ÉTS Interns: Ready for the Labour Market

Pascal Michaud, President of construction company Anjinnov, was recently invited to participate in a round table discussion, during which he was asked if the ÉTS Construction Engineering program prepared students well enough for the reality of the labour market.
His response was beyond words. Himself an ÉTS graduate, Pascal Michaud has been taking on co-op students from his alma mater for several years without any hesitation.

Engineers who are Future Project Managers

ÉTS trains future engineers who will be able to become project managers in any domain. “A project manager is like an orchestra conductor on a work site: he brings the stakeholders together and moves them forward. It takes someone who has the leadership, the technical knowledge and the rigour. These are qualities that I find among co-op students from ÉTS, where they make sure to train them to succeed in the job market”, explains Pascal Michaud.

A Broad Range of Knowledge in Construction

Anjinnov needs interns who have a broad range of knowledge in construction. “I’ve been there myself, and that’s what I’m looking for when I’m recruiting co-op interns. I just hired an engineer who did his three internships here. He demonstrated his skills to me, especially his desire to find himself a place on our work sites. I find that interns who come from ÉTS already know construction; they’re already technicians. And they're open-minded – they don’t have the condescending mentality that sometimes characterizes young engineers”, he hastens to add.

I take their training and development very much to heart. I want them to get useful training. After all, ÉTS is my alma mater! As a corporate citizen, Anjinnov makes it a duty to accommodate young future engineers. Here we put an emphasis on collaboration and mutual assistance. We’re winners in the end, because they get to know the business and eventually that will make them my next generation,” he concludes.