EPCOR powers up roles that flow into rewarding careers
Kirstine Hull remembers applying for her first real job as a summer student, answering a job posting that her mother had circled in the newspaper and left on the kitchen table at breakfast. “It turned out to be the only place I ever applied to for work,” Hull says. “At EPCOR, back when it was Edmonton Power.”
Twenty-eight years later Hull is the senior vice president of corporate services at EPCOR Utilities Inc., which has evolved since 1891 from the city’s light and power company into a North American utilities company with operations in four provinces and three states.
She remembers advice she got from her father, a bricklayer. “One thing he said to me, and I’ll never forget it, is ‘Listen to the people that do the work.’ That has gotten me through my whole career.”
David Anli began his career at EPCOR with two eight-month terms as a co-op student before taking his first full-time position at the company in 2009 as an engineer-in-training. Fifteen years later, he’s maintenance manager for major electrical projects and recalls the mentorship, both official and unofficial, that helped him take on new roles.
An electrical engineer when he started at EPCOR, he began thinking about branching out. “I knew I wanted to challenge myself more and take a look at some management routes,” he says. “I also pursued my MBA while working full time and taking night classes.”
That degree was partly subsidized with personal development funding available to every full-time employee, and Anli augmented it with leadership courses offered through the EPCOR School of Business.
“I became more interested in development - everything from leadership to communications, how to give and take feedback, and that really made me want to take more training courses.”
Hull says that people would be surprised by the variety of roles needed at a company like EPCOR: data scientists, lab techs, water operators, powerline technicians and computer programmers. There are a variety of field and office roles available.
“And as we’ve become more digital in the delivery of our services,” she says, “there are new skill sets that we’re hiring for that wouldn’t have been there back in the day, like social media. We have people who monitor our social media and do our marketing.”
Anli says the best parts of his job begin with its challenges, both as an individual and as part of a team.
“I really like challenges and problem solving,” he says. “Perhaps that’s my engineering side coming out. Every day is a little different and that makes it exciting. But one of the more important reasons why I like working for EPCOR is that we all work collaboratively together, and it seems like a ‘we’ kind of mentality as opposed to being in this by yourself.
“Your success is my success, and that carries over into the people I work with.”
Hull looks back on the range of experience she’s acquired in her time at EPCOR. “It’s not just a job, it’s a career,” she says. “I’ve had 15 different roles. I could have moved into 15 different companies in that same amount of time, but I was able to do it here, in one place.”
Anli echoes this, citing his own journey from engineer to manager: “You can build a career, and I’ve had many roles throughout my career, so there are opportunities here that you may not even know that you might be well-suited for.”
Connecting values and nurturing potential at EPCOR
For young people, a job search isn’t just about making money but finding an employer that aligns with your values. Kirstine Hull, senior vice president of corporate services at EPCOR Utilities Inc., the Alberta utility company based in Edmonton, says that this has become even more important than when she started at the company 28 years ago.
“When I joined EPCOR, I wanted to know that my work mattered,” she says “We’re in such a time of flux and change that it’s pretty cool to join a utility now. When you think about water conservation, about grid transformation, about decarbonization – all of those key elements of our life – it’s pretty cool to be a part of that.”
When she was a recent graduate, Yasmin Alawi, a consultant in talent development at EPCOR, says she was still trying to figure out what kind of career she wanted. “If it wasn’t for a friend of mine who told me to apply for a service consultant role, I don’t know if I’d actually be here today.”
She remembers the mentorship program she joined after starting. “I ended up matching with someone in human resources, and she was really fantastic in helping me understand what I needed, what types of transferable skills I had coming into HR, and what I could do to help prepare.
“She helped me navigate interview questions, and how to connect with peers and others within EPCOR and understand what the role looked like. During our meetings she would invite others from HR to meet me and I’d ask questions about the role, the team, the culture and what that looked like, and it gave me a well–rounded view of what I could be.”
Hull says the company casts a wide net looking for employees, at universities, trade schools, community colleges and right out of high school.
“We hire a lot of people as field workers or drivers who end up getting apprenticeships and are supported as they go through trade school to power line ticket or water operator ticket. We will help you grow your career.”
Alawi says that she learned early on what her priority was at EPCOR: “People. That’s my number one answer.
“Because if you’re not in the culture it can be difficult to understand, but consistently, throughout my various roles in EPCOR, the people have been fantastic. I’ve had really great relationships in my last seven years and I’ve continued to grow them. That’s the number one thing that keeps me here – the people as well as the culture.”
For Hull, helping young employees find their place at the company has become crucial. “As we look to the future, it’s important to consider how we build up the teams we’ll leave behind,” she explains. “For me, it’s about keeping front of mind how I can contribute to development of the next generation of young people and growth of future leaders.
“This is a company I want my kids to work for.”
“When I talk to people I always say, ‘Take a chance on yourself,’” Alawi says. “When a company like EPCOR resonates with your values and what you’re looking for, if the company provides you that career progression and learning opportunity, go ahead and do it.”