Ric Studney’s Mentorship Story

It was a career that spanned over 40 years and took him all across Canada.

“I worked in supply chain management. I had my own consultant company for a period of time as well as worked for well-known companies such as Hudson’s Bay. I moved around a lot in Canada, but now into retirement I call Calgary and Windemere home,” shares Ric Studney.

Ric Studney and his mentee Aditya Laijawala 

In retirement, he mentors, and has been a mentor with CRIEC (The Calgary Region Immigrant Employment Council) for more than 5 years!

“I was connected with CRIEC back in 2012. But I have been mentoring my whole life. It’s part of me. I love seeing my mentee’s face come through the door with a big smile, and I know – he got a job!”

As a CRIEC mentor, you support internationally trained professionals who recently arrived in Calgary. For international professionals who specialize in supply chain management, they are fortunate to connect with Ric; he knows the ins and outs of the industry in Canada.

“I moved around a lot, but I believe a lot of my career success was because I am good with people and I worked really hard.”

As a farm kid for Battleford Saskatchewan, Ric does not shy away from hard work. He approaches the job hunt as if it’s his full-time job and applies a strong work ethic.

“Whenever I went for an interview, I was always pretty confident I was going to get the job. I knew that my chances were good because I practiced my interview skills in front of a camera, I did research on the company and I knew how to turn an interview around if things were not going in a positive direction,” he shares.

From both sides of the table, as the interviewer and interviewee, Ric has a good idea what his mentees need to do to land a job.

“Most of my mentees have the hard skills, but they need to work on the soft skills – and that can take practice. In the end, if they are not getting the job or the interviews they want, we do it the hard way and start knocking on doors.”

Ric puts his mentees to work with what he calls a street smart approach. One task is his mentees must create a list of goals and smart objectives they wish to achieve during the mentorship. Some have more than 30 on their list.

“It’s about dedication, focus and practice. You can land the job you want, but you have to work for it and be resilient.”

Ric wants new Canadians to know that,
“There is a hidden job market out there, where 90% of the jobs are found. You get those jobs through networking. I had one mentee who applied for 300 jobs and finally got one through networking.”

Every step of the job search process, Ric is there to offer his mentee support and guidance.
“I will be honest and say, I relish in success! Again, it’s the smile on my mentees face after landing a job that makes it all worth it.”

Sign up to be a mentor today, here

CRIEC builds pathways and positive relationships between Calgary employers and internationally trained professionals (ITPs) that encourage hiring and retention.
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” Milton Berle
Learn more at criec.ca