College education and employee career relations
Eric Jelinski and John ShanahanApril 12, 2023
Employee career development at Ontario Power Generation - Canada
Eric JelinskiWhen I was a hiring manager while I worked at the Ontario Power Generation - Nuclear Division many years ago, we had a motto: Hire for Attitude and Train for Success.
Eg. in the 1980’s and 90’s with the introduction of computers in the workplace, everybody suddenly had the computer tool to write their own memo’s, procedures, and any documents without going through the “Typing Pool”. So, the typing pool became obsolete, actually obsolete everywhere. The best response from management was to retrain the mostly female staff who became our finest First Line Managers throughout the organization, and some also chose to learn a trade and work with tools in maintenance and/or train to be a licensed First Operator.. This was achieved without a blink or any kind of mishap. OPG had other downsizing in engineering and construction once the Darlington project was completed. Nobody got fired. People took to their new jobs with support from everybody else. But it was up to you to accept the opportunity to learn new skills.
Several lessons can be learned from this:
1. Your personal success and success of your organization depends on being a team player and a learning organization.
2. Not everybody needs to know the details of nuclear physics, there are lots of different jobs/tasks in nuclear or in any industry.
3. As industry needs to change because technology and jobs come and go, so do you need to expect to learn new skills.
4. There is no status quo. While you are on a career path, you need a plan B, C, or more as a backup. While expansion of your company is expected, you should also be thinking about industry contractions, and what would be your next steps.
I tell my graduate students to go forth with an open mind to embrace opportunities beyond what has been taught in classrooms.
Best, Eric
Eric Jelinski M. Eng. P. Eng.Alumni and Contract Lecturer
University of Toronto
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
CHE568 Lecturer, Nuclear Plant Engineering
eric.jelinski@utoronto.ca
eric_jelinski@sympatico.ca
http://www.utoronto.ca/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/eric/jelinski
https://canteach.candu.org/Pages/Welcome.aspx
"The
“Knowing is easy; it is the doing that is difficult. The critical issue is not what we know but what we do with what we know. The great end of life is not knowledge, but action.”
Admiral Hyman RickoverGuide to choosing a college in the USA
John ShanahanHere are some thoughts about college education for high school seniors:
Future is Nuclear"
1) Rod Adams graduated from the Naval Academy with a major in English. He got his technical education in the nuclear navy. Website: https://atomicinsights.com/ Rod is an excellent source of information about the Naval Academy.
2) Rod and I have different thoughts about atmospheric carbon dioxide and fossil fuels. He is concerned about man-made carbon dioxide and fossil fuels causing climate change and thinks that nuclear power will be / can be implemented worldwide fast enough to prevent man-made climate catastrophes. I think that carbon dioxide is the molecule of life and fossil fuels have many uses and by-products that nuclear power can not replace for hundreds of years. This gives you information from both sides.
3) Find universities that offer a good, broad education.
4) Here are some scientists, engineers, and government policy experts who are good for the public and elected officials to know. They are in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, UK and the USA . Ronald Stein, Donn Dears. Eric Jelinski, Gregory Wrighstone, Richard Lindzen, Zbigniew Jaworowski, Howard Cork Hayden, Patrick Moore (Co-Founder of Greenpeace - turned against it), Guus Berkhout, Kelvin Kemm, Andrew Kenny, Vijay Jayaraj, Samuel Furfari, Sebastian Luening, Euan Mearns, Viv Forbes, Franco Battaglia, Michel Gay, Imelda, Michael and Ronan Connolly, Ole Humlum, Mikko Paunio, Patrice Poyet, Lars Schernikau, Cap Allon, Nils-Axel Moerner, Steven Lyazi, Javier Vinós, Bryan Leyland, anonymous.
5) Many universities hire faculty who want to get grants from the government and other sources about man-made global warming. I think this is a waste of valuable time for students. Instead, take more important college undergraduate courses that help with career and leadership needs.
Best wishes.
John A. Shanahan Civil Engineer Founder, website: allaboutenergy.net Denver, Colorado, USA 80210E-mail: john.shanahan@allaboutenergy.net
