CET graduates dominating the work force


6/18/2004 11:16:31 AM


Front left: Bruce Murphy, Amanda Stratton, Peter Dolomount, David Janes, and Lynette King Back left: Finton Gaudette, Morgan Hynes, Ryan Newbury, and Travis Fillier

By Melissa O’Quinn


Not only are College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) graduates finding jobs, jobs are finding them.

A group of 11 Civil Engineering Technology (CET) graduates from CNA’s Corner Brook campus were recently successful in securing work even before their graduation ceremony took place.

Seven of the graduates were hired by Humber Valley Resort as Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) draftspersons and planners; another graduate was hired by Public Works and Government Services Canada as an inspector at a wharf construction project in Cape St. George; another was hired by CanAm Building Envelope Specialists in Mississauga, Ontario; another is employed through the SGE Group (engineering consultants) as an inspector in Corner Brook, and yet another graduate was hired on as a field engineer by Flint Energy Services Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta.

And the job offers haven’t stopped there. Three of the 11 graduates have been offered full-time positions with the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper mill as well. The students intend to accept the new jobs, leaving their current positions vacant not even three months after graduation.

“There are actually more jobs available right now than we have graduates to fill them,” says Jane Hogan, Instructional Coordinator of the CET program. “It certainly says something about the quality education students are receiving [from CNA] if they’re able to find employment success right away.”

Two graduates of the program have chosen to continue on with their education at Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, ON) in September. As part of an agreement between CNA and Lakehead, graduates can transfer their credits earned at CNA to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in just two years.

Either way, the graduates’ investment of time and money has certainly been a wise one.

“A lot of students have sat in classrooms wondering if the knowledge they were acquiring was going to be used in the actual workforce,” says Finton Gaudette, recent CET graduate. “In regards to the CET program, everything you learn is applicable.”

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