consulting Engineers of Ontario is looking into setting up a YP group as well.

The Consulting Engineers of B.C. group now has branches on the lower mainland, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley.

Wilson, who joined the group’s steering committee in February 2008 and currently represents Canada on the YP forum steering committee at the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, says outreach to university students is another key initiative,

“This has helped promote consulting engineering as a career choice as well as offering guidance to students on what to expect after graduation, types of career paths and what a career in consulting can offer.”

The B.C. group, for example, has screened the Engineering Legacies video at UBC.

The video, produced by the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada, is intended to generate interest in careers in the consulting engineering sector.

Wilson, who completed a bachelor of applied science degree in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia in 2005 and is part of the McElhanney team working on the east segment of the Port Mann Bridge/Highway 1 project, says young professionals are being invited to sit on the boards of the various provincial associations.

She considers this “a very encouraging” development.

“Being able to contribute at the board level has been a valuable opportunity for our voice to be heard.”

A group of 22 young professionals from across the country participated in a national forum during the annual convention of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies-Canada.

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