Thursday 31 March 2016

Career Snapshot - Lindsay Jessup - Job Shadow Week Participant 


Lindsay Jessup is a 5th year Sociology student born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. She’s the VP Media for the Sociology Undergraduate Student Association and is pursuing a diploma in Public Relations next fall after graduation. 

What was your experience working with the Office of the Registrar during Job Shadow Week? Did your job shadow experience relate to a position that you would like to pursue after graduation? 

When I applied for a job shadow with the University’s Office of the Registrar, I didn’t realize how nostalgic I would come to feel about my time on this campus. My sixth and final Career Centre job shadow encouraged me to get into the minds of both prospective and current U of A students– and this placement could not have come at a better time. In the midst of applying for graduation, scheduling grad photos, and penciling in my final exam schedule, I got to reflect on the aspects of the U of A that made me choose to “start here”.

I spent the day with Sheila Graham, acting Associate Director of Marketing & Communications. Through welcome packages, Instagram posts, and more, her team paints a green & gold picture that many of us can relate to. They aim to show prospective students what campus life is like above and beyond the classroom. Sure these kids care about what courses they can enroll in, but they also want to know that they can toss Frisbees on Quad in between classes, catch a perogy barbeque, and hop a quick bus ride to Whyte ave. They want the whole package.

I quickly identified with the Office of the Registrar’s mission. Coming from a social sciences background, I saw the importance of placing myself back in a 17-year-old’s shoes. The Office has set its sights on understanding the demographic: their barriers, and their objectives. If you can manage to wrap your head around all of that, you might just be able to show a prospective student why U of A is the right choice for them. 

This job shadow reaffirmed for me, that pursuing a career in Communications is the right path. Sheila’s team’s creativity could be the difference between someone stepping foot on this campus-- or not. It helped me realize I want to put my skills towards making that kind of difference in a young adult’s life.  Who knows what trajectory any one of us would be on had we chosen another institution? 

At the end of this experience, I was impressed by the extensive work that goes on behind the scenes, at the Office of the Registrar, to promote the UAlberta way of life. As I prepare to walk across the Jubilee’s stage, I can’t wait to see what comes from the next generation of Green & Gold.

Monday 14 March 2016

Career Snapshot - Oluseun Adekunle - Job Shadow Week Participant 


Oluseun Adekunle is an undergraduate international student living in Edmonton, Alberta. He is currently in his fourth year of Electrical Engineering with a focus in Power and Control Systems.

What made you want to participate in the U of A Job Shadow Week Program? Did you find the program valuable in helping you recognize potential career paths?

My participation in the University of Alberta Job Shadow Week Program was influenced by the desire to understand more about the various career paths possible in the Electrical Engineering discipline, specifically the Power and Utilities branch. The realization that an established career is beyond what I have learnt in school prompted my participation in the University of Alberta Job Shadow week.

I was privileged to be matched with Mr. Lorne Clark, an Electrical Engineer working with the Utilities Services, University of Alberta. The information sessions hosted by the Career Centre played a pivotal role towards a wonderful experience with the host. In addition to the information sessions, reading the material provided by the host was another great way to prepare for the event. At the end of program, I wanted to have a definite idea of the duties of an Electrical Engineer and the skills needed to excel in this profession. 

The day kicked off with an office meeting, brief discussion about our backgrounds, interests and expectations for the day. Mr. Clark summarized the schedule for the day along with general guidelines and we proceeded to watch videos that provided a detailed description about Utilities Services. Mr. Clark presented and explained the single line diagrams of the campus. We spent the morning touring the Cooling Plant on Campus and the Heating Plant. He took time to explain the significance of thorough thinking and its effect on the outcome of a design. He mentioned specific factors that come into play in implementing designs and analyzed factors from a managerial perspective. Examples of such factors are accessibility, reliability, safety, organization, life expectancy and flexibility to upgrade among many others. The discussion centered on the realization of design of systems captivated my interest. We were privileged to spend the afternoon with another staff member, Shaun, reviewing more single line diagrams and time-current curves used in protective device coordination. Lorne concluded the program with advice and recommendations for career advancement.
 
This Job Shadow week was successful for me because Lorne went above and beyond to help the participants and provided comprehensive answers to our questions. More importantly, I left with a list of useful skills that I needed to either hone or gain that will point my career in the right direction. Words cannot do justice to appreciate the Career Centre and the hosts for their effort in providing these opportunities for students.

Friday 11 March 2016

Career Snapshot - Abygail Berg - Arts Leadership Cohort 



We caught up with Abygail Berg, a second year Industrial Design student and also the Arts Leadership Cohort leader for the 2015/2016. 

During University did you have a particular career path in mind? If so, how did this career path change throughout your degree?

Coming to the U of A I was quite certain of the career path I desired to have. I wanted to finish my industrial design degree and work in the field for a few years, then continue on and obtain my masters in architecture. Although I still aspire to follow this path, my experiences with getting involved in the residence community on campus and the greater community of Edmonton have opened new interests for me as well. 

In my first year I lived on the Arts/ Leadership Cohort, a floor in Lister Centre intended for (although it is open to anybody who wants to be involved) Faculty of Arts students who desire to be leaders in their community through volunteer work.  Living on the ALC reminded me both of how much I love community service, and how rewarding it is to live in a community of awesome students with similar interest.  Since I had such a great experience with the ALC I applied to be the Arts/ Leadership Cohort leader for my second year, and received the position!

This past year has been an amazing experience of getting to know many talented students who are part of the ALC, both from Lister and those who volunteer with us from outside of residence. We have been fundraising for the Boyle McCauley Health center, helping out at Hope Mission, exploring poverty in Edmonton through the help of The Mustard Seed’s Social Issues Walk, and we are also working on some mental wellness programing to finish up the year.

I never intended to work for Residence Services coming into U of A, but now that I have, it sparked a whole other set of interests for me.  Residence and community involvement has been an important part of my first two years at U of A. It has given me the opportunity to be involved with campus culture, while also being involved in the larger community of Edmonton. I encourage anybody who has the chance to be involved in some of the programs here on campus like the ALC, Engage Edmonton, or any number of other awesome student groups to do so! You never know where it may take you. I am looking forward to continuing to work with Residence Services for the next year, and hopefully continuing to work with them in the future to ensure that incoming students have just as great and if not better experiences than I did!

Thursday 10 March 2016

Career Snapshot - Kateryna Pashkovska - Career Mentor Program - Part 2 


In what ways did the Career Mentor Program help you establish a career path at a time when you were uncertain about your future? 

After seeing the power of connecting with professionals first hand, I decided to explore it further. Upon returning from Ukraine, I learned about the Career Mentoring Program and I was waiting for it to re-open in the new academic year. There was no question for me of the high value of this program because of my friend Ruslan’s personal experience as well as the deep respect that I have for Amy’s expertise in running the program. Similarly, the very idea of having an experienced mentor who could guide me through my endless “how to” questions for eight months felt terrific. I did my summer homework and entered one of my last semesters with a much clearer idea of what kind of job I wanted to focus on. My studies in socio-cultural anthropology have such a great scope of possibilities that I had to discover what some of my options and interests might be.     
    
Some of the important areas in my dissertation research are human ecology - interaction between humans and their urban environment in a multicultural context and how we find ways to cooperate in joint international projects without major misunderstandings. I’ve been working on social sustainability issues during my fieldwork in north-west Russia and I realized that this is what I want to continue pursuing here in Edmonton. 
    
Part of the application process to the Career Mentoring Program is to sit down with the Career Education Coordinators at the Career Centre. Amy and Jasmine did a superb job of questioning and challenging me on what I hoped to get from the career mentoring program. Thanks to them, I was able to realize my priorities which made my preparation for the program much more efficient that it could otherwise have been. 
     
In short, I decided that after having completed the program, I wanted to be able to put my skills to work outside of academia.  I crave hands-on experiences that would help me understand the functions of a real workplace including the dynamics between colleagues as well as team work. I want to learn about my prospective marketability, my strengths and weaknesses and work on them to raise my chances of getting a job. I don’t want to just feel good about my skills but also be able to prove that I can use them to the best of their ability.


Friday 4 March 2016

Career Snapshot - Kateryna Pashkovska - Career Mentor Program - Part 1 



Kateryna is a Postdoctoral student who embraced the uncertainties of moving from academia to the workplace by looking for new opportunities. This led her to the Career Mentor Program available through the Career Centre! For the next few months we will be following Kateryna's journey while she works with her career mentor. 

Can you tell us about your experience so far with the Career Mentor Program and how you came to find yourself at the door of the Career Centre?

“So, what are my options, really?” I felt complete confused. “Do I continue teaching and make it a life-long career? To try to do something that correlates to my dissertation research? Or maybe to get yet another PhD?”  These were the restless thoughts that were revolving in my mind last spring when I finally got on track with my thesis writing that would result in a voluminous piece of writing that could in fact reward me with a degree.  

I have never had to make a living outside the academia so the idea of coming out to the job market into the real world was scaring me to death. That is when my friend, Ruslan Bergenov, referred me to The University of Alberta Career Centre. The referral was based on the fact that he had a fantastic experience with the Career Centre. He started a career path that looked right to him at the time and convinced me to go see Amy Roy Gratton at the Career Centre. So here I was, at the threshold of her office, disconnectedly narrating my story and asking infinite questions. This was only two weeks before I had to take a trip back to Ukraine to stay with my family over the summer, but I was so impatient and eager to do anything that would move me from where I was standing to some other (hopefully better) point in my career. I gladly took Amy’s advice on possible strategies of how to start building my network. I was starting from a point of not knowing anyone outside the U of A, and felt as though it would be impossible to find someone who had the qualifications, or who did the kind of work that would attract me to them. Looking back now, I can recognize how fuzzy my perception of possible careers was. 

Amy suggested that I conduct some information interviews with professionals who could give me advice. With Amy’s close guidance on how to write messages to these professionals, I began to connect with them. I was deeply touched each time she got back to me with the third or fourth edited draft of an e-mail I was to send. I learned that cold-calling and cold-emailing was an art that I had yet to master. Luckily, a couple of her contacts were able to squeeze me into their busy schedules in the limited time that I had left in Edmonton, before going back to Ukraine. It was truly fascinating to discover that perfect strangers, who had never heard of me before, would sit down with me and honestly try discuss the directions that I might take professionally, let alone come up with several practical solutions – I am genuinely thankful to them!