51
( 2017 )
Shell has the energy to offer great opportunities
T
eresa Waddington followed her curiosity – rather than her passion – after graduating from Queen’s University in 2004 with a degree in chemical engineering. She was passionate about the outdoors and dreamed of a job designing and manufacturing skis and bicycles. Instead, she took an entry level position with Calgary-based Shell Canada and it has worked out better than she ever could have imagined. “Shell has given me remarkable opportunities,” says Waddington, who currently manages a maintenance team of 70 tradespeople and technicians at the company’s Albian Sands bitumen mining operation, located 75 km north of Fort McMurray. “I’ve had the opportunity to work on difficult, exciting, high-impact jobs, even as a young person, and I’ve been supported by a community of experienced and skilled coaches.” Shell’S AndreA BreckA sAys the compAny’s in-house trAining is ‘exceptionAl’
it’s been really fantastic. i’ve been able to have a very diverse career without leaving the company. Andrea Brecka,
general manager retail
Shell is a diversified energy giant with operations that span the globe. It has interests in almost every aspect of the oil and gas business, from the wellhead to the gas pump, from exploration and development to refining and processing. Shell has also laid out its commitment to a sustainable future and is investing in lower-carbon energy sources and clean technologies. As such, the company offers a remarkable array of careers and promotes employee
development through tuition subsidies, apprenticeship programs and a whole suite of in-house training programs. Robert Collings joined Shell in 1989 as a junior operator at the company’s Waterton gas plant in southwestern Alberta. Today, he manages a staff of 200 at the Jumping Pound and Caroline gas plants in central Alberta – facilities which strip the feed gas of methane, propane and various other components destined for a variety of uses and markets. “I don’t know too many other places where you could start as an operator on the floor and end up running two big gas plants,” says Collings, adding: “Along the way, I’ve pretty well done every job one can do at a gas plant.”
He benefitted from the company’s Operator and Supervisor Development Training program. Over a three-year period, he attended nine one-week sessions at Shell’s Roberts Training Center in New Orleans and honed his managerial and leadership skills. “It was definitely a game-changer for me,” he says. “I went from a command and control guy to having big ears and asking lots of questions.” Shell encourages its employees to broaden their horizons by moving from one division or line of business to another. Andrea Brecka has taken advantage of that philosophy and it has led to a remarkably diverse career. Currently, Brecka is General Manager of Shell’s retail division, which employs
150 people directly and oversees the company’s nationwide chain of some 1,300 service stations. “It’s been really fantastic,” says Brecka, who joined Shell in 1994 after earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Alberta. “I’ve been able to have a very diverse career without leaving the company.” She started in the information technology division and has since worked at the Scotford refinery in Edmonton and at head office in Calgary in the Trading & Supply and Oil Sands areas. Brecka had also take advantage of the company’s rich offering of in-house training and development programs. She has completed the Senior Leader of Teams, Senior Leader of Communities, Women’s Career Development and Women’s Senior Connect programs. “The amount of effort and focus we place on developing talent is exceptional,” says Brecka. “We’ve moved into more structured leadership development programs targeted at women, but the company makes an extraordinary effort to develop talent regardless of gender.”
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