This text is part of the special section Professions and careers
Raising students’ awareness of certain little-known environmental careers is the mission of the Green Your Future campaign, the second phase of which was launched by EnviroCompétences last summer.
Driver-garbage collector, soil rehabilitation technician, post-disaster restoration technician, recyclable materials sorting attendant… These are some of the ten trades and professions that young people can explore online, or using an interactive terminal when passing by. of the EnviroCompétences squad in their school.
The professions were selected from different sectors, in particular because of the labor shortage and the fact that they were unknown to the next generation, explains the general director of EnviroCompétences, Dominique Dodier. Some of them only require a high school diploma while others require a college diploma or a bachelor’s degree.
“Several environmental professions are poorly perceived by young people. These are not jobs that are seen as very prestigious, adds Nadia Frangella, project manager for the organization. We wanted to open the door to students to show them that certain professions do not require a lot of training, that the salary is interesting and to demystify their daily tasks.”
It is by placing themselves in front of an interactive terminal that students can learn more about each of the ten professions. “He chooses one and all the content appears in front of him,” illustrates Mme Dodier. The fact that it’s a game where they have to, for example, do the work of a garbage collector or a laboratory test and not just read statistics, they really like that. »
Undo prejudices
“We asked young people at education fairs what a career in the environment meant to them. And what came up often was the image of someone in a laboratory with a white coat and a microscope. There are a variety of professions that were little known,” underlines M.me Dodier. She cites as an example the work of a drinking water treatment plant operator, thanks to whom the population can drink tap water. Quebec currently has 27% of environmental jobs in Canada, or 68,214 jobs, according to EnviroCompétences.
With Green your future, EnviroCompétences wants to show adolescents and young adults that certain positions do not require post-secondary studies. “You can be a garbage driver and earn a very good living while actively participating in the health of the planet by collecting garbage, compost and recycling. It was our way of seeing it,” pleads Mme Dodier.
By her own admission, she believes that there are dozens of other little-known trades and professions in the environment. “We could have made capsules for around 40 professions. Citizens’ perception is quite limited about careers and training styles in the environmental sector,” she says.
According to the general director, there is a growing trend towards so-called greening professions. “We see many that will be created, refined, or improved according to the government’s strategies in the ecological field,” she observes. Thermal envelopes, energy efficiency of buildings, recycling of materials… Green skills will become a necessity, she believes. “The environmental sector is only just beginning. There’s a lot of future in that. »
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This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.