Thursday 28 January 2016


We caught up with Jodie Worobec, a past Career Peer Educator at the U of A Career Centre to ask about how this position affected her beliefs about employment. 

How did your work as a Career Peer Educator (CPE) affected your beliefs about finding employment?


CPE = Confidence Producing Experience. While completing my Bachelor of Commerce degree, I was fortunate to find the Career Peer Educator (CPE) program through the U of A Career Centre. Over the last three years of my degree, I gained significantly more from the CPE position than your ordinary on-campus job. This experience has had a lasting impression on not only my career path, but on how I approach life. 

Upon graduating, I was able to experience a concept that I had been teaching my student peers, the idea of planned happenstance. This theory revolves around preparing yourself to take advantage of unplanned career opportunities. When I finished my degree, I left to travel South America for two months with no career direction planned for my return. About halfway through my trip, I received messages from two staff members to alert me of a full time contract position at the career centre that would fit my skill set and career direction. I adapted to this unusual situation and prepared my resume while in Argentina, and interviewed on an outdoor pay phone in Brazil. I was offered the position and started my contract 48 hours after returning to Canada. I attribute my success to the network I had built in university and my openness to pursue an unexpected opportunity. Ultimately, this lead me to two contracts at the U of A Career Centre, and my first two years of full time career employment. 

What kind of influence did this position have on your  own career path?
Though my student work as a Career Peer Educator was a launching point for my career, the biggest benefit of the position was a boost to my confidence. The main role of a CPE is to educate students on resume, interview, and career skills. In order to advise other students, the U of A Career Centre provides the CPEs with in-depth training to ensure they are armed with knowledge of resume and interview best practices. If I had to guess, I probably reviewed more than 100 student resumes and conducted as many mock interviews in my time as a CPE. Using my training to review this many resumes, has made it a breeze to be critical about my own resume to wow potential employers. Once my resume has showcased my skills and opened the door to an interview, I am confident in my interview skills, so I can focus on expressing the experience I bring to a position rather than being nervous. Had it not been for my training and time working with the U of A Career Centre, I don’t think I would have the career confidence I have today. 

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Career Snapshot - Joan Schiebelbein - Career Centre - University of Alberta 


We caught up with Joan Schiebelbein, Director of the University of Alberta Career Centre, to find out about her experience with summer employment.

How would you describe your experience with summer employment during university? Were all of your summer jobs related to your field of work?
All of the summer jobs I had when I was an undergraduate student at the U of A were manual labour. One was with a student painting company. When it came to describing that job on my resume, I didn’t know what to write besides “Painted houses.” However, when I really think about how I did that job and the environment I worked in, I see that I developed some very valuable transferable skills. Let me explain.

I worked the whole summer with one other student. Our boss would take us to a new job site, review what needed to be done, tell us how much time we had to do it, and give us our supplies. Sometimes we wouldn’t see him again for days. My partner and I would decide when our work day would begin and end, when we would take breaks, and who would be responsible for doing what. If there were any problems with the job, we worked them out with the homeowner. If they couldn’t be resolved, then we were responsible for contacting our boss.

We were only paid for the number of hours budgeted for the job. If we went over budget our actual hourly wage was lower than what we were hired at, but if we were under budget our actual hourly wage was higher. After about a month’s experience, we often came under budget and still received positive feedback from our customers, some of whom would actually leave us a house key so that we had access to a washroom. One even let us use her swimming pool!


So what transferable skills did I develop through this experience? Teamwork, customer service, problem solving, responsibility, and trustworthiness just to name a few – these are all skills I’ve continued to use throughout my career. 

Friday 22 January 2016

Career Snapshot - Rabib Alam - Faculty of Engineering - University of Alberta 


We caught up with Engineering student, Rabib Alam, to discuss the benefits of finding summer employment that relates to your degree and what advice he would give to first year students. 

While in University, were you able to find summer employment that was related to your degree?
Coming from a specialized academic background such as Petroleum Engineering, I was eyeing job openings in the oil and gas industry ever since my first semester. Finally, after having gained a diversity of extra-curricular experiences that entailed part-time on-campus work, student group leadership involvement and finally a summer internship with the University itself, all of this during my first year, I felt I was ready to apply for the Engineering Student Summer Internships that many of the big oil and gas companies were advertising. Fall (September to October) is often times the peak recruiting season for these companies, so I used my free time in summer prior to that to research these companies more effectively to be able to target my work search better.  As fall came, I had applied to over 6 different companies, mostly for Field Engineering Student positions and after having waited patiently, yet, with a tad bit of nervousness, I finally received a couple of interview calls. Both interviewers were impressed by my diversity of experiences and appreciated how I balanced commitments despite having to go through the hell-fire that Engineering first year is.  Encana Corporation, a Calgary based integrated energy company, offered me a 4 month Field Operations Engineering Position, which set the right momentum for my career growth ever since.

What was the value of looking for related work early in your degree as oppose to finding a position once you had graduated?
Experiential learning activities like Internships, part-time work, student group involvement give your university experience a greater meaning. If you’re able to find work earlier on, you would be able to gain simple, yet meaningful transferable skills such as effective communication skills, both verbal and written, organization, teamwork and sound work ethics. These are sometimes classified as soft-skills that regardless of the industry you’re pursuing work for, are extremely valuable employability traits. Therefore, when you gain these skills earlier on during your university years, you’re making the transition into your desired work-place a lot smoother. Additionally, most companies hire new graduates for new-graduate training positions which usually last 1-3 years for employers. Since it does cost employers time, money and effort, it makes more sense for them to hire students with more experience and the desired soft-skills over students who have only graduated with a degree in hand. Additionally, the workplaces are getting more and more competitive each day, and in order to not just survive but be an achiever, students need to stand out from the crowd; the earlier it’s done, the better. On a final note, I will share a link to an article written by an Industry mentor I personally look up to a lot for all the right things she has to say about the student recruitment world.

If you were to pass on a piece of advice to first year engineers regarding employment, what would it be?
The first year of engineering schedule doesn’t bring back the sweetest memories, and I am sure all others who have gone through it don’t feel too differently. Yet, during the weekends, evenings, or even scheduled breaks, try doing something meaningful. U of A offers job shadow week programs that run during both the Fall and Winter reading week break. You could use that time to pair up with an Engineering Industry professional and shadow them at their own workplace! Not only are you making useful connections, but you’re getting a good sense of what engineering specialization you would want to choose going forward. Additionally, no campus recruiter expects engineering students to have relevant industry experience, especially for summer or co-op jobs. However, they do expect you to have other experiences be it through student group involvement or through your weekend part-time job. At the end of the day, they would be assessing you based on what you have done mostly outside of class and not be too vested in knowing how well you prepared prior to your Math 101 Final.  

Wednesday 20 January 2016

Career Snapshot - Yuan Shi - Undergraduate Research Initiative - University of Alberta 



We caught up with Yuan Shi, who works as the Engagement Facilitator at the Undergraduate Research Initiative at the University of Alberta, to ask about her transition from a former international student into the workplace. As well as her recent experience attending a youth forum in Barcelona, Spain.  

When you decided to move to Canada to pursue your education abroad, what were some of the difficulties that you had to overcome? 
I am a female, born and raised in a small Chinese village with severe pollution and overwhelming gender discrimination. I used to be painfully shy. At 18, I dropped out of my local university to pursue my dream of studying abroad. The hurdles of the application process were countless—I lacked formal English language training, financial support and social networks. When you are the first person in your entire family to attend college, you don’t know what your potentials are, until someone told you that “you can do it.” The inspiration within my career has always been the idea of community. For the past five years, I was highly involved with community development via diverse initiatives and delivered community engagements in Cuba, Mexico, Canada, Spain and the mountain ranges of China. 

You recently participated in a prestigious youth forum in Spain, what was your experience at the conference and how did it effect your future career path?
In October 2015, I attended a youth forum called "The New Era of Employment and Education: Solutions for Change" in Barcelona, Spain. The conference gathered 75 young professionals and senior experts throughout the world to exchange ideas, share experience and build a global network to contribute to tackling the issue of youth education and unemployment. What I found unique about the forum was that 16 youth-led community projects, initiated by over 30 young leaders, were selected to compete for financial and technical support.  The projects ranged from social media information sharing platforms and professional development programs to education models and collaborations with businesses. I was impressed that 73 out of 75 program participants were from developing nations, with only two people from North America.  I was equally impressed that 70% of the presenters were female. The youth presenting their projects have been leading small but powerful social programs in their local communities and making genuine contributions. 

Four days’ inspirational experience with young leaders reminded me of a term I had heard a few times—soft power. This term was initially coined by political scientist Joseph Nye as the ability to attract and persuade. Shashi Tharoor, in his TED talk, called it, “the ability of a culture to tell a compelling story and influence others to fall in love with them”. This experience in Spain offered me valuable first-hand experience on the importance of soft power to career development. I found that having the awareness of improving my soft power really push me and challenge me to expand my horizons. In this way, you always keep your mind open about what you see before you get to the destination. Because your destination may not be important, it’s about the experiences along the way and how those experiences enrich you as a critical and thoughtful citizen. 

Friday 15 January 2016

Career Snapshot - Marni Devlin Moses - Sustainability Scholars Program - University of Alberta 


We caught up with Marni Devlin Moses to ask about her work with the Sustainability Scholars Program and how her interest in environmental conservation and knowledge of sustainability impacted her career path.
       
How did your Sustainability Scholars Program project, The Way We Green, come to fruition, and what is the ultimate goal of the project? 
As an MBA student specializing in Sustainability, I was very excited when the opportunity to work with the City of Edmonton as a Sustainability Scholar came up. I thought that this would be a real world chance to use my knowledge and skills to address issues of sustainability in the City. My project was around Energy Mapping and started with the availability of some data on residential energy use across the city. The question was how can we use this information to identify opportunities to engage with citizens and further the City’s goals in their sustainability strategy, The Way We Green.

The goals for the project were to use data on energy use to identify opportunities for activities or interventions that could reduce energy usage in different neighborhoods; to create city neighborhood profiles to identify areas for targeted interventions based on their energy use and other socioeconomic data; and to identify other jurisdictions that have collected and used energy consumption data to see how the information guided their actions. The final report provided some recommendations about how the energy data could be used, and underscores the need to have this level of detailed information to make the best possible decisions. With consistent, reliable data, the city will be able to make recommendations, set targets, and measure change and success over time.

How has working with the Sustainability Scholars Program impacted your career path? 
My career path has taken me in some very different directions. I completed a BSc in Biological Sciences and then went on to an MSc in Experimental Medicine. After working in research for many years, I decided that I had a real interest in the environment and sustainability and wanted to find a way to take my scientific knowledge and training into the business world to apply it to some very pressing questions about how we use our resources and how we can do better. The Sustainability Scholars program gave me a chance to work outside my traditional field and to gain experience that I can apply to my future work. It was also an opportunity to meet people, across many disciplines, who have similar sustainability goals. Sustainability is a multi-faceted problem and many perspectives and ideas will be needed to come up with the best solutions. The Sustainability Scholars program gives graduate students an opportunity outside of academia to gain work experience and is an example to employers of the value that these students bring to the table. 

Tuesday 12 January 2016



Career Snapshot - Julia Rudolf - Green and Gold Grant Recipient - University of Alberta 


We caught up with Julia Rudolf to hear about her experience at the Harvard Women in Business Weekend in Boston which she attended through the University of Alberta Green and Gold Grant.


What conference did you attend through the Green and Gold Grant and how did this experience affect your career path?
I had the opportunity to attend the Harvard Women in Business Weekend in Boston, Massachusetts in early October of 2014. I was able to afford this amazing experience through the kindness and generosity of the Green and Gold Grant and the University of Alberta Annual Fund donors. The Women in Business Weekend provided me with a variety of networking and skill-building opportunities, as well as motivated and inspired me to pursue my wildest dreams, both personally and professionally. Let me walk you through this exciting weekend.

At the time, I was co-chair of the Network of Empowered Women, a student club at the Alberta School of Business, so I received an invitation to the International Women in Business (IWIB) Summit on October 4th. It featured interactive discussions on being a leader and on career development with a small group of 30 on-campus leaders, and saw some incredible keynote addresses.  The first keynote was Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist and professor at Harvard who discussed power posing and the ways in which body language shapes us. 
The second keynote was on the topic of negotiations and knowing your worth in the workplace, and was presented by Joanna Coles, Editor-In-Chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine in New York. I got to meet Joanne afterwards, too! The third keynote was presented by Wendy Kopp, Founder and Chair of Teach for America, and CEO and Co-Founder of Teach for All, about her career path in the not-for-profit sector. These keynotes were followed by discussion between delegates about leadership, particularly within a student group, as well as conversations about school, work-life balance, and entering the workforce.


The Intercollegiate Business Convention took place the next day, on October 5th. This saw 1000 students from all over the world come together for various breakout sessions as well as keynote speeches from Kat Cole, President of Cinnabon, Inc. at the time, Julie Greenwald, COO & Chairman of Atlantic Records, and Maria Eitel, President of the Nike Foundation. The keynotes were absolutely amazing, as all were incredibly accomplished, gracious, and humble leaders who shared their experiences without restraint. There was also a career fair and opportunities for downtime, where I got to meet students from other schools.


In business, your network is one of your most valuable resources. One of the greatest take-aways from the weekend is the alumni network of business leaders, present and future, from the world’s top business schools and corporations that I was able to connect with. By meeting these influential business students and corporates, I opened up new opportunities in my career and gained a new perspective on the far reaching impacts of business.


Above all, the conference left me feeling incredibly inspired and motivated to pursue new career opportunities and shoot for the starts in terms of my career development.  The stories of the speakers, as well as the ability to meet empowering students from all over the world, gave me a new perspective on where I would like my career to go.  I have since graduated and am now working as an accountant for EY. I’ve also recently founded a local online store called Benefair, which sells jewellery and accessories from socially conscious brands all over the world. Even today, I think back to this conference any time I need some extra inspiration, and I am still connected to the people I met at the conference on social media. This was truly an incredible opportunity, and I cannot thank the Green and Gold Grant enough for helping me experience it!

Friday 8 January 2016

Career Snapshot - Jia Jia - Transition to Career Coordinator - University of Alberta Career Centre

We caught up with Jia Jia to find out what she wishes she knew about careers when she was a student, the best career advice she's ever received and more.

On finding your career path as a former International student:
A series of happenstance events lead me to my career path in Career Services. For example, I would not have worked for the Career Centre as a Career Peer Educator (CPE) if I had not met a former CPE as a fellow volunteer and chatted about finding a part time job. Moreover, I would not have become aware of and applied for my first full-time job with the Career Centre, three years later, if I had not met a former colleague for coffee.  A common thread in these unexpected events is that I went out and connected with people, mostly through informal networking activities like having coffee or connecting via email. In fact, every job that I have had here in Canada was brought to my attention by people in my social network.

The best piece of career advice you ever received:
Many years ago, I was contemplating if I should apply for the Employer Relations Advisor position with the Career Centre. Worried that I might not have the right experience and qualifications for this position, I approached a friend, who used to work at the Career Centre as well. She said: “If you are interested, it will not hurt to try. What’s the worst that could happen?” I keep coming back to this advice whenever I am feeling uncertain about pursuing a career goal.

Something you wish you had known earlier about finding a career path:
When I first come to Canada, I studied for my Master’s degree in Educational Psychology. I chose to do it because I thought the only way to find a good job in Canada is by getting a Canadian degree. Since I had already studied Ed Psych in my undergrad program in China, it would only make sense to get an advanced degree in the same field. It was a great academic program but not a good fit with my interests and values. I wish I had more knowledge of what career options new immigrants with an education from abroad might have and what alternative career options I could have before I committed four years of my life to this program.

Why you are excited about the creation of the Transition to Career (T2C) program?
Transition to Career (T2C) is a very versatile program that can be adapted for each of the participants based on their unique career needs and interests. Doesn’t matter what stage you are at in your career journey, doesn’t matter how much time or effort you can invest in your career development at this point, we can find a way to make T2C work for you. Moreover, we want to empower you to become your own career expert and build your competitive advantage. We want you to be able to apply the knowledge, skills, attributes, and connections obtained through T2C,  ideally throughout your life, to develop fulfilling careers. Our T2C career experts will support you throughout the program.

Career Snapshot - Vern Albush – Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Servus

We caught up with Vern at our Fall 2015 Job Shadow Week to find out a bit more about his job and why he finds job shadowing so valuable.

Why did you want to be a job shadow host today?
For two reasons: I run the community investment program for the company and when the opportunity came for us to take a leadership role in the U of A’s job shadow week, it fit very well with the values of who we are and what we are trying to do – from a corporate perspective I was very supportive of it.  Once that was in place, I also put my hand up to be a host.  I just think it’s really important that as a professional we have the opportunity to share what it is that we do with others who may have an interest in our area and in my area in particular, a rather new and emerging area, I think I can contribute a fair bit of value to those who are starting out.


What advice would you give to someone who wanted to work in Social Responsibility?
Have a strong background in something.  Find a job with a company that is most directly impacted by social responsibility and sustainability – many are but some are more prominent than others – manufacturing, resource extraction, those sorts of organization, huge sorts of product developers, sales, they tend to have a much more direct link to that social license to operate and have taken the issue of sustainability and social responsibility I would say more seriously that those who do not have those immediate direct connection.  Work for them, take an interest and study on your own the social responsibility world. 

There is a lot of material out there in written form, a lot of networks you can join, and a lot of organizations you can join.  Net Impact is one of the global organizations focused exclusively on that.

Take an interest, earn a certification in CSR sustainability, there is no pre-required program – you can come from law, medicine, engineering, liberal arts, philosophy, humanities, languages, but bring curiosity and bring a sharp mind to ask tough questions and I would also study abroad governance and corporate governance. 

Why should a student take part in the job shadow program?
I have run into many people in my life who have said to me that they started a career in University thinking that is what they wanted to do, then enter into the workforce and then realized that is not at all what they wanted to do.  It’s a great opportunity to test some ideas to see if the practical reality matches your vision of what it is when you are in school and hopefully it does, but if it does not, it gives you the opportunity to change your course.