Tammy Mercier is proud of the work she鈥檚 doing at Atlantic Central, the organization that represents and supports the credit unions of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.
鈥淎s manager of Sales and Member Experience Training,鈥� she explains, 鈥淚 work with almost 2,600 staff across the credit unions in all four Atlantic provinces designing and facilitating training programs as well as coaching executive and leadership teams.鈥濃��
It鈥檚 a role that鈥檚 taken on a life of its own, thanks to Mercier鈥檚 enthusiasm and dedication. And thanks to the skills and confidence she gained through the certificate in Adult Education (now the certificate in Adult Learning Fundamentals) she completed at Dal鈥檚 Faculty of Open Learning and Career Development (OLCD).
鈥淎ll my past accreditations gave me one part of what I needed. I have a finance degree and I have a political science degree and I鈥檝e been a coach. But I hadn鈥檛 actually learned to teach. I needed that teaching piece. The certificate with Dal was a pretty incredible experience. It鈥檚 changed my whole career.鈥�
鈥淔olks, I鈥檓 out of here. I got accepted to the fire department.鈥濃�擬ike Hall (supplied photo)
It鈥檚 been nearly 30 years since Mike Hall began working with the St. John鈥檚 Regional Fire Department. He laughs when he remembers how he found out he got the job. The Memorial University (MUN) administration office called him from class to pass along the good news message from his dad.
鈥淚 went back to my lecture and just walked in and said, 鈥楩olks, I鈥檓 out of here. I got accepted to the fire department. I鈥檓 done.鈥� So that was it. They all started clapping and applauding. Maybe there鈥檚 still a locker back in university with my stuff in it. Because I don鈥檛 think I cleaned it out.鈥�
For decades, Hall focused on his day-to-day work in the ranks of the fire service and never looked back. That changed when he, once again, got a message from his dad.
鈥淚 remember my dad coming over one time and he said to me, 鈥楧id you ever hear about the guy who kept smashing himself in the head with a hammer?鈥� I said, 鈥楴o.鈥� He said, 鈥楶eople used to ask him why do you keep doing that to yourself? And he said, Well, it feels so good when I stop.鈥� He said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e that guy. You know, it鈥檚 time for you to grow up, take the reins of your career, and dig in.鈥� So, I took that advice.鈥�
Hall returned to MUN to complete a project management certificate and then he spoke to his director in the fire department about becoming part of the management team. She told him to consider a Fire Leadership program to help him round out his skills. Hall鈥檚 search brought him to OLCD for the Certificate in Fire Service Administration, a nine-course online program to help fire service officers develop their administrative and managerial skills.
Genevieve MacIntyre turns toward her computer screen and clicks open the bookmarks that take her to the concepts she wants to remember from the microcredential certificates she recently completed.
鈥淚 refer to these daily. They鈥檙e reminders of what I鈥檝e learned. And reminders of what I didn鈥檛 know. There was a phrase that Crystal [the instructor] kept using in the program: 鈥榊ou only know what you know, and you don鈥檛 know what you don鈥檛 know.鈥� It鈥檚 good to be aware that you don鈥檛 kn