July 2022
Women in Trades
Rosa doesn’t wait for things to come to her. She goes after them. After managing a busy coffee shop for years and working in customer service, Rosa took a much-needed week off and saw a job ad that spoke to her. The position described out of town work, long hours and a career away from working with the public. Rosa was clearly ready for a change. She applied and truly found her calling working in the construction industry.
Rosa describes herself as a sponge. She appreciates the employers who were quick to provide her with training whenever she demonstrated a curiosity. “You watch, ask questions. If you’re interested, they are willing to train you.” When Rosa worked in construction on highways, she was always interested in the machines. Her supervisor noticed this and offered to train her on the driller. Training in blasting was quick to follow and this knowledge base was essential as she built up her skills and training in health and safety. Rosa was quick to realize that if she showed an interest, her employers were willing to train her. “I want young girls to know, you can do whatever you wish,” Rosa encouraged. “Don’t be afraid to try new things”.
As a woman working in the trades, she is a firm believer in understanding the big picture and valuing her team. Always focused on health and safety, Rosa sees everyone on site as integral to the job. “Without the flaggers we don’t have labourers. Without the labourers, we don’t have operators. Construction requires the whole team working together”.
In 2012, Rosa accepted a position at a mine in the North Region. It was not common to see a woman on-site at that time and, as Rosa points out, “we need more women in the industry”. She continued her training by completing Common Core, adding skills and experience to her resume. With that training, she was hired on by another mine that gave her the comprehensive Health and Safety training that she needed to take on the responsibility of keeping her team safe on the site. Rosa takes health and safety seriously. With this training, she found her calling and to date she has never had a major incident occur under her watch.
With her diverse skills and training, Rosa continued to be in demand. She had been working for Castonguay Blasting when their contracts halted for a time. Suddenly she was unemployed for the first time in her life and she was eager to get back to work. Castonguay knew how valuable she was and said they would provide a glowing reference if she were to find a position that could offer her work before they could. Service Canada told Rosa about YES when she was there sorting out her EI. She needed a resume re-vamp and connection to potential job leads. Our front-line team at YES set up an appointment for Rosa with Career Development Practitioner, Sharon De Benetti. Together, they created an action plan. Rosa pulled together all her training and experience and Sharon helped her develop a competitive resume. Sharon also helped Rosa put together a cover letter that highlighted the key components of her extensive skills and experience. While she used our Resource Area, Rosa actually acted as a mentor to other job seekers who were seeking similar work. She had good inside information to share about how to approach applying in the mines, what they are looking for in terms of skills, and how long the hiring process can take.
In her search for job leads, Rosa’s previous employer actually drew her attention to a position with Fournier-Fils. The position received many applicants and following an interview that Rosa felt went particularly well, and a glowing recommendation from Castanguay, she found out that she had landed the position of Safety Officer. Fournier-Fils is a company is contracted by Greenstone Gold Mines (GGM). She felt good about working with a company with a solid reputation in the industry. She started her new position on May 23rd on a 2 week in, 2 week out rotation and she is loving it. She is seeing more women on the job as well, mentioning two female rock truck drivers she had met during her first rotation. We are thrilled that Rosa is continuing to love the industry and contributing her extensive knowledge to the field. We congratulate her for landing this competitive position and for forging a path for women in the trades.
Board of Director’s President and Chair, Denise Baxter, is pleased to announce that Lorna Hunda has accepted the position of Executive Director at YES Employment Services.
Lorna has a long history with YES Employment, first utilizing the organization’s services as a client in 1998. She began her career with YES as an accounting assistant over 23 years ago. In 2005, she became the Manager of Finance, and in 2019 moved into the role of Acting Executive Director. As a proponent of lifelong learning, Lorna has continued to grow and expand her knowledge base during her career at YES through various courses and training opportunities in office administration, accounting, and leadership. Lorna is dedicated to the success of the clients and employees of YES Employment Services, and to the organization itself.
Lorna was particularly proud to be at the helm as YES celebrated its 40th Anniversary year in 2021 and she is excited to execute a new strategic plan that will allow YES to serve our community better for years to come. YES thanks all levels of government, Provincial, Federal and Municipal, for supporting and funding our services in the community for over 40 years.
Join us in congratulating Lorna Hunda!
Great Start to our Fiscal Year!
The YES team spent a fun evening at Montana’s BBQ on the evening of June 16th. We were celebrating the hard work that launched a great start to our fiscal year. Thanks to the leadership team for treating staff to apps that just kept coming. Special thanks to Owner Claudio Foresta and operations manager Sylvie Pouliot for hosting us and for being a valued employer partner, consistently providing great opportunities to our clients.