Training evolution: recruitment firm shifts gears on simulator training.

AuthorRoss, Ian
PositionTHUNDER BAY

This past year prompted Paul and Melissa Giles to reassess the way their First Nation training and recruitment firm did its business.

Since setting up shop six years ago, the husband-and-wife owners of Origin Operator Recruitment and Training have been wildly successful in steering approximately 150 people toward paying careers.

The couple own four Caterpillar-made heavy equipment simulators and frequently trailer them into First Nation communities to unearth hidden talent, screen them for training purposes and match prospective employees to companies.

But the simulators weren't generating a steady stream of revenue.

"Industry wasn't really stepping up to the plate," said Paul Giles. Instead, it was the host communities they were invoicing.

Together with a new partner in Byron LeClair, they've rejigged the business model to supply on-demand labour while also acting as First Nation engagement specialists.

"Our goal is to change that revenue model over to industry instead of it being placed on the shoulders of the First Nations."

It's been a year of evolution for the growing 18-employee company which moved this year from a portable trailer at Fort William First Nation into office space in Thunder Bay.

At the annual Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund awards dinner in October, Melissa and Paul took home the Partnership Award given to business where at least one of the partners is of Aboriginal heritage.

LeClair worked 27 years at Pic River First Nation, negotiating deals in forestry, energy and mining, before departing to start his own consulting business.

"If a company wants to position...

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