Information on me and my current projects
On Thursday April 4th the Ottawa Emerging Green Builders held what will become the first annual Green Jobs 101 job skills event. The event was organized by myself and Imran Hamdad of our committee. 12 industry professionals presented on job skills and career paths to a sold out crowd of 65 attendees. Companies in attendance included:
Morrison Hershfield
Canada Green Building Council
Homesol
Arborus Consulting
InAIR Environmental
Tiree
Vert Design
PCL
CKCU
Stratos
ANF Energy Solutions
The format to this event was very unique. The event ran for two hours and the event schedule was as follows:
Part 1: Job presentations by each of the 11 companies in attendance (5 mins each). Presentations included information about the presenters, their companies, they types of jobs people do at their companies, and the types of skills that they value most. Each presenter took a different approach to this and the result was a diverse offering that even some of the industry professionals learned from.
Part 2: Skills session – How to develop a portfolio (10 minutes). Portfolios are a physical representation of your skills, interests, and attitudes. They are often overlooked but can give you real edge in an interview because they support the claims on your resume with hard evidence. I presented on what can be included in a portfolio as well as the benefits they bring.
Part 3: Speed dating – This consisted of 1-on-1 sessions between the industry professionals presenting in part 1 and 2 which lasted 3 minutes each.
After the event was over we issued an online survey to those who attended to find out how we did and get some feedback for next year. 70% of those who responded said that they were very satisfied with the event overall, and the remaining 30% were satisfied. Some tips we received to make the event better next year included:
We fully intend to follow this advice and I can’t wait to make Green Jobs 101 even better in 2014!
Fin MacDonald 