The Royal Canadian Mint Information Session
A Mint experience!
On February 11, scarcely a week after the Royal Canadian Mint was named one of the 2021 National Capital Region’s Top Employers, Angela Vanikiotis, the Mint’s Senior Manager, Talent Development and Organization Development, was reaching out to visible minority women to explain how and why to work there – and so much more.
Speaking to an audience of more than 30 participants in World Skills’ Empowering Visible Minority Newcomer Women project, she thanked the project for doing “an amazing job of creating this forum for these talented professionals.”
Angela introduced herself with snapshots of some indelible experiences as a first-generation child of immigrants. Moving to the present, she then shared her professional views on making sound career choices.
Following a bird’s eye view of various federal government employers, from the core Public Service to Agencies and Crown Corporations, she drilled down into the key differences between them. In the course of her distinguished career, Angela has been a senior HR manager in all three types. She outlined their differences in hiring practices, security clearances — the Mint has its own due to the unique nature of its business — and compensation and benefits packages. She made the case that Crown Corporations are the best place to start a government career because their application processes are less bureaucratic, they likely pay better, and their personnel policies more flexible – and that their employees are on an equal footing with other public servants to compete for jobs in any department.
The second half of the session was more interactive with participants putting their questions directly to Angela. One particular “ah-ha” tip was, if you are in the running for a job, to ask HR how early you can start your security clearance because it’s to everyone’s benefit to minimize the delays inherent in the process. In closing, Angela generously encouraged people to connect with her on LinkedIn.
In a post-event note to the organizers, “I look forward to hearing from your program and continuing to partner with you so together we could support these women in their career journey. Thank you once again for the opportunity to speak to a very talented group of individuals. I found them to be very engaging and professional!”
This was the latest in our ongoing series of “meet the employer” sessions for the women in our Empowering Visible Minority Newcomer Women project. If you would like to promote your organization to this group of very talented and amazing women, please contact nadiya@ottawa-worldskills.org.
