Jayden Scott is a third-year Commerce Co-op student from Calgary, Alberta pursuing a Marketing major and certificates in Entrepreneurship and Data Management.

Jayden started his co-op journey in winter 2023 as a Sales and Marketing Intern at the Kanas Corporation, a construction company based out of Calgary. When Jayden started, the company had no social media presence. Therefore, it was up to him to boost the company’s online image. “It was truly the best first co-op I could have asked for. My supervisors and coworkers were amazing and gave me a long leash to experiment and try new things to develop our brand and PR, and I actually still work there as a contractor today!” Along with developing the brand, Jayden has also contributed by organizing events, redesigning their website, and helping out wherever he was needed.

For his second co-op, Jayden worked as a Marketing Associate at Symplicity Designs, a Halifax-based consulting firm. There, he worked with multiple facets of the business, including content creation and market research, as well as redesigning the sales funnel for their seminars. “I think my favourite project was actually the market research. I’ve never enjoyed research as much in an academic setting, but it was really enjoyable to put together the pieces like a puzzle and determine what factors were going to be the most important to target demographics.”

Last summer, Jayden was offered the volunteer role of Social Media Manager for the Dalhousie Tigers Football Team. He was excited for the opportunity to further grow his marketing skills at the helm of a project with a large audience, and he credits his success in the role to the skills he has gained during his co-ops.

“I think my biggest accomplishment over both of my co-op experiences has really been finding my footing to brand myself in a way that has made it so much easier to apply for positions since. I had so much fun every day, and looking back I really feel proud of everything I was able to put my heart into,” he says. “I especially enjoyed diving into social media, and just making fun content that the community could enjoy, which has led to other opportunities that I’ve taken on since, the biggest being Dal Football! As soon as we started pulling weekly impressions statistics in the tens of thousands, especially at the first home game, that was what got me invested.”

Volunteering with the Dal Tigers has been very rewarding for Jayden. He says that his lighthearted approach to content creation has been working well, and he is connecting with students in more ways than ever before.

Here is Jayden’s advice for you:

• Start you job search early; it will ease your mind.
• Try to find a job that you find to be fun. If you are having fun at work, you will never work a day in your life.
• Take full advantage of each opportunity; if you do great work people will take notice.

Bana Muhtadi is a fourth-year Commerce Co-op student majoring in Supply Chain and Logistics Management. Originally from the United Arab Emirates, Bana chose Dal because of the co-op program. “I knew that this program would give me the opportunity to gain experience in different fields that could also help solidify my choice of major.”

Being in her final year of the program, Bana has completed all three of her work terms. She started as a Digital Marketing Intern at Maxive, a digital services company located in her home country. For her second co-op, she decided to stay in Halifax where she worked at Traffic Tech Inc. in customer service support. Finally, she worked at Meta Materials Inc. as a Supply Chain Assistant last summer. Throughout her three co-ops, Bana gained a wealth of skills. “Some of the skills I will carry with me include adaptability, effective communication, and open-mindedness. I believe that these are some of the skills that will enable me to add value to my workplace as well as enhance my professional development.”

Bana was rated Outstanding – the highest possible rating – in her final evaluation with Meta Materials. She attributes her success to her natural interest in what she was learning. “When I started working at Meta, I already had an idea of what working in supply chain and logistics could be like and I really liked what I saw, so by the time I was offered the position, I was excited to know more,” Bana says. “I was very curious, and my manager saw that, so she helped me a lot by diversifying my tasks and exposing me to as many parts of the job as she could in the four months.”

Bana kept an open mind when pursuing her job search and was always trying to maximize the experiences offered to her. “Although I did have certain positions that I leaned more towards, I never completely crossed out anything. I knew that the three co-op terms were about experimenting, gaining experience, and familiarizing myself with the career path I could end up taking.” Though Bana was confident in her job search abilities, she often utilized the services offered to her by MCS to ensure that her experiences would be beneficial. “MCS helped go over my resume before every work term ensuring that it included clear descriptions of my experiences. They also assisted in preparing me for interviews and determining if the job description would provide me the experience I was looking for.”

Here is Bana’s advice for you:

• Be open minded, it’s not so much about the title or the company but more so about the job description and the possible learning outcomes.
• Write down any and all tasks that you get to work on to have those notes ready once it’s time to update your resume.
• Research the different fields in your desired major to try to discover which you are interested in most in upcoming work terms.

Meet Hongtao Hu, a fourth-year Commerce Co-op student majoring in Accounting. Originally from China, Hongtao chose the Commerce program for its distinctive co-op opportunities and for the oceanic views of Halifax, a far call from his landlocked hometown.

In August, Hongtao completed his final co-op at Irving Oil as an Internal Audit Student. It was there that he found the inspiration to change majors from Finance to Accounting. “The audit team at Irving was very dynamic and open to discussing my future career with me. I transferred my major from Finance to Accounting right after this co-op, because I recognized that for me, accounting has a clear career path (CPA).” Hongtao believes that one shouldn’t follow a career path because it has already been charted, but to find what works best for the individual.

Hongtao had the opportunity to work in three different cities over the course of his co-ops, which excited him. “I relish the opportunity to work in different locations, as it allows me to immerse in the work and life culture of a city, helping me ascertain whether I am suited to a particular job or place. Moreover, experimenting with diverse roles is crucial when you are still exploring your career path.”

Across his three work terms, Hongtao developed a key transferable skill: his Excel proficiency. All of his practice has equipped him with the expertise to tackle major projects. His work led to a culmination during his work term at Irving Oil. “My third co-op allowed me to demonstrate my accomplishments by developing automated templates for Irving Oil’s internal audit team, including risk assessment worksheets, daily project trackers, and outcome follow-ups.” This project is something that Hongtao has taken extreme pride in. “The most rewarding part was the appreciation and recognition from colleagues for the efficiency improvements these new worksheets introduced. Such acknowledgements fuel my ongoing desire to learn and progress.”

Throughout his time at Dal, Hongtao frequently leveraged the services provided by MCS, something he feels was very beneficial to his job search. “The MCS job search courses (COMM1711/1712), along with the resume review and interview practice with a Career and Recruitment Specialist are incredibly beneficial. When job searches yield no interviews, this resource is invaluable.”

Most recently, Hongtao secured his post-graduate job as an External Auditor with PwC. He is also on his way to earning his CPA certification.

Here is Hongtao’s advice for you:

• Leverage the assistance offered by Management Career Services, they provide invaluable resources.
• It is perfectly fine to start without a clear major or career path in mind. Once you begin, you must strive to succeed. You never know how these efforts might influence your future.
• Look for different roles during each work term to gain as much experience as you can.

Hailing from Toronto, Ontario is Veronica Denson, a second-year Commerce Co-op student planning to major in Finance. Veronica knew she wanted to be a part of Dalhousie’s co-op program so she could gain fundamental experience to help her in her future career. “It really sets you up for success when you’re trying to decide what you want to do after graduation.”

Veronica is currently completing her first co-op as an External Auditor at EY’s Toronto office. “Throughout my co-op term I get placed on various engagements, so my main responsibilities change a lot depending on the team that I am working with and where they are with their audit. In general though, I spend a lot of time analyzing the work of the client’s finance departments, mostly using Excel and internal software.”

For the remainder of her work term, Veronica is looking forward to working closely with a variety of teams to learn from their experiences and gain new skills. “Though I will be sad to leave my first team since they have been so helpful and welcoming, I am excited to get started with a new team, so that I can use my skills that I have developed so far on my co-op term and apply them to a new project in order to learn even more.” It can be challenging to start at a big firm, but through her determination and the support of her peers, Veronica has excelled.

On top of Veronica’s work term and classes, she always makes time for extra curriculars. “Last semester, I was a Junior Analyst for Dalhousie Investment Society (DALIS) in their Fixed Income and Macro Strategy group. I worked with one other Junior Analyst, one Senior Analyst and two Portfolio Managers. The job of the analysts was to pitch trade ideas as well as to help create and present PowerPoints for our weekly group meetings. We worked as a team to create an investment thesis, and from there I was really allowed to explore things that interested me.” This year, Veronica is Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Dalhousie Accounting Society. Through the society as an executive member, she has further developed her leadership and communications skills. She is also a second-year rep for the Dal Commerce Society (DCS). “I really appreciate the sense of community I feel when I get to plan events for other Commerce students, and as a first year DCS really helped me get involved and put myself out there.”

During the fall term, Veronica joined the Women at TD University Mentorship Program. “I advanced through to the interview round and ended up being one of just over 20 university students selected from across the country to participate in the program.” This program aided Veronica in her journey navigating capital markets – specifically, it heightened her selling and trading knowledge. Her mentor was even a Dalhousie alumna.

Navigating your first job search can be challenging, but Veronica shares the strategies that assisted her. “I started my job search by attending lots of networking events. In first year, I attended office tours, recruiter visits, and the Toronto Corporate Tour.” Networking showed her the type of environment she wanted to work in while helping her build professional connections. Through the support of MCS and her own research, Veronica was able to secure her job. “I ended up accepting my EY offer in early June which definitely took a huge weight off my shoulders going into second year.”

Here is Veronica’s advice for you:

• Start early, it allows for better organization.
• Do not underestimate the value of building your network.
• When networking, find out what you have in common. It is easier to talk with someone when you can relate to something.

Meet Roufa Sadek, a second-year Bachelor of Commerce Co-op student majoring in International Business. Roufa says that the ability to apply her learning in the workplace was a major consideration for her when choosing a university, which is why the Commerce Co-op program was a major selling point for Dalhousie. “While I prioritize classroom learning, I also emphasize its practical application, making Dalhousie’s co-op program particularly appealing.”

Roufa is currently on her first co-op as a Market and Trade Assistant with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a government agency focused on balancing sustainability and economic growth in Canada’s agricultural sector. Currently, Roufa is tasked with researching profiles of farmers in Nova Scotia. She has also been assigned with crafting statistical reports regarding Nova Scotia’s exports, something that is very compelling to her. “Understanding the significance of exports in theory is one thing, but witnessing their impact firsthand enriches my knowledge in profound ways. This aspect is particularly fascinating to me because, among various courses, economics stood out to me and played a significant role in my decision to pursue studying Commerce. Additionally, even before applying for co-op, I harboured a strong desire to secure a co-op within the government.”

Throughout the rest of her co-op, Roufa is eager to continue to apply her classroom knowledge to her work and real-world experiences. “It’s one thing to learn concepts within the confines of a lecture hall, but the opportunity to see these theories come to life in practical settings is an entirely new and exhilarating experience.” Roufa says that it is important to her that she contributes to meaningful projects, motivated by the feeling of being able to make an impact on her organization. “The opportunity to make an impact, whether it’s through problem-solving or collaborating with colleagues brings a sense of purpose to the work. Additionally, the supportive and dynamic environment encourages continuous growth and learning, making each day both challenging and rewarding. Overall, it’s the combination of meaningful work, collaborative spirit, and ongoing development opportunities that makes this job experience truly enjoyable for me.”

Throughout her job search, Roufa remained adaptable by gathering and applying feedback on her approach. Initially, she decided to use a volume-based approach when applying to co-op positions. “I would browse through myCareer, but when it came to actually applying, I didn’t invest the effort into tailoring my resume or cover letter. Instead, I focused more on quantity rather than quality, aiming to send out as many applications as possible,” she says. “I soon realized the importance of putting thought and time into each application. As I began to apply more strategically, considering how my skills and experiences aligned with each position, I saw a significant improvement.”

With support from her Career and Recruitment Specialist at MCS, Roufa continued to improve her resume and interview skills. “I can’t tell you how many rejections I received, and now looking back at it, I think that was my favourite experience of the whole co-op search, because it made me grow as a person. Every rejection taught me to go back and meet with my Career and Recruitment Specialist, Nishka Rajesh, and improve my resume and cover letter. Then the next rejection was figuring out what else needed improvement, like my interview skills. And so on, until I secured a co-op.” Ultimately, Roufa secured a position that has proven to be fulfilling and challenging.

Here is Roufa’s advice for you:

• Every interaction presents an opportunity for connection. Remember, networking knows no bounds; your next opportunity could be just a conversation away.
• Always be open to learning, you can never know enough.
• Your pen is your strongest weapon. Use your pen and understand yourself. What qualities do you believe you possess that can help with your co-op search? You need to understand yourself and identify your skills to really excel.

Michael Hartery is a second-year Bachelor of Commerce Co-op student from Port Hawkesbury in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. “I decided to study at Dalhousie because of the school’s nationwide reputation and the Commerce program’s mandatory co-op.” Prior to university, Michael worked at a Canadian Tire. It was there he decided that he ultimately wants to own a franchise in the future.

Last spring, Michael participated in Management Career Services’ Toronto Corporate Tour. “The Toronto Corporate Tour was a no-brainer for me. I decided to attend the tour to gain insight into the corporate lifestyle and to further develop my network.” He attended the tour to gain professional connections and to see all of the possibilities available to him.

During the Corporate Tour, Michael reconnected with his previous employer, Canadian Tire, and gained insights into the company that he had not heard before. “I found that their mission statement and company values directly aligned with my ambitions. This tour helped me understand that Canadian Tire was right for me.” Michael stayed in touch with the connections he made after the event, and as a result he secured his first co-op. “Maintaining these relationships after the tour was crucial in securing this co-op as it showed the employer that I was curious about the brand itself and furthermore willing to do whatever it took.”

Michael is now underway at his first co-op, and he is looking forward to learning as much as he can. “I’m excited to bridge the gap between the classroom and the workplace. This co-op will help me understand the classroom material more profoundly and see its direct applicability.”

As networking was an important part of Michael’s job search, he shares his advice for his student peers. “Networking is intimidating for almost everyone when starting out. Although stressful at times, it is crucial that you can network, as it is half of the battle when trying to secure future positions,” he says. “It also isn’t just about securing that first co-op, it’s about expanding your knowledge and having it at your disposal after solidifying these connections.”

Here are Michael’s networking tips:

• Let networking be natural.
• Concentrate on the fields that pique your interest.
• Show your new connections that you have an interest in the advice they are about to share.

Meet Leahnae Morton-Richardson, a third-year Bachelor of Commerce Co-op student majoring in Accounting. Originally from Bermuda, Leahnae came to Dalhousie for the positive learning environment and the beauty of Halifax.

Last year, Leahnae completed two co-ops at EY.  “My connection to EY began in 2021, when I graduated from high school and was awarded the EY Gil Tucker Scholarship. Aside from the scholarship itself, the award allows recipients to return to the firm for work terms while completing an undergraduate degree.”

During her first co-op at EY, Leahnae worked as an Audit Intern. “One lesson I learned would have to be it is ok to say you don’t know. More often than not, your supervisor will be happy to help. Not only this, but you also learn a lot during the process, allowing you to work more independently going forward.” As an Audit Intern, Leahnae frequently worked on tasks that were analytical. She shares that one strategy that helped her manage tasks of this nature was to turn to pen and paper. “Don’t underestimate the power of a notebook! I used a notebook regularly to write out all of my assigned tasks and deadlines, and this was super helpful because it gave me a full picture of everything on my plate, so none of my tasks fell through the cracks.”

After successfully completing her first co-op, Leahnae was welcomed back to EY last fall. During her second co-op, she worked directly under her senior manager and was given more freedom and autonomy over her work. “Having increased autonomy during this co-op helped me deepen my technical skills, as well as my problem solving and overall confidence.” Leahnae says that she was given more challenging and rewarding projects, was exposed to new areas of auditing, and even got to lead several internal team meetings. “Overall, I found my second co-op much more challenging but also very rewarding due to the new opportunities for professional growth.”

When reflecting on her work terms, the skills Leahnae is most pleased to have learned so far are communication and perseverance. “Communication is everything, whether communicating updates to my supervisors, speaking with EY teams in other countries, or communicating directly to the audit client. I always ensured my communication was timely and professional. During my second co-op, I had increased responsibility and more autonomy, and many tasks were new to me. While completing new tasks, if a challenge arose, I was able to persevere because my problem solving skills kicked in.”

For her third and final co-op this summer, Leahnae would like to remain in public accounting, since that is where she plans to launch her career after graduation. “However, later on in my career, I would love to get some international exposure, outside of Bermuda and Canada. I really enjoy travelling and experiencing new cultures so I believe international work experience would be very enriching in this sense. It will also afford me the opportunity to meet new professionals, navigate new working styles, and hear new perspectives.”

For students wanting to return to their co-op employer, here is Leahnae’s advice for you:

• Network and build a positive rapport with your team members. If you can leave a positive impression on your employer, it is more likely they will welcome you back in the future.
• Take your time to produce high quality work, rather than rushing to completion. Focus on producing high quality work during your first co-op, as this shows your commitment to your tasks and your attention to detail. It also allows you to display professional qualities that will help position you for opportunities in the future.
• Take advantage of services offered by MCS. They are right at your fingertips.