With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1222419
W I N N E R PAULINE STEVENSON F O U N D E R + P R E S I D E N T , E X C E L C A R E E R C O L L E G E WHEN PAULINE STEVENSON hears employers say they can't find skilled labour, she sees an opportunity: "How can we find them the people who could be their next employees?" Since 1989, Stevenson has run Excel Career College, an accredited school in Courtenay offering full diploma programs, shorter courses and personal- ized training for businesses and other organizations. The college evolved out of night classes she offered in the 1980s, helping people learn to use computers. Born in Port Alberni, Ste- venson got her foot in the door of the education sector after high school. She approached an accounting firm in Courtenay and offered them free labour in exchange for any skills they would teach her. "They provided me with management and computer training, and pro- moted me to be their manager," she explains. Soon in her seven- year tenure, she began showing colleagues how to improve their computer skills. As demand grew, she saw she had the mak- ings of a school. At first, Stevenson's college, then called Computer Training 2000, focused on accounting software and basic tech skills. The provincial government con- tracted her to do group training, first for its own clients and then skills development for the unem- ployed. The school, which now delivers programs across the province, has always been about "connecting people to jobs," she says. "Sometimes it's a labour market challenge where people need to upgrade skills, or it's employers looking for employees with certain skill sets." Excel is small enough to be nimble. It offers a vast array of programs—finance or health-care assistant, business management, aquaculture technician—and can add new ones quickly to meet demand. Stevenson gives the example of setting up custom training in a First Nations community, prompted by an employer who was motivated to hire from within it. Six weeks later, her school had "a class of partici- pants getting trained for that specific need of that company," she recalls. Excel welcomes an average of 100 full-time-equivalent stu- dents a year. In 2022, Stevenson will move the school onto a new campus with a custom- built facility. "I've always had a passion for mentorship and coaching, for seeing people move forward in their roles," she says of her 30 years in business. "I'm in a very meaningful part of my career, and I'm certainly not done." —J.N.W. 32 BCBUSINESS APRIL 2020