PCL Construction is in the business of building careers

As a student at the University of Waterloo, Jordan Coutts had a plan to scout out the job market. His mechanical engineering program called for no less than five four-month co-op work placements. “I told myself at the beginning that I would do each co-op term at a different company,” he recalls. “I was actually planning not to return to any company until after I graduated.”

But after completing his third term with PCL Construction near his hometown of Calgary, Coutts knew he wanted to come back to the company if he could. He ended up serving his last two co-op terms with PCL on a solar energy project near Lethbridge, Alta. and with the company’s industrial estimating department in Edmonton. After graduating in 2022, he was hired on permanently as a project coordinator at PCL’s industrial projects hub in Nisku, Alta.

“I think I only had a week off after school,” he chuckles, with no hint of regret. “At this point I’m kind of hoping that I’ll spend the rest of my career with the company.”

A big part of PCL’s appeal to young recruits is the focus it puts on each employee’s career development. It has its own in-house College of Construction offering technical, job-related training. It offers leadership training at all levels and up to $1,000 a year per employee for work-related education off-site, in addition to conference and certification expenses. Employees have regular check-ins with their managers and receive guidance on how to progress in their careers based on their own interests and the needs of the firm.

“PCL is very much a growth- and learning-focused organization,” says Harmony Carter, vice-president, people and culture. She notes that CEO Chris Gower has publicly challenged his company to be the best at growing its people and their skill sets.

In the construction business, getting a variety of experience often requires movement across dispersed job sites. That’s why PCL has mobility assistance to make it easier for employees and their spouses to move to a different community — including a student mobility program. The company fills 1,000 student placements every year.

“We work hard to ensure that students who do well in their placements graduate with a job offer in hand,” Carter adds.

PCL also has formal mentorship programs that match junior employees with managers outside their department whom they can confide in and solicit career-building advice. Last year, the firm introduced My Career Builder, a personal program that shows employees exactly where they fit in the organization now and where they might have opportunities to grow.

“We really do try to make sure there’s a lot of clarity,” Carter says.

Coutts has taken College of Construction courses on scheduling, mobile cranes and rigging, and various safety procedures. Barely three years into his career at PCL, he’s already had two formal mentors and some informal ones — including very senior managers — and has stayed in touch with all of them. The company has low staff turnover, he notes, which means relationships tend to last.

“It’s a big company but it doesn’t feel big,” he says. “It feels a bit like a family. It feels like everybody knows each other.”

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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.