Personal & Professional Development

Read about Alison's co-op at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and how this experience has changed some her expectations of working in the federal government sector! 

Roger Takahashi, strength and conditioning coach for the Vancouver Canucks, talked to BPK students about the steps he took to get where he is and how to follow a career path you love.

Like most things, persistence is something of a double-edged sword: it can be either a huge strength when applied in a constructive direction, or an outright flaw when clung to too tightly in situations that call for more flexibility. Like Ned Stark's honour, it can earn you respect and carry you to high places, but it can just as quickly get you into serious trouble.

Reilika, the third member of Career Friends, graduated with an Economics and Business degree in Europe. Coming to Canada was a difficult transition; but the Career Friends helped her be focused, develop new skills, and provide a network of support. Read Reilika's story to learn more. 

How accurate are you in predicting what a person’s career would be based on what they majored in university? Read a list of some of my close friends’ careers.  Can you guess what their university majors were? Take this quiz and match the job title to the university major:

If you're human, you'll admit to having procrastinated about something. If you're an honest human, you'll admit to having procrastinated about a lot of things. I'll even go out on a limb and say that you've often put some salt in that wound and felt guilty about your procrastination. So what are you going to do about it?

Fulfilling your learning objectives is one thing, but what did you really learn on your co-op work term? The OLC asked some current and former co-op students what lessons they took with them so you can make your next work term a success.

For some of us, pursuing our dreams might be completely out of our comfort zone.  We’re happy to work in jobs we feel are our “best option” at the time.  The problem with this is that we become complacent and our motivation and passion slowly start to dwindle.

Having someone who is willing to share their experience with you can make a big difference, however cliché that may sound. Despite many obvious benefits, mentorship has been cited as one of the least-utilized tools for advancing one’s career. With that in mind, learn how to form and sustain a meaningful relationship with your potential mentor.

Nervous on starting your first day of work in your new co-op position? You should be! First impressions count. Discover how to prepare for success on your first day of work.

It's thought provoking to ask, if you haven't already, "how would I describe what I do if someone asked me to be as succinct as possible?" It wouldn't be succinct at all to describe all the things you do on a daily basis, your responsibilities, your accomplishments, your significance. Nor would it be descriptive enough to only talk about a small subset of those things. So, how can we possibly do this question justice?

Having trouble researching for your next paper? Here are some tips on how to use the Internet to its fullest to help ace your next essay.

As an SFU Co-op alumni Susan Seto is one of the many success stories of the the program. Since graduating in 2008 her co-op experience has shaped her career and changed her life.

During the past five years at SFU, Yat has been asked multiple times: what do you want to become after you graduate? Every time, he would hesitate before answering. He didn’t have an exact position he wanted to be in, nor did he know whether he would have the skills for whatever that ended up being. Hence, his typical answer: “I don’t know.” To many, uncertainty is uncomfortable. Read more to learn how Yat overcame uncertainty, and left an imprint. 

Marla Liguori is a Communications co-op student at SFU, and for her first Co-op experience she was able to spend the 2010-2011 season with the Vancouver Canucks as a marketing intern. She shared with us what she’s learned and why she thinks the Co-op program is a stellar addition to any degree.

Co-operative Education can be an excellent way of enriching your academic experience and narrowing down your potential career options. Employers increasingly cite real-life or internship experience as one of the most desirable qualities in applicants.

Money is a terrible motivator. If I were to say to you, “Reader, I’d like you to come up with a creative way of solving this problem we have,” or “I’d like you to complete this complex task requiring somewhat sophisticated cognitive abilities,” you’d actually perform worse if I offered you a nice chunk of change as a reward.

Many students struggle to figure out the best way to put a portfolio together. They commonly ask: “Which projects do I put in a portfolio?” or “I don’t know how to do HTML or CSS, how can I make an online portfolio?”

The Vancouver Canucks are well known for their community involvement, and every semester they hire two interns to work with the community relations team. Michelle Muravi was one of these lucky picks last season and she shared with us what it’s like to work behind the scenes in the latest instalment of the We Are All Canucks series.

Hallelujah — midterms are finally coming to a close! Perhaps you breezed through your exams like a swan gliding through water, declaring “Einstein” to be your middle name. But if you’re like the rest of us ‘poor unfortunate souls’, your exam experience resembles more of a paper plane ramming into a wall and crumpling sadly to the ground.

Your palms sweat, your head's buzzing, and you've got those butterflies in your stomach. Sound familiar? You've been struck with a case of interview anxiety. But have no fear as these tips will help you make your interview slide!

After Justin and Samantha decided to create Career Friends, the rest was history. They have kept each other on track while job-hunting post graduation. Read Justin's story about his experiences after graduating in 2002, and how he overcame the challenges of finding full-time employment.

The interview process can be a very intimidating and overwhelming process for many job applicants. The stress of being in the hot seat can make even the most composed interviewee melt under the pressure. Interview anxiety can be tamed and even prepared for with the help of an understanding and insightful SFU Student Advisor...

There are many factors that make a successful interview, but by far the most important is preparation. It seems simple, but it's not necessarily easy. Preparation is not only being able to answer the standard questions, but also being able to convey  how outstanding you would be in the organization.

Everyday, the media informs us of new global issues arising in different parts of the world. We think about how troubling the situation is for a little while and then go on with the rest of our day. In most cases, this is where the story ends.

"So, if I don’t have a plan, do I just sit around and wait for stuff to happen?” You might ask. “How am I supposed to know what to do if I don’t know where I’m going?” Is another one I sense a lot of in my work with students.

Google+ is the latest and largest social media platform trying to compete with Facebook and Twitter. So is learning the ropes of another platform worth the effort?

Heard of Movember? It’s a fundraising movement for prostate cancer research in which men (mo bros) and women (mo sistas) alike dedicate the month of November to growing a moustache. In other words, it’s pretty much the best thing ever.