spacer
SSI
Search NNSL

  CLASSIFIEDSADVERTISINGSPECIAL ISSUESONLINE SPORTSOBITUARIESNORTHERN JOBSTENDERS

NNSL Photo/Graphic


Subscriber pages

buttonspacer News Desk
buttonspacer Columnists
buttonspacer Editorial
buttonspacer Readers comment
buttonspacer Tenders


Court News and Legal Links
http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=347767
Home page text size buttonsbigger textsmall textText size
Professional support wins praise
Past recipient reflects on value of scholarship on Lester Landau anniversary

Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, October 17, 2016

MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
As Lester Landau Chartered Accountants celebrates 30 years as a Nunavut business, one former employee and two-time recipient of their annual scholarship fondly recalls how the small company's support helped launch her career.

NNSL photo/graphic

Nellie Erkloo, a community economic development manager in Pond Inlet, started her career in Iqaluit with help from Lester Landau Chartered Accountants, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. - photo courtesy of Nellie Erkloo

"They were very friendly and very supportive of me," said Nellie Erkloo, now a manager for Economic Development and Transportation in Pond Inlet, recalling her time working at the Iqaluit firm after twice receiving a $1,500 award. "It was like a family setting. They helped me gain my confidence and nurtured me during the time I was there."

Erkloo's career move happened in 1997, when she left her job at the local hunters and trappers association for a two-year financial management course at Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit. Erkloo welcomed the encouragement and financial support. Only two of the 10 students graduated that year, and Erkloo recalls several of her fellow students struggling to work and attend school at the same time.

"I was proud of that award," said Erkloo. "I included it on my resume."

On graduation, Lester Landau offered her a job as an accounting assistant.

"It was a great learning experience. It gave me exposure. I got to travel through different communities," she said, adding she was immediately able to apply what she learned at school in the real world.

"I felt there's a need for people in this type of work. I thought we need more bookkeepers who know about accounting," she said, explaining her motivation to pursue the career.

As the Government of Nunavut formed, jobs of all sorts were being advertised. Erkloo recalls one in particular which asked, 'Are you interested in helping people?'

"That really caught my eye," she recalled.

That job was as a program officer in Pond Inlet. Soon, a managerial position came up and since then Erkloo has been the community economic development manager.

"We work with different communities, assisting communities, and small businesses who are applying for grants and contributions," she says. "I especially like working with the communities and helping make a difference economically."

Erkloo encourages anyone with an interest in bookkeeping and accounting to look into the management studies program at Arctic College.

Lester Landau, which has disbursed its scholarship for 29 years, continues to offer the $1,500 to the top Inuk student.

E-mailWe welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.