The Spirit of the New Generation

Written by: Eyerusalem (Zoe) Newport
Featuring: Sarah Coleman & Cameron Minns

Sarah Coleman is a qualified Engineer at Comalco who has a contagious laughter and cheery atmosphere about her; she refuses to take many things too seriously.

Another like her is Cameron Minns, a keen member of the safety committee who enjoys his role because he gets to go out there, get his hands dirty and improve something for the better.

Sarah jokes about her generation of Uni Graduates being known as the “educated idiots’ by some older employees and its fair to say that the traits she possesses are what have made her two years so far at Comalco so rewarding.

They are both happy with the lifestyle of working at Comalco and see their current roles as steps in starting fantastic careers; they both believe Comalco is doing great things for them.

Sarah is a Victorian girl, who doesn’t seem to mind being of the minority sex in her chosen workforce (there are approximately 45 females in a workforce of 540) She believes your treatment is all in your attitude and if you go in expecting different treatment then you will get it and it’s important that people are getting the roles based on merit.

Cameron came to Tassie on a cold, rainy, windy average Tassie day and like Sarah can’t praise enough the importance of the older employees in such a workforce. They have so much knowledge and experience and it is important to respect as well as listen to what they have to say.

Sarah believes if she can teach the older employees just one thing then she has succeeded and its not about making yourself look good while Cameron has realised that a lot of the practical problems encountered by him have been trialled and tested in the past so communication is very important.

Sarah and Cameron are great examples of the diversity of age and qualification of Comalco and how it is incorporating skills of all generations in a surrounding where they can best benefit from each other in the overall aim for best final results.