Category: Blog

The term professional is one that has been rubbing me in a weird way for some time (and not in a good, weird way. A bad one.)

As a recent undergraduate graduate, I alongside many of the best people I’ve ever met are hitting the job market like a swarm of locust. It’s nowhere close to news that finding a job is an increasingly difficult task — regardless of your experience and educational background.

What makes it hard is clutter. Everything is muddied up. The entrenchment of a variety of media and tools has given everyone a voice, of which can be a very sharp double-edged sword. While everyone has a voice, it means that sometimes some voices get drowned out by others.

Combine that with the accessibility of being able to find (and hire) people from anywhere in the world, and the competition suddenly skyrockets.

So I get it. You need to showcase how you’re different. What’s the easiest way to do that?

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I’m a young adult. I’m 21, a recent graduate from business school, an entry-level employee at a real organization, and I am well versed in writing things on the Internet (I sound like I’m in a counselling session.)

I am terrifically fortunate that my boss/project lead/supervisor/overseer/master controller is a former professor of mine, and she’s huge about making sure I get an amazing learning experience from this job. More bosses and employers should be about that.

This week she gave me some pointers on how I could adapt my email writing style to be more professional. I said “hey” instead of “hi” to an executive that I didn’t know. And like any* semi-arrogant, technology-savvy young adult, I researched a bunch of stuff and wrote a blog post about it in an attempt to prove that I wasn’t wrong (preface: I was, sort of.)

*Okay, maybe not any, but the ones that are weird enough.

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Part of the university experience is to prepare you for the real-world (whatever that means.) Part of this indoctrination is preparing you to be able to handle things like teamwork, learning, stress, and stupid amounts of work.

Being in my fourth and final year of my undergraduate studies, I feel this. I don’t exercise, but I imagine the pain I’m feeling is like that of a triathlete completing a major race after years of training. Same thing, right?I’m currently juggling a lot of shit and I’d like to believe it’s impressive. I’m juggling a full course-load, with a capstone, and still maintaining a rock-solid GPA. I’m an executive on three student associations (of which, I’m president for one.) I am a teaching assistant, and I teach an hour-and-a-half lecture weekly. On top of all of that, I attempt to live a (somewhat) social life.A common expression of mine this year has been,

“There are not enough hours in the day.”

 
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“It’s okay to not be okay. End the stigma.”

The topic of mental health is an increasing one as a variety of topics are becoming visible, such as human resources practices, to increased national healthcare spending, and to on- and offline bullying. Social media gives a variety of social issues increased reach and traction, and today (January 28th) is one of those cases; Bell Canada uses this day as a focused day for discussion and awareness of mental health issues under the “Let’s Talk” campaign.

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