Marissa Augerman is a fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce Co-op student majoring in International Business. She is from the small town of Kingsville, Ontario and was one of just two graduates from her high school to leave the province to attend post-secondary school. Even though she had never visited Nova Scotia, Dal’s Commerce Co-op program piqued her interest because co-op is mandatory and participation is high. This eliminated a lot of stress in her first year of the program.

Marissa’s first co-op was with Traffic Tech, where she worked as a Logistics Coordinator in their Halifax office. The company is a third-party logistics broker that ensures their customers get the logistics services they need at a low cost. Marissa’s duties included tracking the pickup, delivery, and intermediate locations of shipments to update Traffic Tech’s tracking system so that customers can be notified of their shipment’s location. At the end of this co-op, Marissa trained the incoming group of Dalhousie co-op students and other full-time employees before being offered a part-time role at the company, where she worked during her Summer work-term. Traffic Tech then expanded, with their centralized tracking being rolled out to sales teams across the company from California to Chicago, including Dartmouth, NS. “This is a great opportunity for students who may be looking to enter the Supply Chain industry!” she adds.

For her second co-op, Marissa joined TELUS as a Business Analyst in a remote role. She notes that TELUS is a great example of a company practicing corporate sustainable responsibility practices. “During my time there I noticed that they reward employees with days off to volunteer in the community and make the remote environment extremely enjoyable with exciting team meetings.” Marissa worked in Mobility Operations as an Engagement Prime, supporting and analyzing internal employee surveys from the front-line workers and managers. “My favourite part of this work term was launching TELUS’ integration with a new weekly survey tool to allow their employees to provide more frequent feedback,” she notes. During her co-op midterm evaluation, Marissa’s Director mentioned to her Career and Recruitment Specialist that she sees her as a great fit and would like to see her continue with TELUS after graduation. When informed about the good news, Marissa was elated and decided to set up a one-on-one meeting with her boss. “I asked if I could continue as a co-op student in the upcoming summer because I could not picture myself anywhere else. Initiating a job offer did not feel intimidating to me because of the great relationship my boss and I had and the feedback that she had shared gave me the confidence to ask.”

TELUS gave Marissa the opportunity to return to the company for her third co-op term. She now had the confidence to make suggestions that were valued and integrated into her team, which she is very proud of. Upon completing her final work term with TELUS, she was able to exercise her teaching abilities again, as she was appointed to help train the new Dalhousie co-op student who was selected to continue her role.

Marissa accredits Management Career Services for their support and guidance in formatting her resume and cover letters. She says that had it not been for MCS’s initial job posting, she may have likely not found an opportunity at TELUS. “Just knowing MCS was there meant a lot to me,” she remarked. When asked for advice to give to students, she said “building connections is a great way to network but maintaining these connections with virtual coffee chats or a text goes a long way and I have found it to be so well received and appreciated.”

Here’s what Marissa’s employer at TELUS, Kim Vey, Client Care Director, has to say: “Marissa has demonstrated excellence in everything she has been given to work on, showing initiative, sharing insights from the data she has reviewed, sharing her knowledge of Google tools with other team members, participating actively in brainstorming, strategy and planning discussions. She is always respectful, professional, and so easy to work with! The knowledge of TELUS operations was evident in her second term, where she could dive right in with very little guidance. I would love to have Marissa as a permanent member of our team. She demonstrates the TELUS values and is an important part of what we were able to accomplish this year.”