Canada's Top Employers for Young People (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 52
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CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (2025)
Hydro Ottawa offers a high-energy, innovative culture
T
here are times when
Keith Hutt gets to
feel like a hometown
hero. When Hutt, a
powerline technician
with Hydro Ottawa, is out there
restoring essential electrical
service after a major storm, he
likes the sense of purpose his
work gives him. The Ottawa-based
utility generates and delivers
electricity to approximately
364,000 homes and businesses in
the city of Ottawa and Village of
Casselman.
“It makes you feel pretty
valuable when people come out to
show their appreciation for what
we do,” says Hutt, who completed
the co-op powerline technician
program at Algonquin College,
offered in partnership with Hydro
Ottawa, before being hired as
an apprentice. “The work is very
rewarding and the company offers
lots of opportunities for career
growth and to move around to
different departments.”
Maiss Al-Obaidi, engineering intern, at Hydro Ottawa.
I feel challenged all the
time, trying to create
solutions and solve
problems for the future.
— Maiss Al-Obaidi
Engineering Intern
Hydro Ottawa partners with
local educational institutions,
such as Algonquin College
and Carleton University, to
recruit co-op students, including
Algonquin’s “We Saved You a
Seat” program that aims to attract
more women to non-traditional
careers. Additionally, the company
hosts career events and hires 60-70
students annually during the
summer.
Donna Burnett Vachon,
director, change and organization
development, says there’s a huge
opportunity for careers in the
electricity industry, which is going
through its biggest transformation
in the past 100 years. Currently,
Hydro Ottawa is undertaking
numerous projects to meet the
city’s growing needs and support
sustainability goals.
“We’re a fast-paced, high-energy,
very innovative company with
a young workforce – close to 40
per cent of our employees are 35
and under,” says Burnett Vachon.
“Hydro Ottawa has a lot of work to
do, which presents opportunities
for young professionals. We have
engineers out of university programs who are working towards
their professional engineering
licence, so we support them
throughout with the right mentors
and projects, plus anything additional needed for their licence.”
For example, engineering intern
Maiss Al-Obaidi, first came to
Hydro Ottawa in 2018 as a co-op
student studying sustainable and
renewable energy engineering at
Carleton University. Several years
after her co-op term, she applied
again for a different role as a smart
grid engineer-in-training and was
hired.
“I feel challenged all the time,
trying to create solutions and solve
problems for the future,” says
Al-Obaidi. "My manager always
encourages me to flag any gaps I
may have so I can further enrich
my knowledge.”
The company also offers a
large digital learning platform
that all employees can access for
professional development skills or,
on the trade side, for virtual reality
scenarios that the apprentices can
use for different work processes.
Mentoring on the job is another
important aspect.
“My female supervisors are very
