PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
One Match, Two Stories: The Power of Mentoring
Two mentors forever changed Shirley McCuaig, P.Geol., PhD, and the direction of her career. As a geology student at Concordia University in Montreal, she worked summers for the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa. It was there that she met Dr. Roger McNeely and Dr. Bill Shilts, who provided her with invaluable guidance and advice that helped shape her future as a professional. “They helped me immensely, even encouraging me to apply for NSERC and other fellowships that I hadn’t heard of,” recalls Dr. McCuaig. She ended up winning funding from NSERC — that’s the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada — which spurred her on to grad school and a PhD in geography. “Had these two mentors not supported and encouraged me, who knows where I would be today,” she says. “They also honed my technical writing, and one taught me how to map surficial geology from aerial photos, which has been critical for my career.” Now well established — she’s a senior terrain geologist with Tetra Tech EBA — Dr. McCuaig decided to pay it forward by sign- ing up as a mentor with APEGA’s Mentoring Program. “I wanted to be able to be that mentor to someone, to make a real difference in a person’s life and career,” she explains. She was matched with Moe Elkayar, G.I.T., shortly after he graduated from the University of Alberta in 2014 with a bachelor of science degree in geophysics. He was looking for help with career planning — but he gained much more. “Working with Shirley gave me better insight into how the industry works and how to approach the job market. She also helped me deal with work issues — like how to share things with my boss — and she continues to give me advice,” says Mr. Elkayar. “She's been nothing short of spectacular.” During the first year of their mentorship, the mentoring pair met once or twice a month at local coffee shops. Initially, they worked on improving Mr. Elkayar’s soft skills, including communication and interview techniques, and they also perfected his resume. Dr. McCuaig’s encouragement helped him gain the confidence to network with geoscientists in different industries, which in turn helped him narrow down which geophysics path to pursue. His new networking and interview skills also helped him land a job in a tough job market. “Shirley helped me a great deal, by recommending books and events to attend. She helped me meet more experienced geophysi- cists who shared their experiences as well,” he says.
The two continued to stay in touch, even after Mr. Elkayar moved out-of-province for employment in Saskatchewan’s mining exploration sector. For Dr. McCuaig, seeing her mentee grow as a professional has been extremely rewarding. “It was amazing watching the changes in Moe. He is very confident and has all kinds of ideas for his future and his career. I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to find him running his own business one day,” she says.
CALLING ALL POTENTIAL MENTORS We’re recruiting Professional Engineers and Professional Geoscientists to share their experience and knowledge with mentees through the APEGA Mentoring Program. If you have at least five years of Canadian professional experience, you can help other Professional Members, Members-in-Training, applicants, or examinees learn and grow in their careers. There are plenty of benefits for mentors, too. Mentors get to: • give back to their profession • experience the satisfaction of being a role model and helping less-experienced professionals • gain insights about different ages and cultural backgrounds — mentors report learning as much from a mentoring relationship as mentees do • develop and enhance their mentoring skills • claim up to 20 professional development hours (PDHs) per year under APEGA’s Continuing Professional Development program • have their service recognized at APEGA volunteer recognition events Mentor and mentee application forms will be available this fall.
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