September Part 2

             Well the end of September is here, and I feel it went by faster than any month previously. I think it was because of all of the career fairs. I attended the U of S, U of C, U of A, and the Calgary expo. I was great to see the campuses of the different schools, and the experience of organizing the trips.

The U of C and U of A career fairs were right after one another, so I drove quite a bit. I worked with some great people too! One of the engineering co-ops came with me to Calgary, and to Edmonton as well. It was just the two of us in Calgary, so we were very busy. However, in Edmonton we had three more volunteers come with us, so it was much more relaxing.

The career fairs were fun. I genuinely enjoyed going, but I am also glad that most of them are done. Now we just have Medicine Hat, SAIT, and NAIT. There is a month spread between each of them, which is a bit of a relief.

Another upcoming activity that I have started is co-op recruitment. I have just posted the positions on the job boards and we will start interviewing soon! I cannot wait to see what the other side of co-op recruitment is like.

The last big activity that I am working on is our NOVA  Career day. In November we bring a busload of junior high students on site, and we give them a tour and activities to do. Lots of organization is needed and it’s going to be busy in the upcoming months with that and the co-op recruitment.

September Part 1

The past couple of weeks were just crazy. It was the busiest I have been so far here at NOVA.

The end of August was great. I finished up all the exit interviews with the other students, and even had the privilege of sitting down with one who was given an offer! I found the feedback very valuable, and I think it will aid the student strategy I am working on.

One thing I have learned is that when you think your schedule is going to be very busy, it usually is not that hectic. But the weeks you never expected to be busy seem to turn out to be the craziest!

The past two weeks have been just like that. The combination of meetings and interviews left me little time in my office, and before I knew it I had a pile of tasks to complete in a short time. Last week I was in my first all-day meeting, seriously, it went from 8:15 am to 4:30. I didn’t expect it to actually last all day, and I was panicking a bit about the work I had missed. Not only that, Tennielle was leaving for the next two weeks.

Tennielle was invited to a convention in Chicago, which is really awesome. However, her absence has definitely caused some confusion, mainly with me.  When she left, she gave me a priority list to follow, with tasks that had to be done by the end of the week. What stressed me out were the career fairs we had planned. I was not sure who was planning to go and what was happening exactly. I asked Tennielle if she knew who was going, and she asking if I could go to the one in Calgary that week, and Saskatoon next week.

I was very nervous about getting the priority work done on time, and going to the career fairs. Not only that, I am also working on the NOVA Career Day, which is also “bring your kid to work day”. I stayed later Tuesday night to get more work done before driving to Calgary.

I decided to stay at my parents that night to make the next morning easier. I arrived downtown and unloaded the car. The volunteers from Calgary had not communicated with me, so I did not know if they would be there or not. After finding a parking spot I headed back to the Ramada, which is where it was being held, to find some ]one had already set everything up! Gregg McMurchy is an HR consultant in Calgary, and he was a great guy to be at a career fair with. Fred Henselwood showed up soon to, he was at the last career expo and is also very fun.

When I came back to Joffre on Thursday I planned my trip to Saskatoon, and finished up just about all the priorities. I am proud to say that I was able to get everything done. I realize in those tense moments one is very productive. I can’t believe everything that I have done in the last two weeks, and how it all worked out. I am very excited to go to Saskatoon for the U of S career fair, as I have never even been to Saskatchewan before!