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The manufacturing sector offers many opportunities – and they’re not always what you’d expect

By Alysha Dominico

Isn’t it wonderful when we can set our kids up for a career success, encouraging them to take courses they love and that will lead to meaningful work? That could start to happen a lot more in Canada, but only if we start to give young people the advice they need now about the future of work and the manufacturing sector’s place within it.

According to Ontario East Economic Development Commission (OEEDC) data, in Eastern Ontario alone, there are currently 65,000 employees in manufacturing, and a large portion of that population is reaching retirement age. Manufacturing, you say? Isn’t that the career that generation X and millennials were told to aim higher than and avoid?

For whatever stigmas it has acquired, it turns out our economy can’t really survive without manufacturing. Granted, manufacturing in Canada is not the manufacturing you may expect – there are incredibly clean, lean and advanced processes happening in facilities across the country.

Bay of Quinte-based Kruger offers a clean, technology-focused facility and is a leader in new technologies, like robotics. The Proctor and Gamble plant in Belleville, ON, provides opportunities for skilled workers to use self-guided vehicles and “arm-like loading robots.” Hannafin Inc. provides support to companies that want to include automation and technology in their plants, and the Bay of Quinte area, where Hannafin is based, is rich in demand for technological services for advanced manufacturing. According to CME research, manufacturing in Canada helps to provide growth in every single other sector by 3.5% per manufacturing facility. It’s facilities like these ones, based in eastern Ontario, that help to drive the Canadian economy.

As extreme technological, social, and economic change increase demand for workers, the manufacturing sector faces new challenges to prepare the workforce for future jobs. The sector will need to fill the gaps left by the retiring baby boomer generation, and is already needing to fill positions for the following while also ensuring workers have the technical skills required to keep facilities globally relevant:

• Entry-level labourers
• Skilled trades such as industrial millwrights and electricians
• Engineering professionals such as manufacturing and chemical engineers
• IT professionals such as computer programmers and systems analysts, and
• Purchasers
• Human resource professionals,

Given the pace of technological change, many of the jobs that students train for now will change in just a few years’ time. In fact, in the report “Humans Wanted: How Canadian Youth Can Thrive In the Age of Disruption,” RBC says that despite “heavy job displacement in many sectors and occupations, the Canadian economy is expected to add 2.4 million jobs over the next four years.” This will require a new mix of skills for which we currently are not trained.

A skill set that combines soft and hard skills will be in high demand in future employees. Manufacturing requires people to have soft skills in order to work together to solve problems. As technology continues to evolve, employees will need to be able to adapt, solve problems and effectively communicate, as part of a team or in leadership positions.

To prevent these gaps in workforce and training from widening in the coming years, Eastern Ontario’s workforce development offices have aligned to identify the key contributing factors to this growing problem. The Eastern Ontario Manufacturing Workforce Development Project (EOMWDP) is working to address these issues and provide solutions for employers, jobseekers and youth to attract, hire and retain quality employees, develop skills and create opportunities for further professional development.

3 ways the EOMWDP is addressing the gaps in the manufacturing workforce

The EOMWDP is a holistic undertaking, bringing together key players throughout Eastern Ontario to create conversations and provide resources around the exciting opportunities in manufacturing for jobseekers, young people and students.

Removing the stigma around manufacturing by raising awareness of the great opportunities that exist in the sector can help open new paths for jobseekers and young people. Below is a sample of how the EOMWDP is beginning to assess the resources and opportunities available in the region to:

1. Develop strategies to fill anticipated workforce skills gaps

Jobseekers, youth and manufacturers have to know the other exists and may need help connecting to each other. The EOMWDP can facilitate those connections, whereas the other parties might struggle to find the resources to make strategic alliances or conduct outreach. Communications will be created in order to provide outreach tools to assist the many audiences of the project.

Career advisors can help, too, by making clients aware of the opportunities available to them. Courses such as Elevate Plus from Loyalist College are helping people who are underemployed or unemployed retrain for key manufacturing positions required at the entry level in the Bay of Quinte area in Eastern Ontario. It’s this kind of innovation – industry partnerships with post-secondary institutions – that has the power to transform our workforce, giving them the skills they need to enter into a new sector and quickly climb to positions that may not have previously been available to them.

2. Show the world that manufacturing in Eastern Ontario is a first-choice career

A primary goal of EOMWDP is to communicate and effectively market careers in manufacturing as exciting, high-technology, top-choice options. Highlighting incredible stories like those you see in Team Brockville Job Bank’s videos on YouTube shows you a culture of people who are incredibly proud of what they have accomplished in manufacturing. Current opportunities in manufacturing are often underestimated or misunderstood, but by better explaining the industry and its perks, potential jobseekers can be better informed to determine if an opportunity in manufacturing is a good fit.

Additionally, existing programs to attract residents to the region can be built upon by sharing the job opportunities that exist in manufacturing.

3. Determine how best to support economic development offices

The EOMWPD is investigating how to help local economic development offices (EDOs) best communicate with workforce development boards using workforce data. This will allow the two groups to work together to address current skills shortages within manufacturing and future skills shortages over the next few years.

Educational communications will be constructed to help inform EDOs about the tools they can use to skillfully attract the workforce to the region. These tools can also be used by EDOs to work with educational experts, workforce development officers and employment offices to bring everyone onto the same page to support manufacturing labour in the region.

Facilitating strategic partnerships for manufacturing workforce training

The EOMWPD is embarking on an information-gathering, partnership-building, strategy-creation project for Eastern Ontario’s manufacturing sector. It will bring together the experts, innovators and communicators to ensure that all the best information is gathered to support workforce development in the region. The lessons and best practices learned in Eastern Ontario could apply across the country, in the hopes of supporting this rapidly changing technological industry on a national scale. If you want to know, more follow EOMWDP blog for news, strategies, and updates.

Alysha Dominico is Project Coordinator of the Eastern Ontario Manufacturing Workforce Development Project (EOMWDP). The EOMWDP is a project by the Ontario East Economic Development Commission and is funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to support manufacturers and jobseekers in finding each other.

Policy makers, educators and career advisors have worked to remove barriers, but stereotypes still contribute to low numbers of women in the field

By Beverlie Stuart

Across the country, we have seen an increase in the number of forums and discussions regarding gender disparity in STEM fields. These efforts symbolize a movement to change the career choice story girls have absorbed over generations: that they are less capable than boys when it comes to careers in STEM. Nationwide, policy makers, educators and career advisors have worked tirelessly to remove barriers and encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM, but stereotypes persist and contribute to low numbers of female workers and students in the field.

According to Statistics Canada, girls remain less likely to choose a career in STEM, especially in engineering, mathematics and computer science. Unfortunately, even in 2018, young girls are subtly discouraged from advancing their STEM skills and knowledge in school and in play.

What girls are saying

Early intervention with respect to career awareness and exposure is necessary to attract girls to STEM and retain their interest throughout their education. Parents are unquestionably the greatest influence over their children’s career decisions, and tools and resources must be provided for families to foster interest and support their girls to explore STEM careers.

At a recent CanU event (a Winnipeg-based charitable organization run out of the University of Manitoba), young girls in Grades 7-12 were asked if they knew of anyone who worked in a STEM career. All the girls knew men (fathers, uncles, brothers) in this field, but only one out of 15 knew of a woman who worked in STEM (as an electrical engineer).

When asked why they think girls do not take STEM courses/programs, they shared that they: feel they do not fit in, do not have enough confidence and that teachers encourage the boys in class more than the girls. The girls also had some solutions: spread awareness and offer support to girls, have teachers encourage both genders in all subjects and change the stigma for girls.

The value of role models

The adage that you can’t become what you can’t see has never been more accurate than when it is referencing female role models in the workforce. For the past three years, a dedicated group of volunteers from Manitoba’s ICT sector have gathered to discuss, brainstorm and implement change for gender parity in the field. Led by the Information, Communication and Technologies Association of Manitoba (ICTAM), the Maven Action Committee plans and executes ongoing roundtables to recruit and showcase female role models in the STEM workforce.

At these forums, women currently working in STEM careers and women who have left careers in STEM have shared many insights. Among them:

• Women often feel that they are not smart enough to pursue careers in STEM. One woman shared that it was her mother who suggested she do so because it paid well and she would always be able to support herself.
• Like the young girls interviewed in the CanU event, many of the women indicated that throughout secondary education they were seldom encouraged in STEM learning or to pursue careers in STEM.
• Policies such as allowing employees to work from home and work flexible hours are integral to improving gender parity. This is especially valuable for women who are the primary caregiver in their family.
• Some women have lower confidence when returning to work after maternity leave.
• Men can create a dominant and aggressive culture, which can exclude women from participation.
• Women are comparatively more receptive to constructive feedback, which can be interpreted as being submissive.
• Women found men were offered more money for the same position. Being transparent about salaries in an organization can help pay equity.

Recommendations from women

In addition to criticisms of the status quo, the women who attended the forum also had ideas to improve things for the future. The attendees of the roundtables shared the following recommendations with one another:

• Disrupt the education system by intentionally infusing STEM learning coupled with career awareness and exposure to careers in STEM as early as kindergarten.
• Parents, teachers and caregivers should introduce girls as young as five years old to STEM learning through play. There should be more gender-neutral toys that embed STEM learning.
• Female role models need to be purposely introduced to girls throughout their formative years.
• Support one another by sponsoring/mentoring young women in the STEM community.
• Be an advocate of using gender-neutral language.
• Blow your own horn – it was observed that it’s easier for men to take credit. Women need to get better at taking ownership of their work.
• Employers should offer training and personal development opportunities to employees who are on or returning from maternity leave.
• Career development and succession planning in an organization can create retention.
• Support the attraction, recruitment and hiring of women into careers in STEM.

Young women (and the parents and teachers who guide them) need to recognize that STEM learning paves the way for careers in all sectors and positions, from the front lines to leadership roles. The career possibilities are truly endless.

The future of work will include technologies and jobs that we can only imagine in 2018. The world of work is changing so rapidly that sought-after skills that include the knowledge, skills and abilities realized through STEM learning are essential. Girls are wanted (and needed) in STEM careers.

Beverlie Stuart, Associate Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology, has close to 30 years’ experience in organizational leadership, career and workforce development, and strategic human resource planning and development. Her experience includes designing, developing and implementing initiatives and strategies for developing Manitoba’s workforce.

Initiatives to encourage girls and women to pursue technical careers haven’t translated into the realities of the workplace

Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren

This is an exciting time for women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) industries. However, there are still lots of challenges to overcome before true systemic change results in women being treated equally. What is the current status of women in STEM in Canada? What are the challenges and solutions? And what can be done to change the status quo?

Overview of the status of women in STEM in Canada

While there have been many initiatives designed to encourage girls and young women to pursue technical careers, as well as programs and organizations that advocate for women leaders, research from the Center for Creative Leadership shows that those investments don’t translate into the realities of the workplace, where very few women are actually retained and promoted to senior roles in STEM[i]. Across the board, the quit rate is higher for women than for men in STEM[ii]; this is especially true in the tech industry, where the quit rate for women (41%) is more than twice as high as it is for men (17%).[iii] Furthermore, instead of progressing into more senior engineering and leadership roles as they gain experience, many women end up moving into project management and marketing positions. This is a loss for STEM industries that must be addressed.

Where’s the Dial Now?, a 2017 study by Toronto-based organization #MovetheDial, MaRS and PwC Canada that surveyed over 900 Canadian tech firms, confirmed that gender inequality exists in the industry. Only 5% of Canadian tech companies had a solo female CEO and only 13% of executive team members were women; 53% of tech companies had no female executives; and women accounted for an average of 8% of director roles. Additionally, 73% of firms had no women on their boards; 70% of Canadian venture capital firms that finance young tech firms had no female partners; and only 12% of all partners were women. Although this study was tech-specific, the trends are unfortunately similar for all STEM fields. According to a PEW Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, for instance, women make up 75% of health-care practitioners and technicians, but only 25% of computer professionals and only 14% of engineering professionals[iv].

Overview of the challenges faced by women in STEM

In recent years, different studies have been conducted in order to determine why the figures on female retention and promotion in STEM fields are so dire, with the hope that companies can try to address the root of the problem. Research shows that several factors play a role in women leaving their jobs or being unable to access leadership positions.

Some of the most common issues with regard to the corporate culture are pay inequality, a lack of mentorship and coaching, implicit gender bias, unpaid maternity leave and a lack of flexibility around outside commitments, especially family[v]. Ultimately, many women switch companies to move up the corporate ladder or end up leaving their fields altogether. Companies need to be more proactive about fostering an inclusive, collaborative work environment where women feel safe (and supported) to brainstorm, try out new ideas and put them into practice.

Solutions for increasing women’s retention and access to leadership in STEM

The issues connected to why STEM women leave their jobs and/or are unable to rise to the ranks of upper management are complex and interrelated, as are the solutions. However, there are several straightforward steps that companies can take to improve the workplace culture for women and help buck these trends.

In the office, employers can provide opportunities for mentorship and peer coaching to their female employees – recognizing their talent and potential by investing in their professional development[vi]. Both mentoring and peer coaching offer a safe environment for developmental feedback to be exchanged and mutual learning to occur, which helps not only the women, but the company[vii].

… instead of progressing into more senior engineering and leadership roles as they gain experience, many women end up moving into project management and marketing positions. This is a loss for STEM industries that must be addressed.

Outside of work, women often place a high premium on flexibility, so that they can pursue personal interests and/or have more time with their families. If women have children, an employer can invest in their future at the company by providing paid maternity leave as well as better (and more) childcare options to relieve the financial strain, while also giving the employee more time and energy to focus on her career[viii].

YES, a non-profit organization that is committed to career and business development for Quebecers, has developed a variety of initiatives over the past seven years to promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in STEM. Its Women in Tech project (2012-2015) focused on supporting and encouraging women to break into the tech industry, with a coaching series, mentorships, internships and workshops.

Currently, YES is running a project called Systemic Change: Advancing Women in STEM, which aims to increase the understanding of systems and institutional practices that affect women in STEM; provide access to strategies, tools and frameworks to help with the promotion and retention of women in STEM; and promote internal initiatives that will support female employees and influence their organizations to counteract gender bias. The project’s findings as well as a library of tools, resources, policy recommendations, and research will be available at www.YESAdvanceWomen.com in the coming weeks.

These initiatives are just a couple examples of how YES is working to engage employees and management across Canada to advance the status of women in STEM.

Why women give STEM companies a competitive edge

A diverse workplace reflects the diverse world we live in. Women are themselves customers and bring a unique and diverse perspective to any project – not to mention that female-led teams tend to have greater precision and attention to detail[ix], which means that they are more efficient and productive. In short, hiring and retaining women in STEM is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do, for all Canadian STEM companies.

Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren is a writer, translator and editor. She earned her BA from the University of Michigan and her MFA from Columbia University. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she is now based out of Montreal.

References/Références

[i] Leadership Development Training for Women in STEM Careers, www.ccl.org/blog/leadership-development-training-women-stem-careers/

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Women in Tech: The Facts (NCWIT), https://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/resources/womenintech_facts_fullreport_05132016.pdf

[iv] 7 facts about the STEM workforce, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/09/7-facts-about-the-stem-workforce/

[v] The Leadership Lab for Women: Advancing and Retaining Women in STEM through Professional Development, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5737089/

[vi] Retaining Women in STEM Careers: Graduate Students as the Building Blocks of Change (NSF), www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/gradchallenge/images/winners/entries/second-place-parasite-ladies.pdf

[vii] The Leadership Lab for Women: Advancing and Retaining Women in STEM through Professional Development, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5737089/

[viii] How to Level the Playing Field for Women in Science, toolsforchangeinstem.org/how-to-level-the-playing-field-for-women-in-science/

[ix] The Competitive Advantage: A Business Case for Hiring Women in the Skilled Trades and Technical Professions (Status of Women Canada), https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/abu-ans/wwad-cqnf/bc-cb/index-en.html

From Indigenous students to military applicants, there are several special application categories related to identity, descent and status

By Christine Fader

Do you have students who are interested in medical school in Canada? Many advisors are excited to learn that there are special application categories that can benefit particular demographics. These include categories related to identity or descent (e.g. applicants of Indigenous descent) as well as categories related to status (e.g. graduate student applicants).

Changes in every sub-sector of this industry are creating new or emerging opportunities for jobseekers

By Breanne O’Reilly

Economic ups and downs are not new for Canada’s energy industry. However, the market downturn that started in late 2014 hit the industry particularly hard.[i] In response, the energy industry focused on gaining efficiencies through the implementation of new technologies and a 25% reduction in its workforce.[ii]

The people, occupations and skills that remain to support the exploration, development and production of Canada’s oil and gas resources today have also changed.

PetroLMI – a division of Energy Safety Canada that provides labour market information and trends for Canada’s energy industry – conducted research into how jobs have changed and what skills are going to be required to work in the industry going forward. PetroLMI’s mandate is to collaborate with industry, government and training agencies to support and advance the development of a sustainable, skilled and productive workforce.

In June 2018, PetroLMI published a report funded by the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Initiatives Program, A Workforce in Transition: Oil and Gas Skills of the Future, to share its research findings.

“Our research focused on key trends affecting the oil and gas labour market,” says Carol Howes, Vice President, Communications and PetroLMI for Energy Safety Canada. “An important trend influencing jobs and skills – not unlike other industries – is the increase in automation and more focus on areas such as data analytics.”

A deep dive into automation and data analytics

As with many other industries, the oil and gas industry is implementing automation and using more data analytics to improve its operations and decision-making in order to increase productivity, increase profitability and enhance safety.

“Automation is the use of control systems to operate equipment with minimal or reduced human intervention,” explains Howes. “You’ve heard of autonomous cars, but for the oil and gas industry think driverless heavy haul trucks, minimally manned drill rigs or remote sensors inspecting pipelines.”

Meanwhile, data analytics is the process of examining data sets to make better decisions about the information they contain.

“The oil and gas industry collects a lot of data but historically it hasn’t been used to its full extent. We hear more and more about how big data is being used, and the oil and gas industry is looking at how it can use its data to better inform decisions,” says Howes.

Increased use of automation and data analytics is occurring in every sub-sector of the oil and gas industry and creating new or emerging opportunities for career seekers. Below are some examples.

Exploration and production

Exploration and Production (E&P) is the sub-sector that finds and produces oil and gas. Many E&P companies are large, nationally recognized firms that employ a wide variety of workers, from land negotiators to geologists, technologists to administrative assistants, accountants to engineers, safety managers to environmental specialists.

Automation is largely a way to help workers do their jobs better by eliminating repetitive manual tasks. Companies are requiring more data scientists to apply data analytics to reduce costs. More technologists will also be needed to manage the data.

Oil sands

Oil sands – a mixture of sand, water, clay and bitumen – are produced in northern Alberta. Oil sands deposits are primarily deep in the ground and extracted via Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). About 20% of the deposits are shallow enough to be extracted through open pit mining. As a result, this sub-sector is heavily reliant on heavy equipment operators in addition to people with expertise in engineering, upgrading oil sands into a light/sweet synthetic crude, safety, and environmental monitoring and reclamation.

Several mining operations are already piloting – or have begun using – driverless automated heavy hauler trucks, a trend that is expected to continue. The rollout of autonomous vehicles could result in job losses among heavy equipment operators across the oil sands mining sector. However, automation creates demand for instrumentation technicians and heavy equipment operators with upgraded training as these autonomous vehicles need to be maintained, repaired and updated on a regular basis.

Oil and gas services

Oil and gas service companies employ the most workers in the oil and gas industry. They provide support services during all phases of exploration and production (including oil sands). Many of the jobs are in remote field locations and use highly advanced technology.

Automation and the use of more data analytics are in early stages of adoption in this sub-sector. As more companies invest in the technology, more work will be accomplished with less equipment and fewer workers. The increase in automation means workers will continue to require mechanical skills to install or operate equipment, but they will also need to understand and operate newer electronic systems. There will be new occupations focused on installing, servicing and updating automated systems on drilling rigs and hydraulic fracturing equipment. Data analytics drive the ability to get more information from the field, and this requires skills in interpreting data and using the information to improve processes.

Pipelines

The pipeline sub-sector of the energy industry transports product to market. Some companies also gather, process and store oil and gas by-products. Jobs in this sub-sector are diverse, from laying pipe to consulting with communities, to working in logistics, pipeline integrity, safety or the environment, to researching in a lab developing new technologies.

Pipeline companies have been early adopters of automation technologies and therefore have already made many adjustments to their workforces. Additional skills in processing and interpreting data will be needed going forward, along with IT and instrumentation technologists to install and maintain the expanding array of remote sensors and other equipment. More data scientists will also be needed to interpret the ever-expanding amount of data available, to improve equipment maintenance and operations.

Future forward

For more information, you can read the report on careersinoilandgas.com. The website, Careers in Oil + Gas, also houses a Career Explorer online tool that allows users to not only search and compare more than 100 occupations in the oil and gas industry, but to view and apply directly to relevant job postings on the Government of Canada’s Job Bank website.

AUTHOR BIO

As PetroLMI’s Outreach and Communications Advisor, Breanne O’Reilly is responsible for communicating and distributing labour market data, trends and insights. As well, O’Reilly disseminates PetroLMI’s occupational tools and resources for workforce and career planning and manages the Careers in Oil + Gas website.

References

[i] Labour Market Outlook 2017 to 2021 for Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry. (PetroLMI)

[ii] Labour Productivity in Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry: A Discussion of Historical Trends and Future Implications. (PetroLMI)

These four fundamentals are key to success in a rapidly changing field

By Caroline Burgess

The number of disciplines and sub-disciplines in STEM already seems overwhelming and new fields continue to emerge. How can career development practitioners help their STEM clients navigate a diverse and increasingly digital economy? The answer, in my mind, is to focus on the fundamentals.

During 14 years as a mentor or coach to emerging adults pursuing careers in STEM, it has been my observation that career success in STEM depends on having the following:

1. A growth mindset
2. Valuable transferable skills
3. Relevant work experience
4. An internal locus of control

Developing a growth mindset

 Psychologist Carol Dweck has defined a growth mindset as a belief that your abilities can be developed through hard work and a willingness to iterate in the face of failure – to employ other strategies and try again¹. A growth mindset is critical in STEM because of the need to upgrade or acquire new knowledge and skills to keep pace with advances in technology and changes in the economy.

The exercise outlined below is one I use with every client to encourage a growth mindset. It is based on the concept of “flow,” defined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly as an activity in which your whole being is involved and you are using your skills to the utmost².

Write a brief description of three peak experiences that can be taken from any combination of school, work or extra-curricular activities. Each experience must have the following elements:

•  It called on all of your skill or expertise (in a particular area)
•  You felt challenged but not overwhelmed
•  You were so engaged that you were unaware of the passage of time
•  You felt a sense of power immediately after the experience, aware that you had met the challenge and, perhaps, even exceeded your own expectations

By tapping into a time when they have successfully tackled a challenge, clients seem more receptive to challenging themselves in other ways – for example, by taking a challenging course, considering a difficult degree program or applying for a job they are not completely qualified for.

Identifying key transferable skills

Valuable transferable skills are essential to agility in a dynamic economy because, unlike specialized knowledge, they can be applied in a variety of sectors; they are also the key to jumping on emerging fields. The most valuable transferable skills in STEM are mathematics, computer science and physics. These also take the most time and practice to master.

My recommendation to clients is to start acquiring valuable transferable skills early and to keep at it. I encourage clients in high school to take as many math and computer science courses as they can, and to take Grade 11 and Grade 12 Physics even if they are not required for admission to the STEM programs they are considering³. I encourage university clients in STEM to take a minimum of one full year of physics as well as advanced math and computer science courses, even if it means extending the length of their degrees; a BSc in biology with a minor in mathematics or computer science is a much more powerful degree than one without.

Tapping into the power of relevant experience

I encourage all of my clients, including those considering graduate or professional school, to acquire a minimum of 16 months of relevant work experience before they complete their undergraduate degrees in STEM – either through a co-operative program, or by incorporating a professional year between their third and fourth academic years⁴.

Students who have acquired relevant work experience, including industry experience, before they graduate, stand out from their peers with respect to: 1) the valuable transferable skills they have acquired and practiced, including technical and soft skills and 2) the size and diversity of their networks. In addition, these students also develop confidence from tackling challenging problems in work environments that encourage risk-taking and embrace the process of iteration.

Keeping clients in the driver’s seat

I strongly believe in the capability and resourcefulness of my clients, and my interactions with them are designed to foster an internal locus of control. I give clients homework to complete before each meeting to emphasize that they are the ones driving the career development process. To encourage my clients to be intentional, I ask each of them to complete the following exercise:

Construct a personal table of values with four columns and as many rows as you need. Label the columns “Value,” “Value Definition,” “Importance” (score from 1 to 5) and “How Presently Lived” (score from 1 to 5). In this context, a value is defined as something that you want to experience or “live” to some degree.

I let them know that their values are likely to change as they progress in their careers and their lives, but that it is important to understand why, at this stage, they might choose one option over another.

I also ask clients considering post-secondary options to construct a pie chart that gives a percentage weight to each of the following: “opportunity to acquire valuable transferable skills,” “opportunity for relevant work experience” and some combination of their values (adding to 100%). I then ask them to score and rank each of their options accordingly. Again, this exercise reinforces intentionality and an internal locus of control.

Success in STEM demands a commitment to life-long learning. It doesn’t stop at graduation. I often use the visual of a climbing wall to encourage clients in transition to be intentional about next steps. Where do they want to end up? What is attainable from where they are now? For example, a client with a degree in physics is a good candidate for a transition to data science, but an intermediate step might be online courses in Python coding and machine learning. By encouraging a growth mindset and fostering an internal locus of control, I hope to impart on my clients a sense that their future is in their own hands and that it looks very bright.

Caroline Burgess, CCDP, has spent her entire career in STEM. Trained as an engineer, educator and career consultant, she has experience and contacts in industry, research and government. She has been a mentor or coach to emerging adults pursuing careers in STEM since 2004 and can be reached through her website at CarolineBurgess.ca.

References

1. The Atlantic, “How Praise Became a Consolation Prize: Helping children confront challenges requires a more nuanced understanding of the “growth mindset”.” (Dec 16, 2016)  https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/12/how-praise-became-a-consolation-prize/510845/ 
2. Csikszentmihaly, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Collins.
3. Burgess, Caroline. “To Acquire Valuable Transferable Skills in High School, Avoid the Bin Mentality”. http://www.carolineburgess.ca/to-acquire-valuable-transferable-skills-in-high-school-avoid-the-bin-mentality/
4. Burgess, Caroline. “Include Relevant Work Experience in Any STEM Education Plan”. http://www.carolineburgess.ca/include-relevant-work-experience-in-any-stem-education-plan/

It is widely assumed that sciences offer students a ‘safe’ future. While there are many opportunities available, expectations do not always align with reality

By Lucie Demers

They are passionate about science: they read, examine, experiment. They are high achievers in mathematics, chemistry and physics. They dream of contributing to the improvement of health and the quality of life on a global scale. They are hopeful for the future: careers in science offer good, stable, well-paid jobs, don’t they?

Although this field offers many opportunities, the job market is not always favourable to graduates. The unemployment rate for graduate students is amongst the highest[i], compared to applied sciences, humanities, letters, etc. So why is it still so widespread that sciences offer a ​​”safe” future?

There are important elements to know about careers in science and research. The goal here is not to praise nor to criticize taking up a career in science, it is to present the essential information to better accompany teens and young adults who are considering a career in the scientific field.

Employment statistics of recent graduates

As in any career-orientation process, employment statistics indicate the ease (or not) that graduates of a specific field have entering into the job market.

In the field of science, data from statistical surveys are often very encouraging. On the other hand, some must be interpreted with caution.

• In disciplines with few students (e.g. physics), the very small sample size may lead us to question the reliability of the unemployment rate. [ii]
• 73% of civil engineering graduates with a bachelor’s degree have a full-time job related to their training, compared with 5.3% in physics.[iii]
• A question must be pondered: have people pursuing a master’s degree pursued their studies by choice or for lack of finding a job?
• There may even be different realities within the same discipline (e.g. chemistry) depending on the specialization chosen by the graduates (e.g. organic chemistry, materials chemistry or theoretical chemistry). Why? Statistics on training programs only show the average of their category. The difficulties of professional integration encountered by graduates of certain specializations are thus camouflaged.
• Employee compensation, regional employment opportunities and changes in the employment market may also explain why some science graduates (in physics, chemistry and math) have a harder time entering the job market than science graduates in engineering or applied sciences[iv].

Evaluating employment data with a critical eye

Employment statistics are a treasure chest of valuable data, but are insufficient in making an informed career choice. It is therefore essential to consult other sources, but it is important to be aware of their limitations and know how to validate the information they provide.

First, the data provided by some institutions may seem reliable, but their interests must be weighed. Each student is a potential source of income for universities, so some may present their data to their best advantage to attract a maximum number of students. The same is true for professional groups, which must support their industry by meeting companies’ ever-growing workforce needs. Therefore, one should not hesitate to cross-check the employment statistics conveyed in certain advertisements.

Newspaper articles are another source of potential information, but there is also a need to be critical of them. For example, one should be wary of articles that cite only one source of information, only quote industry representatives or use statistics in isolation.

In some government information sources, which are otherwise quite neutral, the employment outlook indicators are rather vague (e.g. good, acceptable, weak). Other sources are very useful for taking the pulse of a field (e.g. job offers, student associations, recent graduates, mentors, etc.), but the information collected is subjective; it may not be representative of the entire field.

Overall, each source of information has its advantages and disadvantages. That’s why guidance counsellors and career professionals are the best sources to help jobseekers make an informed decision.

3 things to know about graduate studies and research

Have a client who wants to do a master’s degree or a doctorate in science, or who is interested in research? Here are some things you need to know.

• In some areas, a graduate degree is not conditional to employment. For the employer, a doctorate is not a guarantee of resourcefulness or ability to innovate.
• Research is an extremely competitive field, with a global span. Which researcher will publish his or her results first? Many scientists work evenings and weekends to stay in the race.
• Researchers are accountable to the organization that hires them or funds their research. Their position may be up for grabs if they do not reach the expected goals.

Becoming a scientific researcher

Only 20% of doctoral graduates are employed as full-time university professors.[v],[vi] Students who are interested in this type of career should prepare by:

• Reading scientific articles
• Acquiring early experience such as internships
• Differentiating themselves from other students in their class (by having good academic results, which are the main selection criterion for the award of summer research internships and master’s scholarships)
• Approaching researchers they wish to have as supervisors early on
• Doing a post-doctoral internship
• Targeting the best laboratories, which welcome the most eminent researchers and have more resources to finance large projects
• Applying to scholarships for research funding

In the end, the best choices are those made wisely, by knowing and acknowledging the facts, and respecting personal values ​​and interests.

This article was inspired by the book Les carrières en sciences – Astuces pour éviter les pièges (2017), by Dr Maxime Bergeron.

Lucie Demers is guidance counsellor and editorial director at Septembre éditeur, a publishing house specialized in career guidance content. She has contributed to the development of several books and digital tools over the last seven years.

References

[i] Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur (MEES). «Enquêtes Relance», MEES, http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/references/indicateurs-et-statistiques/enseignement-superieur/enquetes-relance/

[ii] Idem.

[iii] Idem.

[iv] Paquin, G. (2012). «Inscriptions universitaires: le génie minier trouve le bon filon», La Presse, http://affaires.lapresse.ca/portfolio/ ingenieurs/201211/08/01-4591617-inscriptions-universitaires-le-genie- minier-trouve-le-bon-filon.php

[v] Braün, D. (2014). «Faire de longues études pour mal gagner sa vie», Radio-Canada, https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/656835/postdoctorants-canadiens-difficultes

[vi] Munro, D. (2015). «Where Are Canada’s PhDs Employed?», Le Conference Board du Canada, https://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/newsrelease/15-11-24/Where_Are_Canada_s_PhDs_employed.aspx