Brian French, land equipment program manager at the Department of National Defence, and Alexander Rink, CEO of local start-up company Gazaro, are Carleton University’s 2012 Co-op Employers of the Year.
Rink and French were nominated by their Carleton University co-op students.
Aerospace engineering students Alexandra Therien and Jack Vedelago shared why they nominated French:
“Brian played the greatest part in making our co-op term a success. He was an excellent mentor, who always took the time to follow our progress and give advice. He let us figure out what needed to be done and then gave us the freedom to do it.”
Both students so enjoyed working at DND that they offer this piece of career advice to their fellow engineering classmates: “DND is a great opportunity for young engineers looking for a career. There is a lot of demand and plenty of interesting jobs available. We recommend it without reservation to all engineering co-op students.”
Of his co-op students, French said: “Jack and Alexandra worked side-by-side with DND engineers and technologists to achieve their goals. They demonstrated strong interpersonal skills and judgement that earned them significant respect. Our engineering community would be all the richer, if and when the time comes, they chose to pursue their career goals with DND.”
For engineering students on the job hunt, French shared that DND has an engineering-in-training program to hone the skills of co-op graduates interested in bridging into the public service.
For employers who have never hired a co-op student French continued: “Hiring co-op [students] is an investment in all of our futures – for the students, DND and ultimately for Canada.”
