Learning about mining careers

Only an hour after the Sudbury Mining Week career fair opened at the New Sudbury Centre April 28, several people had already expressed interest in working for Vale.

In between handing out tree seedlings grown by the company to mall patrons, corporate affairs specialist Danica Pagnutti directed potential applicants to a Vale website dedicated to job listings, www.valejobs.ca.

“A few people have stopped by looking for careers at Vale,” she said. “We've had the opportunity to talk to them about the opportunities at Vale, so it's been great.”

Vale, along with several other mining sector companies, as well as educational institutions and mining organizations, participated in the career fair. The event kicked off Sudbury Mining Week, which runs until May 5.

Nicole Tardif, chair of Sudbury Mining Week, said she'd spoken to several students about how they can get jobs in the mining sector.

“We're sort of guiding them into speaking with people, making contacts and networking,” she said.

The career fair also featured several activities for children. Kids were able to make pet rocks and even run the robot a group of Laurentian students plan to enter in the NASA Lunabotics Competition May 21-26.

Fourth-year Laurentian University mechanical engineering student Paul Bazinet, who was showing off the robot along with lunabotics teammate Kyle Beaudry, said he's excited for the upcoming competition. Last year, Laurentian took home first prize.

“The competition is a little different this year, so we've had to change things up,” he said. “We're looking forward to going down and trying things out. Our new design seems to be working. We still have some little bugs to work out, so we're going to be working hard in the next few weeks.”

Bazinet said he's not sure he's going to work in the mining industry himself, although there are certainly plenty of opportunities. He said he thinks the career fair is a great idea.

“There seems to be a lot of interest in the booths and companies,” he said. “It's a good opportunity for people like myself who are just graduating or in university to see what careers are out there.”

Tardif said the goal of the career fair is to spread the word about careers in the mining industry and to let people know that the city is a “centre of excellence” for mining technology.

“Other people look at Sudbury and think 'This is where we go to get our supplies and our technology made,'” she said. “We want the City of Greater Sudbury to be proud of that.”

 

For a listing of other Sudbury Mining Week activities, visit www.sudburyminingweek.com.

 

Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen