Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 Good morning, Fort McMurray, wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You've tuned in to the Mac city morning show. I'm your host, Elliot Pierre. And we're going to start the show off the same way we start every show off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to me. So thank you on that note, Tanner hit them with you.
Speaker 1 00:00:22 Oh, she caught me loves you're listening to the next <inaudible>
Speaker 0 00:00:31 All right. And we're back. I'm excited about today's guest. Uh, I actually do know this individual. We've spent some time over the years chatting with did with each other, collaborating on certain projects. Um, mainly for my old career, actually. Um, so it's going to be a fun episode, but as you guys know, I don't introduce my guests. I let them do that themselves. So on that note, can you please tell everybody who you are and what you're about?
Speaker 2 00:00:52 Sure. So I'm crystal. Uh, I have been a resident of Fort McMurray for 12 years. I've been with careers for 10 of those years and, uh, proud to still be here and working here and growing a family. Here we go. What were you doing for the first two? Uh, I was at the YMCAs, the employment counselor there. Oh, interesting.
Speaker 0 00:01:15 So before we get into you and me just bantering, please, uh, as people are watching right now, tell them what careers you have. Generation is what you guys do, what the organization is all about. Sure.
Speaker 2 00:01:25 So we are a nonprofit that's provincial, but we do have a branch here in Fort McMurray. And our whole purpose is to connect youth with employers through three different pillars, whether that's, um, experience exploration or just bringing awareness to the youth about, um, the labor gaps coming up in the future. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:01:44 Now, when it comes to these students and you're trying to employ them for kids who are watching it, cause we do have a younger demographic on the show. Um, what type of career opportunities are you looking? Because we all know, well not, we all know, I shouldn't say that most people know about the rap program that's institution, uh, implemented in the schools, but this is different from the rap program. Um, so what are some career options that they could be getting?
Speaker 2 00:02:06 Um, so we do, so we do partner with the school districts to do the registered apprenticeship program, the rap program. Um, but outside of that, we work with the indigenous communities, uh, to bring all sorts of, um, career opportunities to them. So they can come to us and say, I want to be an accountant. Then we would work with our local employers to do that. Um, we do, we promote health services, ICT, so information, communication, technology, forestry, power engineering. Um, so yeah, those are basically, yeah,
Speaker 0 00:02:38 It's pretty diverse. It is two summers ago. I had two students having a decent, actually big shout out to Abby still works for us. Good news story. Yeah. AbbVie, uh, like they both were working on projects for us and Abby's project grew some legs. And so we had some that said, Hey, I want to continue to pay for this. And so we said like, okay, like, well the guy who created it and knows how to work it better than anybody else has this kid. And so we kept them on and then he's picked up some more roles and responsibilities as time has gone on. So he's, part-time
Speaker 2 00:03:13 Not full-time but
Speaker 0 00:03:15 Yeah, so we hired Abby and he's still working for us. So he's gonna,
Speaker 2 00:03:18 They still working cause you gave him the opportunity to like explore and do his things and he got to, you know, prove himself and he's still here and he's still working in that career. And that's what we love seeing.
Speaker 0 00:03:29 Yeah. It was the cutest story ever. And in regards to what I do is very untraditional to begin with, and this is prior to the pandemic. So I never wanted him to come into the office. Like I don't expect anybody to come into an office. You can work from home, but his parents are, uh, east Indian and very strict and very rigid. And so I had to meet with him and his dad at Tim Horton's to like, they have to get a feel for me and cause they couldn't understand why their kid was playing basketball at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. I'm like, listen, I don't care if he does his work at 12 in the afternoon at 12 midnight, just like he has tasks. This is how we track them. He's doing them extremely well. He gets to choose when he wants to work and where he wants to do it. And uh, it was really cute. His dad was very invested in his son.
Speaker 2 00:04:17 And I think when you give them that flexibility, they just kind of go with it because they can work on their schedule. And when the brain is going in their brainstorming, they can really run with something. So the flexibility is wonderful. I remember us having this conversation. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:04:34 Like I liked it. It was, uh, it was a great program. And if you can re if your company can afford to help support, you should do it like more often than not summer students for anybody out there. It's, they're not the best employees. Cause like you got to put the most work into them. However, what you get out of it is tremendous. Incredible.
Speaker 2 00:04:53 And if we look at the long-term picture, like, okay, so we're spending time mentoring these students and give them the opportunity to grow and learn. But at the end of the day, they have a mentor here in Fort McMurray and the likelihood of them coming back and building roots here is much higher. And yeah. And to see that happening with our programs is absolutely incredible. Like we're helping build our label labor market right here. That's exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:05:20 Good. So how did you get involved with cruise next
Speaker 2 00:05:23 Generation? Um, I actually, so when I was at the YMCA, I worked with the school districts and I prepared the wrap students to go into the programs. So I worked really closely with the off-campus coordinators and the off-campus coordinators referred me to careers and then they called and then the ball just kept rolling. Yeah. Very cool. Is my passion. I love helping youth. I love seeing them grow. Um, it definitely that's what keeps me engaged. That's what keeps me at careers. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:05:52 Nice. Now I know, I don't know anything. I'm assuming that you guys are still working out of the Bob lamb center
Speaker 2 00:05:59 Or we moved actually. Yeah. Good question. When you assume, right. That's right. So we're in Greg wire now
Speaker 0 00:06:09 The Bob lamb center, is it even reopened? I'm not sure. Well, you might've moved for different reasons as well. However, I don't even think that building is still, I don't think.
Speaker 2 00:06:17 Yeah. I think they're still working on it. I'm not sure what Gregoire we're in. Greg. Where are you located Eric? On McDonald's drive. Right? So we are on McDonald drive, um, almost across from Enbridge.
Speaker 0 00:06:31 Okay. I know where that is roughly. Yeah. Yeah. She's looking off camera. She's got an eye. She, you honestly are the biggest entourage that has ever showed up on the shelf. Throwing it out there. Nobody's come rolling this deep to the show. Three
Speaker 2 00:06:45 People. Yeah. Just in case. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:06:49 So, but I have to assume because the COVID like you probably meetings people coming in aren't as much as before, you're probably doing a lot of
Speaker 2 00:06:56 Things. So we're still working virtually. So we're still connecting with youth. Um, and all of our stakeholders virtually.
Speaker 0 00:07:03 Yeah. How are you finding this with? Cause like, uh, I don't have a kid who's like of the age of working in like careers are going into these programs. How are the kids finding it like for you?
Speaker 2 00:07:14 So some of them are feeling disconnected for sure. And I'm like, they don't respond as fast or they're not as committed say as they were in person. Right. Um, but a large majority of them are actually liking it because it's their world. Like they're very technologically inclined. So for them to hop on a virtual call with me is much easier for me to be like, Hey, I'll meet you at the school at nine o'clock. Well, like, so again, the likelihood of them showing up to a virtual call is much higher. So, um, the connection for, from my perspective is much stronger now. And even from, cause we work for in wood, Buffalo, so throughout the entire region. So we work from Conklin to Fort chip one. So even being able to hop on a call that way with the youth, um, they're getting to see me more. They're getting to know me a little bit more. So then they're more, um, you know, likely to open up and tell me what they really want so I can help them growing in their career.
Speaker 0 00:08:15 Students. Do you roughly get like, this is a weird
Speaker 2 00:08:19 Year. I know it is a weird year. So in the last, so when COVID hit, we saw about a 40% decrease in our placements, but we normally place up to 300 students a year and that's from trades to all the careers I listed before. Wow. Yeah. That's quite significant. Yeah. Yeah. That's very proud of that number. Obviously we want more students placed, so that's why we're here today. We want more employers to come on board and to be aware of what our programs can accomplish. And um, but yeah.
Speaker 0 00:08:52 So from an employer standpoint, like a, there's some employees that are listening right now, like what's your pitch? Like why should an employer get involved? How can employer get involved? Cause I, I truly know that there's not, not everybody in town knows. So how can somebody get involved
Speaker 2 00:09:06 With you? So I'll start with why to get involved with, um, so with careers and next generation, um, so they get to grow their own, right? So they're young. So we're talking either 16 to 25 depending on the program. Um, so they get to grow that student. So, um, they get to invest in that time, the training. And then if they like them, they can hire them right out of the program once they're completed. Um, and how they can get involved is they can easily go to our website or come to our office or give us a shout. We can easily set up 10, 15 minutes. Um, all of our program coordinators are really fast. We like to get to the point and not take too much time, um, of the employers, but yet give them that down-low okay. Give them a pitch.
Speaker 0 00:09:57 There you go. And you guys have a number of heavy hitters for, um, partners already.
Speaker 2 00:10:03 Um, so we have about, I would say 45 employers on board right now. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Again, we're very proud of, and we're very lucky to have that commitment from the employers, given the COVID restrictions and the economy. Like we have a lot of barriers right now, but um, our partners are staying true to their word and yeah, it's been wonderful. It's been very helpful.
Speaker 0 00:10:28 Yeah. Now, with working with you guys, the one thing that blew my mind was the caliber of, um, applicant. Cause I went through like, I don't know if you remember, but I interviewed five or six, five or six anyways. And I was just there to pick one. And then throughout, I was just like, Hey, they have three individuals here that like, I'll take all three. And then it just worked out that I was lucky, lucky enough to get two of them. Um, if you're a kid, a young adult, sorry, if you're a young adult trying to get involved, like what, there, there's obviously a criteria for you to have that caliber of clientele for me to pick from crazy. So like what is the criteria from a, for a young adults to get involved?
Speaker 2 00:11:09 We're looking at their academics, so they need to be performing high in academics and their attendance is huge. So they're not showing up to school. They're not showing up to work. So, um, we look at those two items and make sure that they're performing well. And if they are performing well then, um, for the high school programs, like we'll meet them. One-on-one, we'll get to know them, just make sure, like we're getting a gauge on them to make sure that they're, they will represent themselves the school and careers really well. Um, and then for the co-op program, which Eric can talk to, but, um, we take value in that. We look at their math and science marks and make sure that they're pretty hard, like very high and they can meet, compete amongst one another. So if the average that year is 90, then that's the average that the students have to meet and we ranked them on that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:12:05 No, it's, uh, I've most people know by now, like my background is human resources, so I'm quite accustomed to doing interviews and having to like filter through and like more often than not, you're interviewing a bunch of mouth breathers that you don't want to employ. And every single, uh, young adult that I interviewed was just stellar and mind blowing. Like it was, I've never been in that situation before. It was really impressive.
Speaker 2 00:12:31 Yeah. And with, I guess when we're, um, filtering through them, like we know that that attendance and academics is really important, but again, knowing how they can interact and whatever. So spending that time with them, like gives the employer the opportunity to see that. And it is like we pat ourselves on the back for that. And the students, the students are great. Like they are doing so much to make sure that their career goes the way they want to. Yeah. That's right
Speaker 0 00:12:58 Now, you've been here for 12 years now and my mom will yell at me if I don't ask this question, how's your family doing? Your family's growing. It continues to grow.
Speaker 2 00:13:07 Yeah. So we came here, the five-year plan, like everybody else. Right. Um, and then we fell in love with Fort McMurray and then, um, yeah, we just decided to start a family and we have two girls, two girls, two girls, uh, five and a half and one and a half. Wow. Yeah. That's awesome. That's pretty exciting. Yeah. Five and a half
Speaker 0 00:13:30 And one and a half. So our two eldest, my eldest, I only have one Keegan. He's six. So is your child in grade one or still in?
Speaker 2 00:13:38 She just graduated kindergarten today. Yeah. They deal it's a big day. Yeah, no
Speaker 0 00:13:44 Doubt. So she's called an EPR is what my kid would call it. No EPS before.
Speaker 2 00:13:49 Yeah. So kindergarten, kindergarten. Yep. So she's going into grade one.
Speaker 0 00:13:53 They have all these slangs and I'm trying to like keep up with, and yeah, I think I'm cool to this day. I think I'm cool. But my son on a very regular basis checks me and tells me
Speaker 2 00:14:04 I'm not cool. Yeah. But yeah. And ongoing thing. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:14:09 I got some brownie points with them though. Like a, for everybody at home, spoiler alert, this is not my living room. This is a set. And uh, downstairs, we have another studio and it has a green screen. And so I brought him here and I showed him the green screen. Wow. Major brownie points. Yeah. I became official when he saw the green screen. I couldn't have done anything.
Speaker 2 00:14:31 I learned that the best role model. Yeah. That's exactly it.
Speaker 0 00:14:34 So, uh, we're at the part of the show. This is Tanner segment. It's called the Mac city minute. I'm just gonna hit you up with some questions. I don't know what he's going to ask you. So best of luck, Tanner hit her up with the Mac city minute.
Speaker 3 00:14:44 Alrighty. Question. Number one. What was one career you wanted when you were a kid?
Speaker 2 00:14:51 A teacher question
Speaker 3 00:14:54 Number two. What is the most interesting career option you've seen in Fort McMurray? That's a hard, that's like asking
Speaker 0 00:15:05 Her, which one of her kids she likes the most. That's true.
Speaker 2 00:15:07 And I don't want to seem like I'm like buttering up, but Elliot, your opportunity was pretty awesome. Cause you're very innovative. So having a student be able to be placed with you and having that opportunity. There we go. Thank you. It wasn't a great office. There we go. I'll take it.
Speaker 3 00:15:26 Question number three. What is the most important skill for a young person to have when looking for a career?
Speaker 2 00:15:34 Um, so initiative number one. So you have to have initiative to not only find the job, but to, you know, do the research, make sure you do well in the interview and then perform well. When you're in the position, you have to take that initiative.
Speaker 3 00:15:51 Question number four. What was one of your best moments from your stay at the Y M C a
Speaker 2 00:15:59 Uh, I pulled off this job fair for students. And over 800 students came to the job fair within a five-hour window. Um, which was really cool. And we ended up placing, like getting 20 people jobs that summer, which would have not been the case if we didn't have it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:16:22 And your final question, what would you tell someone who might want a career with careers next generation?
Speaker 4 00:16:30 Oh, Hm.
Speaker 2 00:16:33 That's a tough one. Uh, I would say,
Speaker 4 00:16:40 I don't know. I can't even think
Speaker 2 00:16:43 You just have to have the passion. You have to work with careers. The next generation, you have to have the passion behind it to help youth and to grow our own. And those have been your five questions. There you go. Perfect. Kind of crushing is you good job
Speaker 0 00:16:59 Kills it. Eric, every time, like I say it, nobody sees me, but every time Tanner is watching and the camera's off me and on you, I'm always looking at him like, dude, how did you come up with that? Because I can assure you. There's one thing about myself in Tanner, we do zero preparation for this show.
Speaker 2 00:17:15 I'm just going to say, so was that prepared? It was
Speaker 3 00:17:18 In the last, uh, uh, last 17 minutes. I prepared those classes. Yeah. When
Speaker 0 00:17:22 I meet people in public and they talk about the show or like when they come on the show, they're like, oh, it just seems so natural as organic. And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, you seem so surprised when the guests are like giving you their responses. I'm like, because we've done zero preparation. And does it work well on your pressure? Yeah, that's it. So when you're hearing his questions, I'm hearing them for the first time and I'm just like, how the heck did you come up with that in the last 10 minutes? So very, very impressive. Um, so we are part of the show though. We're coming close to the end. I we've been blown away times, but I think we're, we're good, right? Yeah. Tanner, just like, yeah. Wrap it up Elliot. So, uh, but before we let everybody go, they get a shameless shout up. So this is an opportunity for you to promote your business or yourself or say hi to mom, whomever. But, uh, this is the part of the show where it's all you, so shameless, shout out to him. All right.
Speaker 2 00:18:13 Well, I'm going to say hi to my mom and Ellie and Nora and maybe Adam, my husband. Um, but, uh, shout out to the employers that have supported us, um, along the way, the last whatever years, many, many years, uh, we wouldn't be able to do it without the employers. Um, for those that are interested in supporting Cruz, the next-generation please come to us. We'd be happy to again, have that 10, 15 minute pitch, see if you're a fit and then we'll go from there. There we go.
Speaker 0 00:18:45 Awesome. Well, thank you very much for coming on the show. Hopefully you come back again. I didn't get asked you a lot of like personal type questions cause you guys have a lot to talk about for careers. Um, but my mom would appreciate if you came back again and we actually just chatted. Yeah. She's a nice lady. Pam Pierre. He's a gym. All right. Well Fort McMurray wood, Buffalo. Thanks again. It's been another episode of the Mac city morning show. I say it all the time, but I truly do mean it. I know you can do in tons of other things. So thank you for spending your time with us. So on that note, have a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
Speaker 1 00:19:19 It's another max. Any morning show doc.
Speaker 5 00:19:35 Talk about quenching your ugly thirst.
