TBT Engineering and Confederation College Partner to Help Build Community. The Winners? Graduates.

How often do Confederation College alumni look back to see exactly where their diploma took them?

When we are students, we see going to college and taking courses and writing exams as all part of getting a job. Then, maybe, we start realizing it’s more about getting a career.

But after a while, even that doesn’t describe the impact it’s had on us well enough. Soon enough we appreciate that what Confederation College really did was set us on a completely different course in life.

That life is abundantly apparent at TBT Engineering. Culture is so important at the 52-year-old Thunder Bay consulting firm, as it is in many companies. And the culture there is uniquely Northwestern Ontario. A homegrown success story populated with homegrown graduates from the homegrown Confederation College.

Which brings up another point. Alumni also come to learn something else they didn’t think too hard about when they were students: how much companies like TBT Engineering also rely on Confederation College for the skilled labour they need to succeed.

We get a lot of great employees coming out of Confederation College. They’re educated and ready to go

Sarah Frenette, the firm’s Executive Coordinator, and Joe Zamal, HR Manager at TBT Engineering, stressed that it’s definitely a two-way street.

“We get a lot of great employees coming out of Confederation College. They’re educated and ready to go,” Sarah said. “Sometimes we take that for granted – we’ve been hiring Confederation College graduates for longer than I’ve been here. But I’m not sure what we would do if we didn’t have the College here.”

Joe agreed. “As HR Manager, I’m fortunate to have that resource – it really helps. In my annual recruitment of civil tech grads and other grads, it would be a lot more difficult if I didn’t have Confederation College to reach out to.”

This year alone, Joe will be hiring 24 technicians, he said. “If the college graduated 24 civil techs, I would have taken all 24,” Joe said. “The industry doesn’t have enough good techs. It’s vital to our organization to find good techs. And when I do, they’re usually from Confederation College.”

Confederation College Provides Career Choices Faster

Joe said that many students think they need to keep going with their education in order to find a great career. Not so, he said.

“There are many who go off to do more schooling, and we always support furthering one’s education. But at the same time, I want to let them know that they don’t need to go any further in their schooling if they don’t want to. They can have a great career right out of the program they’re in now.”

Joe, a Confederation College grad himself, knows that firsthand. He first started working at TBT Engineering during his job placement. Joe’s initial plan was to go off to university after finishing his Human Resources Management program and then find a job. But about six weeks into a four-month placement with TBT Engineering, CEO Liana Frenette offered him full-time job after graduation.

“I sat and thought about it. I decided that I’m not going to go back to school if the career I want is right here,” Joe said. “Confederation College prepared me in ways I didn’t even realize. When I started working here, I drew so much from what I learned in my program and put to use right away.

“I certainly appreciate what the college did for me. It launched my career.”

TBTE a Wealth of Success Stories

Joe echoes the words of many Confederation College grads now working at TBT Engineering. Kyle Lauro learned about TBT Engineering long before he enrolled at college. Kyle worked at TBTE as a groundskeeper during the summer while in high school. That made going to Confederation College for Civil Engineering Technology an easy decision.

“I saw what some of the civil engineers were doing there and thought that would be a great career to get into,” Kyle said.

Kyle said one of the things that surprised him most about the program was the amount of surveying they did. The students actually had to stay an extra week to finish their training. As it turned out, that was a good thing. Kyle found he used his surveying training a lot more than he expected.

“There was a lot of practical learning that really helped. We learned the exact same stuff that we’re doing at work.”

Although his title is officially a lab technician, Kyle’s versatile skills send him into the field quite often, especially in the winter months. He’s also been able to travel to projects across the region including Marathon and Wawa, something he enjoys.

“My first three years, I was working at the mines,” Kyle said. “I loved it. Good money, and you get two weeks on, two weeks off.”

“It’s a good experience – you’re learning something new every day.”

Sean Davies too saw how Confederation College could get him to where he wanted to go. Sean is a field technician at TBT Engineering, something he got a taste for working part time. Like Kyle, Sean enjoys the variety the job brings.

“You’re doing something different every day,” Sean said. “In the field, sometimes I’m testing concrete or compaction or running a mobile lab somewhere.”

In the three years Sean has worked at TBT Engineering, he’s worked on mining projects, major transmission projects, and visited a wide range of construction sites. On any given day, he could be ATVing to a site, flying in a helicopter, or driving on ice roads. It is never a typical day at the office. Or a typical year, for that matter.

“Every year, there are new things to learn,” Sean said. “New standards come out, and TBTE is always expanding with new tests. You’re always learning.”

The Civil Engineering Technology program at Confederation College, which is geared to industry needs, got him well prepared for his career, Sean said.

“In the labs, they have you working with actual material. It’s better than just sitting in class. That’s what I like about the job too – it’s hands on. You’re not sitting at a desk all day.”

Community Important at TBT Engineering

Sean said that working at TBT Engineering is different, too.

“A tech is not just a tech here,” Sean said. He pointed to a few of his managers who went through the same program he did, got their OACETT certification (Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists), and who are now rising up through the company.

And here Confederation College helped too, giving Sean the opportunity to write his OACETT Professional Practice Exam while in school. That was unusual because you need to have two years of experience, which many students don’t have at that point. It’s one of the steps to becoming a Certified Technician.

“We were already taking the class, so I thought it would be good to write the exam then,” Sean said.

The idea of having room for promotion at TBTE appeals to Sean, too. It’s another way the culture encourages community.

“Community is so important to the TBT Engineering culture,” Joe said. “I know companies say that all the time, but it’s so true here. We are a homegrown company, we live and work here, we are part of the community. And the people who work here, they’re part of the community too.”

“That’s a big part of the reason why Confederation College is important to us. We’re lucky enough to have a college here that supports what we do. We’ve had so much success with recruitment – everybody we’ve brought on who have come from the college are trained and ready to go.”

“The Best Home Possible”

Sarah added that as much as Confederation College supports TBTE, it’s true the other way around as well. In the past, the firm has provided input – particularly in the Civil Engineering Technician program – about what they look for in graduates. Several TBT Engineering employees also take time to teach at the college. And, they’ve also provided funding: TBTE made a generous donation to the Technology, Education and Collaboration (TEC) Hub project, which opened in 2018.

“We rely on Confederation College for top-quality grads, so it just makes sense to support the College in their goal to provide the best training possible,” Sarah said. “It goes back to that community perspective. It’s almost cliché to say, ‘We’re all in this together’ but it’s also so true. We all make Northwestern Ontario our home. Why not help each other to make it the best home possible?”

Nidhin Kunjachan is literally making Northwestern Ontario his home now. Nidhin joined TBTE at the end of May after taking courses in occupational health and safety, cost and contract management, and communications for technology at Confederation College. Nidhin earned his engineering degree in his home country of India, but he wanted to take post-graduate studies in Canada. He chose Thunder Bay because its smaller size and greater affordability.

Originally, Nidhin’s plan was to go back to India after graduation. But those plans changed once he did a co-op placement at TBT Engineering.

“I looked at some other places for positions in my field, but I was keen to go back to TBTE after doing my co-op there,” Nidhin said.

The feeling was obviously mutual. Although TBTE didn’t have a position in his field, they hired him anyway. Right now, he’s working as a technician in the lab testing asphalt, concrete, and aggregates. Nidhin hopes to move into a project management position at TBT Engineering in the future. The College program taught him everything from occupational management, cost and content management, communications, and more.

“All these courses really helped,” he said. “Even though I studied project management back in India, we never had Microsoft Projects. I was totally new to that – I’m sure it’s going to help me in the future.”

Nidhin credits Melissa Covello in Confederation College’s Co-op and Work Placement Services for getting his career at TBT Engineering on track.

“Melissa was really helpful for finding placements for all the students in my class. All credit goes to her – three of us did our placements at TBTE.”

Partnerships Make Us Stronger

Although the partnership between TBT Engineering and Confederation College is closer than some, it’s not unusual. The College has a close relationship with many industry partners. On the one hand, it makes good academic sense – the College wants to provide the best and most relevant learning and training possible. But it speaks to more than that. Companies in Northwestern Ontario are as successful as their employees. Strong employees equals strong companies and a stronger region. Confederation College is a key piece of that equation.

We really are in this together. But then, as most alumni who look back at where their diploma took them would say:

“Of course we are.”

“It’s almost cliché to say, ‘We’re all in this together’ but it’s also so true. We all make Northwestern Ontario our home. Why not help each other to make it the best home possible?” Sarah Frenette, Executive Coordinator at TBT Engineering.