Yordas Group Impressed by Industry-Ready Algonquin Students
Posted on Monday, March 29th, 2021
In a year when its business has been inundated with pandemic-related work, the Yordas Group has been turning to Algonquin College to find students trained to be industry-ready.
Dr. Giselle Vincett, Vice President North America for UK head-quartered Yordas Group, said the last year has been particularly busy thanks to a proliferation of pandemic-related products that clients want to market around the world.
“I call it the year of ‘biocides’… hand sanitizer, disinfectants. We have been overwhelmed with requests for applications on things like that,” said Dr. Vincett, who works from Hamilton.
Yordas was originally founded to help chemical companies comply with international regulations, including the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) protocols. These frameworks are proliferating around the world and constantly changing.
“Everything from your paint to your furniture has got chemicals in it and all those chemicals are regulated, some more highly than others. It’s all about keeping the environment and human health safe,” said Dr. Vincett.
With its increasing workload, Yordas commenced a relationship just over a year ago with Algonquin’s Cooperative Education Department and the Regulatory Affairs Graduate Certificate Program. In some cases, the company brought students aboard in part-time capacities ahead of their co-op placements. Others have since been hired full-time.
“I have been super impressed with the quality of the candidates. We are getting people with Masters Degrees and PhDs. They are well-rounded and well-grounded in the science,” said Dr. Vincett. “Clearly there is an emphasis on being ready for industry. The students are ready to work.”
One of those Algonquin students is Angela Bischoff, who graduated in 2020 from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Environmental Science before turning to Algonquin’s Project Management Program to further enhance her skills.
“When I graduated from university the job market obviously was not that great. I decided to go back to school, and that’s why I turned to Algonquin. I knew there were a lot of opportunities in project management in the science and engineering industry,” said Bischoff. “It worked out perfectly, giving me an opportunity to work with Yordas in the field of environmental science and regulatory affairs and project management. The stars really aligned for me.”
Bischoff is currently working part-time at Yordas while attending school. She will commence her co-op term there later this spring, with graduation set for August. She is hoping to eventually find a permanent home at Yordas, where she is the first person trained specifically for project management. She said her Algonquin education has meshed nicely with her work so far.
“There is a lot of crossover between my tasks at Yordas and my school assignments. For example, I had to create an evaluation criteria for a vendor and we were currently doing that in one of my classes,” said Bischoff.
Algonquin has long placed emphasis on work-integrated-learning and regularly turns to industry partners like Yordas to help accentuate course material so that it can meet current job market demands. Dr. Vincett said this is one of the strengths of Canada’s post-secondary sector and has high praise for Algonquin’s Cooperative Education Department.
“We come to them at completely the wrong times asking for help, and they bend over backwards for us. They have been great to help us find people right away,” she said, noting members of the Yordas team have given lectures on regulatory affairs to Algonquin students and she looks forward to further collaboration.
PHOTO: Angela Bischoff, who graduated in 2020 from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Environmental Science, is currently studying Project Management at Algonquin College. She is also working part-time at Yordas, and will commence a co-op term there later this spring.
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