The Campus Brome-Missisquoi (CBM) and GE Aerospace have launched a new training program for students who wish to obtain a Diploma of Vocational Studies (DEP) in Production Equipment Operation to help meet the needs of the Bromont-based company and to provide adult education students seeking a DEP with a unique set of skills and expertise that better prepares them for the workforce. 

Running a total of 870 hours and taking less than a year, students alternate between classroom studies, training in CBM’s machine shop, and on-site learning at GE Aerospace. During this half year of training, CBM initiates the students in machine equipment operation for production by including the theoretical notions and the practical knowledge needed before arriving at the company. The stage portion of the training is completely paid by GE Aerospace in collaboration with the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT).

Lisa Payne, Executive |Director of CBM, highlighted that industries in Brome-Missisquoi are struggling to fill in their workforce. This sometimes leads them to hire unskilled labourers -. Collaborating with vocational training centres can play a crucial role in helping fill this gap.

After a successful first round of the program with GE Aerospace - registration for the 2023-2024 cohort is preparing to launch - Payne hopes to see CBM form partnerships with other industries in the area.

“As you know, all of the industries around, especially in the trades, are having a difficult time recruiting employees. There just seems to be nobody to fill those spots. We have a development agent here that works with us, Sebastien Godoin, and part of his mandate is to work with various companies to look at what their needs are and how we can help fill those needs by training,” explained Payne. “What happened was that GE hired a cohort of individuals right away from day one and they came to us for training.”

Payne added that it was “really to fill needs".  Vocational training programs help the workforce become “more trained,” according Payne, and alleviates pressure off of the industries. 

“Nowadays, it’s so easy to go into a company and to get a job. Anybody can get any job they want, it’s not necessarily a positive thing. People are often getting under-skilled workers coming in and it puts a lot of onus on the companies to do a lot of the training that they don’t necessarily have time to do and that sort of thing,” she mentioned. “Being in a partnership with a vocational training centre really helps share the responsibility of that training and it helps increase the workforce with more skilled labourers, who then themselves can go on to have a better income a better quality of life perhaps.”

These types of vocational programs also serve as a stepping stone for the students that are recruited. Students who finish the training program with CBM and GE Aerospace find themselves with a 1-year work contract and a starting salary set at $28 per hour, plus an incentive plan, according to a press release sent out by the Eastern Townships School Board. 

“This cohort of people agreed to do sort of a training with us, getting paid at the same time. So it helps the candidate get experience in a school and they also have a guaranteed job in the end with a very reputable company,” she said. 

Denis Labrecque, one of the vocational teachers for the program with GE, said that the 14 students recruited for the program “loved it,” especially those that never worked at GE Aerospace. Of the 14 candidates in the Production Equipment Operation program, nine of them were outside applicants and five were existing employees at GE Aerospace. 

“There were like [five] students that were already in the shop before. They started their job two, three, six months before the others and they merged with the new ones that started from the beginning. It was interesting to have a sort of exchange of experience with the ones that were already there for a few weeks or a few months, so it helped a lot,” explained Labrecque. “When in the course, they learn a lot of new terms and technologies, but some were really not in the field of machining and seeing the kind of jobs they’re doing in Bromont.”

Even though some of the students already had some experience working at GE Aerospace, the program helps refine their skill set and knowledge to better prepare them for what’s expected at GE Aerospace and beyond, according to Labrecque.

“All of them have the base of the diploma to be an operator, but at the same time they have the opportunity to have the minimal skills to the general knowledge, let’s say, of the operator and after we added the specific need of GE. For them, it’s possible to go see another company in the end if they want to go someplace else to work,” he noted. 

Labrecque said that the vocational training programs are just as much a learning experience for students as it is teachers, whom, together, play an important role in meeting the needs of whatever industry or company they are collaborating with. 

“The project was interesting,  being in contact with an industry with new technologies. They have a good support for us too, knowing their terms or their techniques. Sophie and I, the two teachers for the course, had a training for a few days to know their specific needs for each station that students will have to work on,” he mentioned. “Each company has their own terms and techniques so we made some adjustments for that group at the same time.”

After a successful partnership with GE Aerospace, Payne is encouraging other industries to get in touch with CBM to help fill in the job market in Brome-Missisquoi. 

“I think it’s important to mention as well that, any companies out there listening, this DEP ... can be sort of a copy paste into any other industry,” empathized Payne. “I would just mean our teachers Denis and Sophie would do the same process, go into another company and see what their needs are, how they’re different stations work in their industries, their terms and everything, and then we implement that into our training here. (…) Listen up people, we can do this with anything. It’s a very valuable DEP that we can offer here, it’s a great thing.”

Those interested in registering for the 2023-2024 can contact GE Aerospace.

Listen to the full interview below: