Tom Gooderham has owned a few businesses in his time and while he has sold them, he’s never really been happy with the way they’ve been run afterwards.
It could be different this time, as he has a good understudy at Grand Forks Optical in the form of Tina Finley, who recently became a certified optician.
“It took me a year and a half of studying and doing my practical under Tom and I just got my optician certificate,” explains Finley, who passed the American Board of Opticianry examination in November.
Amongst the subjects she learned were anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. It was through the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
The education has given Finley knowledge but the chance to learn from Gooderham and get on-the-job training has been invaluable to her.
“I’ve learned a lot from him,” Finley explains.
“He taught me basically to do everything because I was just given books and I asked him questions and he showed me how to adjust, how to deal with certain problems, how to help people. I do adjustments, fittings of glasses, repairs, including soldering and stuff like that.”
While she has a nice certificate hanging on the wall inside the Market Avenue business, Finley isn’t going to rest on her laurels though.
“Now I’m starting my contact lens fitting licence,” Finley says.
“The last (certificate) took about a year and a half and this one’s going to be a bit harder; it’s going to be about two years.”
For Gooderham, on-the-job training is one that he believes suits areas like Grand Forks well.
“I really think the apprenticeship-style program needs to come back. Passing on knowledge that you’ve gained over (a number) of years can be really, really tough in a classroom format. This kind of personalized training makes me feel better, it makes Tina more comfortable.”
It allows Finley the opportunity to get answers to questions immediately as opposed to waiting for an email response from an online course instructor.
As for his opinions on his apprentice, Gooderham has nothing but praise, calling Finley as one of his best students ever.