One of the favourite parts of Sheryl Ranton’s job is speaking to workers on the shop floor, listening to their ideas and coming up with new efficiencies at Theta TTS in Barrie.

If Sheryl Ranton had the means to do nothing but attend Georgian College all the time, she would. And this from a woman who dropped out of high school at the age of 15.

“I absolutely hated high school. I was one of those people who was a round peg in a square hole,” Ranton recalls. “But coming to it later in life, I loved college. I’d absolutely recommend it.”

She believes her many years of experience working in the service industry, waitressing and bartending, helped her develop excellent life skills, patience, understanding and leadership traits. She also raised two children. By the time she took college entrance exams, in her early 40s, she was found to have Grade 12 or 13 equivalency in almost every subject.

Ranton entered the Office Administration – Office Systems program in 2002.

During the second year of the program, students have options, and Ranton was intrigued by a human resource course called Training and Development.

“I absolutely fell in love with it. I thought about being a leader and really liked the training part,” said Ranton. “I am a people person, and the more I thought about administration, I thought maybe I wouldn’t be interacting much with people, but with a specialty in training and development, I would.”

After graduating from Office Administration, Ranton entered the Human Resource Management (HRM) graduate certificate program in 2003 – the first year it was offered at Georgian. Today’s human resource professionals are managers of change. They must respond to the challenges triggered by new trends in technology, increasing government involvement in the employer-employee relationship, workplace diversity and globalization. Georgian’s one-year HRM program is designed to develop this expertise.

Career opportunities are available in all sectors of the economy because every organization, whether private or not-for-profit, has a human resources function. Many grads find positions in training and development, recruitment and selection, human resource administration, occupational health and safety, plus a variety of exciting positions. Ranton was the oldest person in her class, but didn’t feel out of place. Many students were in their mid-20s or older and all were college grads.

Here, she found her niche. Ranton’s co-op placement was at Theta TTS Precision Metal Forming in Barrie. It was such a good fit that Theta hired her after graduation; she’s been working there ever since.

It was important for Ranton to work in Barrie, because of her children, and Theta provided the mental stimulation she was craving. She started with a data entry project, which has evolved into an aspect of the firm’s success. Ranton gathers data such as how many parts are made, where the time is going and what it’s costing. She spends a lot of time on the shop floor, talking to workers about tasks and listening to them about how processes could work better.

Ranton conducts in-house training about topics as diverse as WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System), pedestrian safety, crane training and standard operating procedure. She teaches the classroom portion, while a skilled worker carries out the hands-on tasks.

“Everything I learned at Georgian is very relevant. A lot of the overall information about how business is run has come in useful every day. It gives you confidence so you can talk the business language. I can talk to the CEO or the guy on the floor comfortably.”

Ranton keeps in touch with some of her Georgian professors as resources and some of the grads have formed a Yahoo group to keep in touch and exchange ideas. She has also stayed in touch with Georgian College by representing Theta at career fairs, where the company often hires Georgian grads. She’s taken a couple of upgrading courses at the college and is nearing completion of her Teaching and Training Adults certificate.

“I was afraid to go to college at first, but it was the best thing I ever did,” said Ranton. “I just love the college. If I could be a full-time student, I’d just go to Georgian and keep going and keep learning as much as I could.”