March

I can't believe there is only a month and a few weeks before the end of my coop term! Time has definitely been going by way too fast. A lot of the same things have been going on this month but I feel like I am getting more efficient at my job as I continually come up with more effective ways of doing my job, streamlining my work. I feel like I have gotten better with my organizational skills and have been better with being able to multi task and complete a wide array of different tasks each day. I have also gotten better with my communication skills as I have developed a good dependable bond with coworkers and supervisors that I work with. I will be very sad when the day comes and I will have to leave them all behind.

When it comes to solving problems and dealing with everyday situations that come up be it investigations, discipline, or other problems that come up I feel that I have improved knowledge to make a call. My analytical skills as well as my improved professionalism and confidence has also played a big part in aiding me.

This month I am mostly concentrated on overseeing the apprenticeship project from the beginning to the end. This process will consist of gathering all the applicants, booking them in for a time to write an exam, and conducting an interview in order to choose a qualified candidate for our apprenticeship program.  Another project that I am responsible for overseeing is the launching of the new lenel system in which I have to help with the information session and distribution of cards to all members of the site. It really is an extensive process and requires a lot of planning and organizational work.

Asides from my two huge projects, I am continuing to meet recruitment demands, be involved with a Aboriginal Career Fair for kids in Jr. High, conduct exit interviews, and compile a Coop Manual of step by step procedures of all the projects that I have been working on.

There is way too much to do and way too little time!

February 19, 2011

This month, both my direct supervisor and my superintendent were away on holidays for a couple weeks. I was left responsible for a lot of the work required from HR. While the workload was immensely heavy, I had never felt more important, motivated, and ready to work. While I was responsible for a lot of recruitment work that consisted of things such as scheduling interviews, doing interviews, scheduling feedback sessions, organizing travel itinerary for applicants, and doing sign ons; I was also involved with new employee sign ons, going through resumes, attending meetings, and dealing with WCB cases. While faced with such a busy workload I had also successfully met the entry level recruitment goal of 10 candidates for this month which was considered to be pretty impressive by my supervisors.

The main highlight of this month for me was attending the Courageous Leadership workshop at the beginning of the month. This workshop was created by Teck as a company to inspire its employees to be leaders in ensuring that the workplace is safe and healthy. The workshop was very inspirational to me as it highlighted important points such as being responsible for our own and other's safety, having the courage to speak up, being a leader, and having the right attitude. It was meaningful to me in that the content could also be applied to my personal life and not just at work.

Janaruy 28, 2011

The month of January started off with the new launching of the AX system which would lead to a dramatic change in the way the whole site was to operate. Preparations of this new operation had taken place many months prior to this and it was interesting to have the opportunity to witness this change over. Basically, the AX system would result in the linkage of computers to many aspects of our everyday operations. It was definitely eye opening to take note of all the preparation, training, and struggles that took place prior, during, and even after the change over. Cardinal is currently trying very hard to upgrade its processes to ensure that things are running more efficiently and effectively. It is interesting to note, however, that this places a strain on employees that have been working with Teck for 20 or even 30, 40 years and are use to the "old" ways of how things "have always" been done. Such dynamics are good to observe as change in any workplace always affects different work place cultures differently.

My first week started off with a few days of interviews in town as well as sign ons for many new hires that are starting off in the new year. It however, took almost no time for everything to pick up as by the second week a huge investigation that I got to be apart of had taken place, followed by tonnes of paper work dealing with disciplinary letters, as well as a termination.

Aside from all the recruitment work and drama from the investigation, I had the opportunity to work very closely with the General Manager on Cardinal's Trades Forecast and Demographics for the next 4-5 years. This was a good experience for me as it was not only an opportunity to work on my (poor) math skills, it also gave me the opportunity to work on my communication skills. When I first started working at Teck, my supervisors had constantly commented on my shyness and lack of contribution during meetings and  socialization. After having the opportunity to interact with everybody a little more however, and having more confidence in commenting on the things that I do, I believe that I am slowly improving on my communication skills.

December 15th, 2010

December consisted of a lot of catching up work from the previous hectic month of November. This included recruitment, follow-up with lawyers regarding investigations, and research, research, research!

It was surprising to note how much follow-up work was actually required with the recruitment process. Offer letters were sent out, rejection phone calls were made, sign on’s/paperwork/explanation of benefits, insurance, union rights, etc were carried out. I must admit that no matter how many times I do it, calling somebody to let them know that they were not a successful candidate is a pretty difficult task.

Due to the fact that we were having problems with recruiting HD Mechanics, we went through an agency to help us out. We were fortunate enough to find four HD Mechanics from Jamaica whom were more than qualified for the job. Currently, I am conducting research on immigration and sponsorship to understand the steps that we will need to take in order to help our Jamaican friends achieve a permanent resident status. I am also conducting research to note how effective incorporating Career Builder to our company would be.

Another task that kept me busy this month was the opportunity to head the lenal project. Our site is incorporating a new system and gate where all employees will eventually require a swipe card for access. I was put in charge for taking the pictures of our employees and compiling a list of employees that need to be placed into the system. It was a very interesting and fun task as I got to meet a lot of new people and put some faces onto names that I knew.

Overall, I am learning a lot at Teck. They are providing me with a lot of opportunity to experience and lots of room to explore. In the new year, I hope to be more involved in more projects and have the opportunity to complete jobs from the beginning to the end.

November 12th, 2010

In the last few weeks, the pace in the office seemed to have suddenly picked up as I became involved with a whole new array of responsibilities and tasks.

Apprenticeships testing were finally all completed as interviews and meetings housed much discussion and decisions on who the top candidates would be. It was definitely an eye opening experience to witness the process, to understand what the superintendents were looking for, to be involved with the interview process, sit in on the discussions that went on behind closed doors, and to listen to different opinions and how these opinions were resolved as a team.

November was a crazy month for recruitment. We had requisitions signed off for 2 LPO’s, 8 HD Mechanics, 1 Electrician, 1 Mechanic, and 22 Haul Truck Drivers. I became responsible for scheduling, setting up interviews, organizing medicals and reference checks to be done, and initiating a feedback session for the LPO’s and Haul Truck Drivers. I also got to sit in on the interviews and was involved in asking questions. While it was all under a whole lot of pressure as these positions were pushed to be filled in a very short time, I felt a sense accomplishment and satisfaction after it was all completed. It was very nice to be involved in a project where I was able to witness and do a lot of the work from the beginning to the end.

A harassment investigation also took place this month as I was involved with the interviewing of multiple parties in order to fully understand the details of the situation. I was responsible for compiling documents, taking down minutes and updating summaries to keep superintendents in the loop. Being able to just witness the process, the events that unfolded, and how the HR department dealt with a complaint and investigation was definitely a educational experience.

Lastly, I have become more heavily involved with labor relation cases. Not only has my role in communicating with the Union increased, I have also been more exposed to the collective agreement between the mine and the Union. It was very interesting to work with the Union as my understanding behind the nuts and bolts of being unionized continues to grow. Not only was I expected to review letters of agreement that were to be placed in the collective agreement, I was also given the opportunity to do a lot of background work for arbitrations and appeals. For the arbitration cases, I have been involved with compiling a lot of background information as I research and look for complications. I have been taught that for every complication, we have to work to build a case, to interpret it to our own cause and to have everything documented. Finding information can at times be very difficult here at the mine, especially information that are dated very early in time. When this happens, it makes me appreciate the good job that we are currently doing with organizing our information so that things can be found and done in an efficient manner.

October 19th, 2010

The month of October seemed to have passed by very quickly. While I have still been in the process of trying to compile and organize a wide array of different information, I was assigned with new tasks as well as mini projects that I was responsible for heading or co-heading. The first project was to do up new job descriptions for newly created positions. I was surprised to find the approval process for a simple job description to not only be complicated but also a long and challenging procedure that can take up to a few months to officialize. Another project that I was assigned to co-head was the Apprenticeships project where I was responsible for preparing, organizing, administering and recording the results of the competency based apprenticeship test to aid senior staff members select suitable apprenticeship candidates for the year. This pushed me to utilize proper problem solving, communication, and critical thinking skills to successfully organize the project in a short period of time.

A huge project that I am currently working on is the task of updating the mine’s Physical Demands Analysis for all of our hourly staffs. A Physical Demand Analysis outlines all aspects of a position including job description, critical job demands, typical work day processes, etc. An updated physical demand analysis is beneficial when companies want to orientate new employees, assess if injured employees are able to return to work, determine appropriate rehabilitation programs, etc. I am finding this task to be extremely challenging as the original analysis is very outdated. Not only has there been an array of new job positions, many job functions have been greatly modified. This project will definitely sharpen my critical thinking and analytical skills as I am looking forward to the process of establishing an updated document and better understand the different positions, equipments, and risks associated with each of our positions.

Aside from my projects, I have also been recently involved in witnessing the hiring process for our LPO vacancy. I was also exposed to our new HR database called the Hiredesk as I am excited to be increasingly exposed to this for the recruitment purposes. Because Hiredesk is a fairly new application for Cardinal Rivers too, it will be interesting to observe how we will be transforming from a more manual approach of recruiting where everything is recorded and documented in physical file folders, to a more digitalized format where information will be easier to organize, found, reviewed, and shared. I am excited by all the things that I am learning in only a short two months time span. Upcoming projects that  I cannot wait to be exposed to include the opportunity to be involved in a appeal that will be considered the first of its kind to be appealed in Canada, as well as the possibility of being involved in heading a new training program that needs to be developed. Experience is a necessity for knowledge. I would like to continue to take initiative to perform to the best of my ability and to learn as much as I possibly can!

September 24th, 2010

It has almost been a month since I first arrived to Cardinal Rivers and I am continuing to learn something new every day. I am starting to settle into the routine of waking up early, inhaling the strong scent that the pulp mill emits as I walk out of my apartment each morning, and heading to work while the sky is still dark. I have also grown accustomed to our weekly departmental meetings with the safety coordinator and training officers. These meetings give me an opportunity to improve on both my teamwork and cooperation skills as we all work together to attain a common goal. It also helps me understand what everybody else is doing and how I am fitting into the department.

I am currently assigned a wide array of organizational projects. Some of my projects include creating a chronological binder for company meeting notes and correspondences with the union, organizing an appeal file for my supervisor to go to court with next month, and also to organize the HR S: Drive so that everything can be located easier. As I go through all the information and understand the context to organize everything, I realized that such organizational duties really does teach you a lot about what goes on in the company, how problems are resolved, and the processes that goes on unseen behind everything. Tasks that may seem tedious at first may actually serve as important resources!