Inside sCo-op

Bright HorizonsWaterloo students know the value of co-operative education beyond the classroom

WA

TER

LOO

TH

E

Inside sC

o-o

p

Hello fellow uWaterloo students,

Spring has (finally) rolled around, and with the warm weather approaching it’s easy to lapse back into the ‘summer vacation’ mentality, even though most co-op students don’t get a long summer holiday. What you might forget though, is that graduation and your future are coming at you faster than you think. It’s time to get serious about what you want after graduation and take advantage of opportunities now! Perhaps this issue of the Inside sCo-op will inspire you to look out onto the seemingly unreachable horizon and ask “What do I see in my future?”

You can read about Nicole Bradley, a Waterloo grad whose co-op experience led her to a fulfilling, exciting career. Take a look at the 2012 Co-op Student of the Year winners, all of whom have done incredible things on their co-op work terms. Accounting student Jessica Cheung wrote an article for us about her decision to return to an em-ployer multiple times - quality over quantity! Check out our Career Corner too. You’ll also find tips on how to take advantage of social media for professional use.

It’s never too early to start thinking about what your future holds – hopefully this issue will motivate you!

Shannon Tigert4A English Literature

In This Issue:From Co-op to Career: Nicole Bradley’s co-op work terms led her to a fulfilling career upon graduation

2012 Co-op Students of the Year: Profiles of the 6 winners

Welcome to CECA: A look at what’s happening in the Tatham Centre

Quality over Quantity: Jessica Ryvian Cheung shares why she returned to an employer for multiple co-op terms

3

4

6

6

2

Letter from the Editor

7

Career Corner: How to take advantage of social media

IMPORTANT DATES & REMINDERSSRING 2013

MAY 18 - Job Posting #1 (Main Group) opens

MAY 27 - MAIN Employer Interviews Begin

JUNE 24 - MAIN Match Results

Looking for co-op and career related updates? Check us out on social media:

@uWaterlooCECA

@uWaterlooCareer

Will you be completing an entrepreneurial co-op term

abroad?

The Ontario Global Edge program entrepreneurial awards

are now available to co-op students.

APPLY NOW

JUNE 26- Continuous Postings Begin

Do you like the co-op website? Would you like to see a change?

Complete CECA’s online survey regarding changes to the co-op student website

Have your voice heard!

CECA WEBSITE SURVEY

[CO-OP] INSPIRED ME TO ACHIEVE MORE THAN I THOUGHT COULD BE POSSIBLE FOR AN UNDERGRAD-UATE STUDENT

Insi

de

sCo

-op From CO-OP

to CAREERBy: Shannon Tigert

NICOLE BRADLEY’S CO-OP WORK TERMS LED HER TO A FULFILLING CAREER UPON GRADUATION

Nicole Bradley, who received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Health Studies from the University of Waterloo in 2006, is a perfect example of how co-op can shape your future career path. Nicole spent four out of five co-op terms working at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre in Toronto. She was the first co-op student to be hired as a Clinical Research Assistant student at the Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program (RRRP) in 2003, and Sunnybrook has gone on to hire 25 co-op students since then. During her time there, she was able to work on and maintain over 12 clinical research studies assessing the quality of life in patients with cancer nearing their end-of-life who were receiving treatment, all of which had competing timeframes and deadlines. “It challenged me and kept me on my feet,” says Nicole, “and inspired me to achieve more than I thought could be possible for an undergraduate student.”

While Nicole got the opportunity to work on many different projects, she maintains that one of the most memorable aspects of her time there was the opportunity to work directly with patients. “It’s [an opportunity] that you wouldn’t necessarily get unless you were in professional school, so I was able to develop a relationship with patients and witness first-hand the ins and outs of cancer treatment,” says Nicole. “These experiences were invaluable, and really taught me to live my life to the fullest.” A favourite memory of hers is getting the chance to be in an operating room, observ-ing a surgery on someone with bone cancer. “It was a little bit strange at first. I wasn’t sure how I would respond or if my stomach would handle it well, but it was really interesting. I don’t think I ever would have had that experience unless I was in a medical or professional school.”

The work Nicole did at the Odette Cancer Centre inspired her to continue her work in health and cancer related fields. From 2006-2008, Nicole went on to do her Masters of Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. She spent one year working at the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care (MOHLTC) as a Clinical Epidemiologist, before moving on to the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) as a Health Care Analyst. POGO is a not-for-profit organization that identifies areas for cancer system development, mak-ing evidence-based policy recommendations to Ontario’s MOHLTC on the childhood cancer system in the province in ongoing collaboration with the five specialty pediatric cancer programs in academic tertiary hospitals in Ontario and the community hospitals and cancer centres that deliver POGO provincial childhood cancer programs. Nicole works directly with the Executive Director of POGO to make such recommendations.

One of her major projects of the past three years has been developing a set of measures to assess the quality of the childhood cancer system. “This was the first time this was done internationally – there were no evidence-based qual-ity indicators to measure the quality of childhood cancer care,” says Nicole. The outcome of this massive undertaking was 20 individual indicators that will be used to examine the quality of the system in Ontario, with the potential to com-pare with other provinces in Canada, as well as international-ly. The results of this research will be published in a medical journal in the summer of 2013.

“At the beginning of my undergrad, I was very interested in cancer and population-based health research in order to make the largest impact possible,” Nicole says, noting that she had originally been leaning towards medical school after graduation. During her work at Sunnybrook, she became interested in core components of epidemi-ology, including working in health care at the population level and studying the causes, prevention and treatment of diseases in order to inform health policy decisions and evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice. She recognizes how much co-op helped her discover what she wanted to pursue after graduation. “Co-op is really important for students, particularly in the medical or health-related field because it provides opportunities and experience that are really not found in the classroom. It allows students to gain insight into potential careers.”

Nicole Bradley is currently working at POGO in Toronto.

“ “

3

Nicole Bradley at the POGO office in Toronto

Diljot ChhinaBiotechnology/Economics (Science)

Diljot was employed at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, beginning as a project management co-ordinator, but was promoted after two months to project management consultant, a role classified as a full-time posi-tion within the ministry. Her main task during her work term was developing and integrating a Project Management & Process Improvement Portal to be used by over 4000 staff members, requiring her to learn the technical language necessary to develop the portal. Diljot presented the portal to a Ugandan Delegation, demonstrating how valu-able an online tool can be for integrating innovation within a governmental set-ting. The portal is nominated for an Innovation Award with the Ontario Public Service. Diljot also serves as the current director of marketing for the National Business and Technology Conference, and was the Entrepreneurship Lead for the International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition in 2012.

Akash KapoorAccounting & Financial Management (Arts)

Akash spent his work term with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he proved his value by managing a new client’s tax return from beginning to end (some-thing usually only done by experienced associates or managers). While work-ing with the Scientific Research & Experimental Development Group he created an Excel workbook used to gather and organize financial information from the client. The workbook was the first of its kind and has become a standardized template used by the National Client Engagement Team, soon to be used by company offices all over Canada. Akash has volunteered as a Teaching & Research assistant at Waterloo, as well as donated his time to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario Tax Clinic, a program that helps low-income families and students prepare their tax returns.

Henry ShiComputer Science (Math)

During his work term at Bloomberg Sports, a new start-up company in New York City, Henry worked directly with a Major League baseball team, helping to improve their advanced scouting and ultimately impacting their game performance. He was the sole developer of a suite of tools and reports that provided statistical information (opposing players to watch out for, strong and weak hitters etc.) for their pre-game preparation. While Henry does not claim direct causation, the team has emerged as leaders of their divi-sion in a truly remarkable comeback story. Henry is a member of the VeloCity program at Waterloo, which keeps him very busy. He independently taught other students the basics of program-ming, the response to which was so positive the program was officially of-fered as a course to students this term.

2012 CO-OP STUDENTS OF THE YEARInsid

e sCo

-op

4

Dominique SourisEnvironment & Resource Studies (Environment)

Dominique spent her work term at the Ontario Energy Board, where she was a key player in introducing new presentation software to the company. She trained permanent staff members on the software with a Lunch and Learn session, and went on to design a presentation that senior managers used at a conference. Dominique also took on the daunting task of expanding the Board’s outreach contacts by developing relationships with student unions and campus organizations, and distributing promotional materials across the province. Dominique is a member of the uWaterloo Sustainability Project, the Events and Web Director of the Environment Student Association, the Environmen-tal Co-ordinator at Renison University College, Campaign Co-ordinator with the Ban the Bottle coalition, and a member of the Environment sub-commit-tee for the Environment Student Society.

Nemica ThavarajahHealth Studies, Gerontology (Applied Health Sciences)

Nemica worked in Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre’s Rapid Response Radiotherapy Clinic (RRPR), where she researched the treatments provid-ed there in order to better assess the level of patient care. Analyzing over 5400 patient cases, she wrote three first-authored manuscripts present-ing her findings, which will be shared on a national and international basis. Nemica has also published a manuscript determining the knowledge of pain management of cancer patients among radiation therapists, which was the first study of its kind. Nemica serves as the Team Leader for Waterloo’s Mission Nutrition Team, a group dedicated to promoting nutrition and a healthy lifestyle to students and staff on campus. Along with her team, she has organized many events on campus.

Dominic ToselliMechanical Engineering (Engineering)

Dominic spent his work term in Calgary at Shell Canada, where he took the lead role on a root cause analysis of a costly heat exchanger problem. In his report, he addressed the human factor in the issue, which turned out to account for 80% of the failings the company was encountering. Because of the costly and time-consuming process of replacing the heat exchang-ers, Dominic’s project resulted in a direct savings of $1 million/year for Shell Canada. Dominic had the opportunity to present his findings in front of the Technical Assurance Engineering Group, which is comprised of over 100 pro-fessional engineers. His report was published at the Shell Calgary Research Centre’s global technical library. Dominic has worked for 2 years on creating a bilateral exchange agreement between the Politecnico di Milan and the University of Waterloo, and is cur-rently on academic exchange in Italy.

Insi

de

sCo

-op

5

WELCOME TO CECA

We Love Co-op!CECA’s co-op students spread the word about National Co-op Week.

Wes Tsoi, Shannon Tigert, Mark Haasnoot, Ashley Backman, Huong Vo, Anita Thayalathasan & Alie Thompson

CAREER CORNER: Taking advantage of social media

A look at what’s going on in the Tatham Centre this term

6

Advisors from the Centre for Career Action weigh in on social media best practices

Join LinkedIn- have a complete profile (with a professional looking photo) and ensure to join groups and follow companies you may be interested in working for

Always ensure to set your privacy settings high on any social media site (especially Facebook)

Share personal updates on the appropriate site! On sites like LinkedIn, post articles, company news, career information and only professional news – consider your post and use the right plat-form!

Elevate your brand: Your résumé is what you say about yourself - your brand is what people say about you. Your brand should be a profession-al, relevant, mindful and accessible reflection of yourself.

Remember: social media can be a research tool as well. Often the focus is just on what you output on social media sites, but they are fantastic resources to learn about different companies

The PD team filmed a new instructional video in the Tatham Centre about what happens during co-op interviews.

The video will be launched in the PD 1 course in the Spring 2013 term

Thanks to Melissa Braedley, Tanya Gillert & Katie Schaefer

Inside sC

o-o

p

Insi

de

sCo

-op

7

When students have a successful work term, it could result in an opportunity to return to that employer for the next work term as opposed to looking for a new job. Both of these options can have advantages and disadvantages, and can be a big decision for the student. As Jessica Cheung discovered, returning to an employer over multiple work terms can be a great decision with opportunities for growth and success.

Jessica Ryvian Cheung (4A Accounting and Financial Management) shares why she made the decision to return to an employer for multiple co-op terms

CECA’s SYSTEM STRATEGYDid you know CECA has a new systems project

underway, which includes JobMine’s replacement?

Visit our Systems Strategy website for news updates

Complete our online poll questions

Join our student panel

After completing my work term at Manulife, I had the opportunity to return to the same position for my next co-op term. I had learned so much and it had been a positive experience for me overall, so I gladly accepted. It is very important as a co-op student is to have a clear sense of the role and what to expect over the course of the work term. This is where Manulife made a real effort to manage my expectations. At the start of each work term, I would sit down with my manager and plan out goals for the duration of the term that fit with both the business’ needs as well as my own learning and development objectives.

Towards the end of my second work term, I mentioned to my manager that I was keen to try working in a different position. He set up a meeting for me with the Director of Finance at Manulife Bank, who gave me some coaching on possible career paths and helped me arrange a job shadow opportunity. I observed a Reporting Analyst in the Financial Reporting department, which helped me get a better idea of what my general responsibilities and tasks might be.

While considering the offer to return to Manulife for my third and fourth co-op terms, I had to fully evaluate alterna-tive opportunities that other companies were offering. One key thing I wished to achieve during my co-op terms was to experience different jobs that would help me find a job after I graduated. Manulife responded to this desire by offering me a different role within the same department during my third co-op, and a completely different role and department for my final co-op. I was delighted to be able to experience different roles within the same organi-zation and also grow with the company, as reflected in my increasing responsibilities with each return.

I was slightly nervous about leaving the department I worked in for two years, but my co-workers and manager were very supportive of my decision and helped facilitate the move. I believe the time I have spent working in Manulife Bank has prepared me well for the transition. To be successful in any job you must be driven and passion-ate about what you do. Manulife recognised these qualities in me, and in return facilitated and supported my move to the finance and accounting program for further development. I consider myself fortunate to be working in an organization where they take seriously the goals that employees set for themselves regardless of whether you are a permanent employee or a co-op student.

Jessica is currently working at Manulife Financial for her fourth co-op term

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

Jessica at the Manulife office

I started working at Manulife Financial, and more specifically within Manulife Bank, as a Business Analyst in Information Systems back in 2011 for my sec-ond work term. As an Accounting and Finance student at Waterloo, I wanted to try a job that would be different from the accounting role I had pursued in my previous work term. It turned out to be a great decision. From my first day at Manulife, I was amazed at the environment and the people working there. The work setting was very open, including glass meeting rooms, a spa-cious layout, and lots of greenery everywhere that livened up the workplace.

WHERE ARE YOU LIVING THIS FALL?Come and experience residence!

Apply now, spaces are limited!

Perfect for co-ops – sign a fall 2013/spring 2014 contract!

Live in upper-year, co-op only areas

Enjoy all the conveniences of rez!

No landlords or subletting