Shane Willier

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Diversify your talents during these uncertain times

If there is one thing Shane Willier-Williams doesn’t have, it’s a one track mind.

And for someone set on a career in business, especially during these uncertain economic times, being multi-faceted is a terrific quality.

“I want to be a business administrator, a computer tech, and a web designer, but I decided to first take on NorQuest’s hospitality and service industry training so I can have it in my back pocket.”

For the past few years, the 28-year-old has lived his life under the wise premise that he is better suited to learning than he is to simply struggling. He first returned to school in 2012 to take NorQuest’s Academic Upgrading (AU) program. It was then he caught wind of the college’s new Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation Hospitality Institute (EOCFHI).

The institute responds to the demand for skilled workers trained in world-class hospitality and customer-service skills. Students take a common Introduction to the Service Industry course, then may choose to take one or more of five different specialties. The courses are short and easy to fit into a busy schedule. An EOCFHI bursary is available to those who qualify!

“The service skills training changed me a lot. Everything they said not to do, I was doing: wearing jeans to interviews, big jewelry, not being properly-groomed. It really turned me around, not just as a worker but as a person.”

Willier-Williams has now completed both the AU and EOCFHI programs and has applied to the college’s Business Administration diploma program for September 2016.

“Success can be served on a platter for anyone who is willing to live it, breathe it, and make it a part of them,” he says.

I want to be a business administrator, a computer tech, and a web designer, but I decided to first take on NorQuest’s hospitality and service industry training so I can have it in my back pocket.