Learning the law to get ahead
Humber courses helped immigrant to move up ladder in new career with municipality
It was a heartless comment by a local police officer that spurred Raj Vemulapalli to start investigating a continuing education program.
A recent immigrant from Australia and before that India, Vemulapalli was working as a mobile campus security officer in 2002 at Centennial College’s four sites.
One afternoon, campus security had issued a car a ticket. However campus security did not have the power to tow the car; it regularly had to call the Toronto Police to do that.
“And the officer arrived two hours late,” recalls Vemulapalli. “My shift had ended long ago, but I stayed back because I was the person who had called them. So I was waiting and when he arrived, I asked, ‘Why did you take so long?’ He answered, ‘Why? Are you going to lose your 50cent- an-hour salary?’” The insulting comment prompted Vemulapalli, 45, to start researching law and bylaw enforcement careers. And before he knew it, he was registering in Humber College’s diploma in municipal bylaw enforcement program.
A career in municipal law enforcement wouldn’t be a stretch, decided Vemulapalli. While in Australia, he had worked in security at a chain of retail stores; while in his native India, he’d worked in automotive and aeronautic engineering.
“When we first landed here in August of 2000 from Australia, my wife was carrying our daughter. I had multiple qualifications in industrial engineering,” he says. “But I was pretty open to any kind of job and the first thing on my mind was to get a local qualification to understand the North American job market better.”
Also, he faced the same startling realization many newcomers to Canada face: His extensive experience in engineering in India would not be recognized here.
“So the course at Humber College was my first move to get a local qualification,” he says, “and I never stopped after that.”
While he was studying at Humber, initially at night, not even the birth of his second child slowed his momentum in pursuing this new career direction.
In fact, during his six-month parental leave that year (his wife was returning to work in her Arby’s restaurant partnership in Toronto’s Eaton Centre), Vemulapalli chose to double up on his class assignments to complete the diploma and graduate sooner than originally planned.
“At Humber, I had a very good teacher in property standardized security who suggested I pursue this field further because it was my strength,” he says. Sure enough, a month after he received his diploma, the Town of Oakville invited him to interview for a position as a bylaw enforcement officer in the parking department.
“And since it was September,” says Vemulapalli, “everything was still fresh in my brain and I could give them answers before they finished their questions.”
He was hired right away for a six-month contract, a job that later turned into a full-time salaried position as a parking enforcement officer.
Vemulapalli understood it was a new beginning for him and his family. “In many municipalities, parking enforcement is a way to get into a municipal organization — you have interaction with customers,” he says.
With an eye to moving up while working, he continued to pursue professional certification at Humber. He became certified as a municipal law enforcement officer, allowing him to handle more serious infractions such as bylaw enforcement under the Provincial Offences Act, handling zoning bylaws and more.
From there, he continued with certificate courses at Humber to increase his skills in bylaw enforcement in the areas of environmental noise, property standards, building code and, most recently, pursuing his certified municipal manager’s designation from the Ontario Municipal Managers Institute.
So while he started out in the parking office, Vemulapalli now holds the title of lottery licensing officer, licensing and bylaw services in the Town of Oakville’s clerk’s department.
“It has now been a couple of years since I left Humber College,” says Vemulapalli, “but I can say it was the first stepping stone for me to get where I am today.”