Hello, and welcome to the last Iron Warrior of the term! I’d like to use this article to talk about the three main things that I’ll be working on over co-op and the Fall term.
First is working with the B-Society VP Education, Anson Chen, along with Stephanie Tortorici from the WaterlooWorks team, to create questions for a “Rate my co-op” feature. It would allow students the opportunity to leave feedback about the term, which other students could view when applying to jobs. There are still lots of details to be decided regarding this tool. For example, how many reviews do we need for a certain company before they can be made public? Obviously if we only have one or two, it wouldn’t be very anonymous. We are also figuring out exactly what students want to know about co-ops. Should we focus more on the employer, or more on the job itself? We’ll be seeking student feedback to try and generate a valuable set of questions that students can use when on WaterlooWorks.
The second thing that I’ll be working on over co-op is continuing to grow Career Fair. We are hoping to have the event earlier in the term, to help students find both full-time and co-op employment. I firmly believe that based on how many students we had at the event this term, Career Fair is a valuable service that EngSoc offers to its members, and I’m looking forward to improving it for the Fall.
Lastly, I’ll be evaluating the ongoing resume critiques service that we offered this term. I’ve sent out a survey to those who volunteered to help out, and so far the feedback has been very positive. I’ll look to promote the service more in the Fall, and better support the volunteers. For example, we could offer free printing of resumes that are being critiqued; volunteers would come to the Orifice, print them off, write their comments directly on the paper, and then scan it to send back. This would more closely mimic how our in-person sessions are run, where volunteers markup resumes with pen or pencil. If you got your resume critiqued using our ongoing service, and have some feedback, please pass it along to me at vpeducation.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca.
One final thing I’d like to mention is that EngSoc is running an election in the Fall term! While the title of VP Education is changing to VP Academic, the position itself is remaining the same. In my first article next term, I’ll be writing about the position, what it entails, and what kind of person might be interested. Keep an eye out for that, but feel free to email me before if you have any questions about the position. The election will likely be early in the term, so if you’re at all interested, I’d strongly encourage you to find out more about the position before then! (This goes for any position.)
I hope you all enjoy co-op, or if you’re in 4B, your new title of “Adult”. Don’t hesitate to stop in by the Orifice when we’re back, and say hello. Or, if you’re coming to JAGM, I’ll see you there! As always, good luck on exams.
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