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Algoma Steel reels in a catch of Cambrian College grads

Eleven power engineering program techs walk into full-time employment with Ontario steel companies
power-engineering-grads-group-shot-2023
Eleven of Cambrian College's power engineering graduates are landing employment at Algoma Steel and Stelco. They are pictured with Professor Spencer Julian (left) and Pamela Yarkie Crich (right), partnership coordinator with Cambrian’s Career Centre Group. (Supplied photo)

Ontario steelmakers are recruiting 11 graduates from Cambrian College’s power engineering technician and technology programs.

The Sudbury college said Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie has hired nine students straight out of the programs, while Stelco in Hamilton offered positions to two others.

In a news release, the college highlighted Dan Gasidlo of Collingwood has one of the students coming out of two-year power engineering technician program who’s packing his bags for a full-time job in the Sault.

“This program goes through all the basics in power engineering, everything from boilers to pumps to turbines,” he said in the release.

“I feel pretty prepared going out into industry after going through this program. There are a lot of opportunities and openings for power engineers right now.”

The steel companies are arriving on campus to do interviews and to hire graduates straight of school.

Cambrian said it’s only college in Northern Ontario with a Power Engineering program.

The school offers a three-year Power Engineering Technology advanced diploma and a two-year Power Engineering Technician diploma. 

Students learn in a Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) registered second class on-campus power plant.

In a statement, Kim Crane, the college’s chair of its school of engineering, technology and environmental studies, called it “great news” that Cambrian is producing “job-ready” graduates that are in demand.

“These are very well-paying jobs, with some starting at more than $40 an hour. Algoma Steel has also told us they intend to hire more new power engineering technicians and technologists in the next two years. It is a great time to get into the skilled trades like power," Crane said.