In keeping with MUN Career Development (Student Life) goals and mandates, Career week 2020 featured programs that targeted students across all disciplines and academic levels. Braving wintry and slippery weather across St. John’s, the career week events ran from Monday March 2nd to Friday March 6th, 2020. This article will highlight a few events that stood out among the line up.
The ‘preparing for a job fair’ event which was held on the first day of the 5-day line up included talks about preparing CVs/resumes and cover letters and attending job fairs with the mind to meet and possibly impress potential employers. A befitting climax to this was the ‘career fair’ which took place on the last day of events, and provided a vast array of potential employers. For students who are ‘swag-crazy,’ there were various swags to pick up, courtesy of booths operated by different companies.
For students interested in community-based work, the ‘Careers in Community’ event highlighted opportunities for working within St. John’s and it’s environs. The role of volunteerism in creating opportunities for community engagement was one of many salient points. Another important discussion is the added benefit of making new connections and developing/fine-tuning transferable skills which potentially make a student more marketable on the long run.
The ‘Campus to Career’ event was an opportunity for ‘soon-to-graduate’ students to consider the skills needed to make the transition from the university scene to the employment scene. Highlighting key skills needed for this transition and providing tips on how to effectively make this transition were important aspects of this event.
The ‘Dining etiquette’ event which would have been especially useful for newcomers was cancelled due to bad weather.
A key session useful for graduate students was the ‘Career options for Graduate students’ event. The panel of speakers included Kate Boland of Nutra Holdings, Christina Cole of Eastern Health and Susan Drodge of Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). Stephanie Howlett of Diversity NL and Chris Gardner of SequenceBio were also on the panel. Offering tips on how to ‘get your foot in the door’ in an industry of your choice, and answering questions from students along those lines were highlights of this session.
Other equally valuable sessions were the ‘Science Career Talk’ and the ‘Let’s Talk Government of Canada Careers’ events. Overall, Career Week 2020 was a cornucopia of opportunities for MUN students, thereby highlighting Memorial University’s interest in preparing students for ‘life and career post-degree’.