Solomon College shares with Diversity TV how it has adapted its job training program, Food Service Supervisor Preparation Program, to meet the changing COVID times.
Former Solomon College student Nermeen Atya shares her journey from Solomon College Food training program to her new job, with instructors; Gary Spencer and Monica Doherty sharing what they did to support her through her journey to her new job.
While in her new job, Nermeen said in a January 18, 2021 interview on Diversity TV that, ”I learned about food safety, first aid, management, leadership, learning about supervising, developing business plan, business communication”.
With no experience in the food industry before going into the program, Nermeen did the five months training, one month practical and ended up working where she did her practical as she explained, “…I have never worked in food service industry before but what I learned from the course helped me a lot to have a job…”.
When asked anything else before we call off the interview? She responded, “I recommend this course for anyone who’s a newcomer in Canada. It’s very good link if you want to have a job in the food service industry”.
Solomon College Food Service Supervisor Preparation Program is still taking students up to January 31, 2021, with funding and living allowance for qualified students.
Nermeen’s supervisors; Gary Spencer and Monica Doherty were very instrumental in training, providing a strong reference, and getting Nermeen into the food company to do her practical, where she eventually impressed the bosses and currently works there.
Although the program have undergone some modifications to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, they still get students into businesses to learn by doing in their one month practical. Monica shared, “…we’re still seeing students doing their practicums in person. We’re setting up some new partnerships with organizations that are going to continue to need people working in food service, like long term care. But in terms of what’s changed, yeah…we’re moving online. As a result, I would say, we’re seeing a lot of people growing in their computer skills, which is also really important, having those skills for the workplace these days. We’re excited people are rising to the challenge and finding that they’re still able to learn, and we’ve shifted a little bit, but we’re still seeing a lot of growth in reading, writing, listening, speaking, some really practical essential skills”.
Gary concludes, “…My main message that I’d really like to share is for newcomers who are thinking about what their next steps are, if they’re thinking this might be a program for them. There’s actually some funding available. So if, you know, for those who might find it difficult to pay for a program like this, there’s some really great financial support that they can explore with the college. So they’ll want to do that by the end of January 2021, so that they can join us in March. And we’d love to have more, we just love to support people in their goals…”.
Monica jumps in, “…that’s why we love what we do, right? …we have the joy of seeing people grow in their skills, grow in their confidence, so that they can reach their goals for themselves and their families. And I think maybe one thing to add is that at the end of this six month program, one thing that might be unique about Solomon College is that we’ve got staff that will continue to support people when they leave the program, and continue to help them if they need some help getting ready for an interview. Or, you know, there’s a number of ways in which we can help see them succeed even when they’re done so it doesn’t end after six months without Gary being a reference. Yeah, that’s right…we love providing references for our students for jobs. They’re so hard working and so determined to succeed. So it’s a joy to support them and see them succeed…”.
