Written by: Mara Williams

Emma Brooks (B’Comm ’07) is Vice President of Marketing at Skillshare, an online learning community for creatives. She and her team help promote a wide variety of learning opportunities for those interested in improving their creative skills. Her interest and success in this career can be traced back to her time at Dalhousie University, where completing three co-ops helped her understand her career passions and develop key skills. “It allowed me to explore different types of companies and industries, and gave me a better sense of what I was most interested in pursuing once I graduated.”

Knowledge Gained on Work Terms

While on her co-ops, Emma was able to develop key skills that remain relevant in her work today, and a strong understanding of how companies work internally. By working for a company for four months at a time, Emma was able to recognize the context in which companies operate in and better understand the nuances of a workplace. “You’re able to orient yourself in the work world: exposure to how meetings are run, how and why projects happen, business strategy and decision making, influence and authority.” This type of experience must be gained by living through it, and doing so allowed Emma to hit the ground running when entering the workforce post-graduation.

Advice for Future Marketers

Now working full-time as Vice President of Marketing for a large, international company, Emma provides advice for current students who aspire to a similar career. Reflecting on her career path, she emphasized that curiosity and critical thinking are some of the most crucial skills for marketers to excel at. Being able to remain curious about market trends and stay informed about external environmental factors that will impact your company and/or product will help you go far. “Reading and learning about trends, popular ad campaigns, or new platforms emerging, and forming opinions on how they can impact a category or a company is a great skill to practice.” It’s never too early for students to practice the skills they will use in their future career.

Real-World Experience

Being immersed in the day-to-day experiences of several different companies throughout her co-ops allowed Emma to understand the competitive landscape in a much more practical way than classroom learning allowed. Her co-op at Bell Aliant helped her gain experience doing competitive analysis in the real world and developing strategies to remain competitive in a tough market. In addition, Emma’s co-op at the Credit Union Central of Nova Scotia helped her improve her written communication skills and learn how to convey information in a workplace. “It was there I learned about the importance of copywriting and persuasive communication; that the direct mail pieces needed to be written in a way to compel a specific action from their clients.” This skill helps her succeed in her career to this day.

Post-Grad Job Search

In addition to developing workplace and professional skills, completing three co-ops was invaluable when it came time for Emma’s post-grad job search. “I felt a lot more confident walking into job interviews, having had more interview practice and work experience than I would have otherwise.” In addition, her time at Dalhousie gave her the opportunity to cultivate relationships with fellow students and professors, who became a valuable professional network after graduating. Connecting with professors allowed her network to expand and proved beneficial when she sought work in Toronto after finishing school. Without her co-op experiences, entering the workforce after graduating would have been a much more challenging endeavour.

In fall 2024, Management Career Services reached an incredible milestone of 20,000 business work terms for students in the Bachelor of Commerce Co-op, Bachelor of Management, and Corporate Residency MBA programs. These programs have produced a diverse group of alumni who have made significant contributions across industries. To learn more about their stories and the impact of these work-integrated learning programs, visit our website.