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From the EditorAt this point in the term, you’re

either buried in a heap of school assignments, or you’re buried in a heap of work term assignments. Well co-ops, consider this edition of the Inside sCo-op your new best friend. I’ve squeezed in just about as many brief reminders, tips, and other interesting tidbits as possible to keep you moving on the right track. The “CECS Reminders” section is a great place to start. You’ll find details about how to apply to be the next Co-op Student of the Year, how to win a wicked scholarship, and

how to register for once-in-a-lifetime networking sessions with big-shot companies. Keep scrolling to read about fellow co-op student, Christina Miceli, who travelled 18 hours by plane to a worldly work term in “Where in the World is Christina Miceli?” And to finish, learn how to fix common JobMine errors without having to trek over to the support office, and how to know if you’re in the right place in your academic career.

ANDREA LORENTZMedia and Publications Assoc.

In This Issue

STUDENT PROFILEWhere in the World is Christina Miceli?Christina Miceli travels across the globe to test positioning systems

TECHNICALLY SPEAKINGTroubleshooting JobMineJobMine support offers tips and advice for dealing with tricky JobMine errors

CAREER CORNERStages of Career DevelopmentCareer Counsellor, Karen Rittinger, explains the three stages of student career development

FROM THE EDITORThe sCo-op: your new best friend

CECS UPDATESImportant Dates, Career Services Workshops, Employer Information Sessions

CECS RemindersCANADIAN ENGINEERING MEMORIAL FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP FOR WOMEN IN ENGINEERINGWith the help of Vale Inco, the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation will add three more undergraduate scholarships to their already impressive 2009 scholarship program for women in engineering. Each of the three new scholarships is worth $10,000 dollars and comes with a summer job opportunity. Applications and criteria for all 14 of the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation scholarships are available on the CEMF website.

WANT YOUR STORY IN THE INSIDE sCO-OP?If you think that you have had a co-op experience worth sharing, send it to Olaf Naese with the subject line “Inside sCo-op Story.” Don’t have time to write it all down? No problem! Make a 20 minute appointment with us and we’ll do it for you.

CO-OP STUDENT OF THE YEAR AWARDDid you receive an “Outstanding” evaluation from your employer this term? Consider nominating yourself for the 2008 UW Co-op Student of the Year Award. Click here for details.

IMPORTANT DATESFind out when jobs will be posted, interviews will be held, and rankings will open/close on the Important Dates Calendar.

EMPLOYER INFORMATION SESSIONSCECS invites hundreds of employers to campus to present information about their companies and to network with co-op students. Find one that interests you on the Sessions page.

WORKSHOPSCareer Services offers a variety of workshops throughout the term. Visit the Workshop Calendar to register for one today.

Co-operative Education & Career Services | Phone: 519-888-4026 | Fax: 519-746-4103 | E-mail: cecs@uwaterloo.ca

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Where in the World is Christina Miceli?STUDENT PROFILE

by ANDREA LORENTZ | Media and Publications

It’s been thirty years since Trimble emerged as the technological

brainchild of three Hewlett-Packard employees of the Silicon Valley. Global Positioning Systems were in their infancy at the time, kept secure in the unyielding clench of the U.S. government for exclusive military use. After the 1978 launch of the very first of 24 GPS satellites, the vanguards of Trimble wanted to redefine the space-based technology, expanding to surveying and navigation. They rounded up some cash to purchase what the government had started and began to blow up the industry. Today, Trimble is the leader in producing advanced positioning solutions, with technologies ranging from GPS and lasers to wireless communications. An abundance of employees (somewhere in the mid-thousands) is dispersed across 18 countries worldwide, and according to their website, are “coupled with a highly capable network of dealers and distribution partners to serve and support customers.”

In Trimble’s New Zealand office, UW co-op student Christina Miceli is working as an Assistant Tester in the Mapping and GIS Division. The Honours Geography major was plucked from a roster of 86 applicants, and was shipped off to Christchurch (a city of roughly 350,000 located on New Zealand’s South Island) accompanied by a hefty allowance of $3000 NZD that was granted by the company. “My primary motivation was to have the opportunity to work for Trimble,” Miceli says of why she opted to work abroad. “The fact that the opportunity was located in New Zealand was a bonus!” But before she could stuff her luggage and board a plane, Miceli needed to apply for a work visa. “I had no idea where to start,” she says. “Tony Munro [my Field Co-ordinator] pointed me towards several different options, and he even wrote one of the letters that accompanied my application. Now that I am in Christchurch, it’s comforting to know that he is never more than an e-mail away.”

Miceli’s job as Assistant Tester is to design, run, and document results of testing experiments. It requires some serious technological know-how and a willingness to undertake outdoor and physical work when required. “During the course of a week, I could be out in the field with a GPS handheld, organizing the inventory of GPS equipment, running through tutorials and installation guides, or writing and implementing test plans,” she says. “There is always something that needs to be done, which is the type of work environment I enjoy being in.” Indeed, she has been keeping busy. Miceli is helping to design several geodatabases for mock companies, based on several real companies that Trimble has interviewed and studied. “A geodatabase can be used to store, query, and manipulate spatial data, for example, to find all hydroelectric poles that need to be serviced within one neighborhood,” she says. “These geodatabases will become testing grounds for a new software program

Co-operative Education & Career Services | Phone: 519-888-4026 | Fax: 519-746-4103 | E-mail: cecs@uwaterloo.ca

WORLD TRAVELLER

Honours Geography student Christina Miceli in New ZealandInset: NZ on the map

From www.newzealand.com/Canada

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Co-operative Education & Career Services | Phone: 519-888-4026 | Fax: 519-746-4103 | E-mail: cecs@uwaterloo.ca

“There are a couple things I’m learning to adapt to. My housemate asked me to get something on the bench in the

kitchen, and I spent ten confusing minutes looking around. Turns out a bench is what Kiwis call a countertop!”

HEAD OFFICE

Trimble, the global leader in advanced location-based solutions, has offices in over 18 countries. This building is located in Christchurch, New Zealand.

currently being developed by Trimble.” When finished, the geodatabase will be able to test the new software’s scalability by creating customer-like schemas and further populating it with as much realistic data as possible. This project will be Miceli’s major contribution to Trimble, even as she is grappling with the challenge of having no previous testing experience, and learning exactly what is required to do the job and then doing it properly. “One of the most important things I need to remember is to not

look at the program as a user, but as a tester,” she explains, accepting that this particular thought process is has been, up until now, foreign. Speaking of foreign, Miceli has been learning to adapt to New Zealand living, and has appreciated the similarities in language, food, and culture. “Kiwis (people from New Zealand) have their own words and lingo that I am slowly starting to learn,” she says. “For example, my housemate asked me to get something on the bench in the kitchen, and I spent ten confusing minutes looking

around—turns out a bench is what Kiwis call a counter-top, and I was searching for something that was right under my nose.” But the biggest challenge, Miceli says, is the difference in the direction of traffic. “My first week in Christchurch was spent frantically looking both ways, crossing the street at the wrong time, and getting honked at a lot.” Now a few months wiser, Miceli has become more apt at predicting the flow of traffic. “I just hope I can drive correctly when I get back to Canada!”

Rarely does Miceli feel homesick during her co-op term abroad, although she does, on occasion, miss that feeling of being somewhere familiar, “Every time I do feel homesick, I just think about how lucky I am to have this opportunity, and I realize that I should make the most of it while I am here.” And of course, she stays in touch with friends and family by e-mailing and talking on Skype. “The 14 hour time difference means I have to plan my communications when we are both awake,” she says, but on the whole, she

finds it easy to maintain contact with the people she cares about half a world away. Working internationally is, of course, a completely different experience, and Miceli would recommend it to anyone who wants to try something different, “You constantly find yourself facing new situations and challenges, and it’s extremely rewarding to be able to feel completely independent.” She also mentions that, if given the chance, students should take every opportunity

to explore, “Four months goes by really quickly, and it’s amazing how much there is to see in a new place.” Students interested in pursuing a work term outside of Canada should contact their co-op advisor, who will introduce the process and then direct them to the appropriate International Employment Advisor to explore job opportunities. It should be noted that the majority of international positions are available in the United States, with the highest demand in fields with skill shortages. ◊

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Troubleshooting JobMineTECHNICALLY SPEAKING

by DEB ROTH | JobMine Support

Applying for co-op jobs can be a puzzling process. Preparing

an HTML formatted résumé, navigating JobMine, and perfecting interview answers can be downright overwhelming. No wonder you’re stressed! Many students come to the JobMine office, frazzled and confused, without realizing that there is plenty of help online.

troubleshooting tips that can help you right at home, especially if you run into a problem with JobMine outside of office hours. JobMine help is available by contacting jobmine@uwaterloo.ca, phoning 519-888-4550, or stopping by during office hours, which are Monday to Friday 8:30-4:30 in TC 1207. Happy job hunting!

PROBLEM #2Your application package is unreadable

Check your term card by clicking on “Profile” and looking at the first

tab on the left. Your “Form of Study” must be “co-op” and your “Work Term Status” must say “UI.” If either of these is incorrect, you will not be able to apply for co-op jobs. Make an appointment with your co-op advisor to correct a term card by calling the Information Centre at 519-888-4026.

Save your résumé as a filtered webpage on MS Word 2007 (note

that Mac versions can not save this type of file so your résumé will have to be moved to a PC) and upload it again. If this does not work, try taking out any charts, extra spacing, or columns, and replace them with tabs. If you encounter an “Add Attachment Error” when uploading a résumé to JobMine, you likely have an improper file name. Simply remove any special characters, including: !@#$%^&*()_+|, and your résumé should upload successfully.

As you near graduation, the search for a co-op job often transitions to

a search for a career. JobMine offers a feature called “Job Type” in the Job Inquiry tab. You will likely be selecting the “Alumni” option. When searching for Alumni jobs in JobMine, you will never see the “Apply” button. This type of job requires you to apply directly to the employer. The job description will tell you where to apply, usually at an e-mail address, street address, website, or fax number.

PROBLEM #1

You’re “not

authorized” to apply

to co-op jobs

PROBLEM #3

There’s no “Apply”

button in Alumni job

listings

HOw TO FIx THE PROBLEM

Comprehensive resources, such as the Co-op Student Manual and JobMine Student Help, are available to you on the Co-operative Education & Career Services website. If these documents do not address your concerns, you can also make an appointment with the JobMine office for personalized help. Here are some

Co-operative Education & Career Services | Phone: 519-888-4026 | Fax: 519-746-4103 | E-mail: cecs@uwaterloo.ca

Upon entering university, it is common to explore options and get a sense of where one’s abilities and interests lie through taking courses, coop or other experiences. This is an ideal time to begin the self-assessment process, either through workshops (Career Exploration and Decision-Making, Exploring Your Personality Type, and Career Interest Assessment), or by meeting with a career counsellor. Self-assessment can help identify options or validate current choices, and also help in finding learning style and stress management strategies.

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Stages of Career DevelopmentCAREER CORNER

by KAREN RITTINGER | Career Counsellor

As a career counsellor, I often meet with students who believe they

should be further along in their path to their career goals. They tell me of friends or family who have “always been sure” of where they’re heading, so they think they’re “behind”. Well, let me reassure you, you’re probably right where you need to be. Everyone’s career journey takes a different route, and while some decide early, many people finish university without a clear idea of their ultimate career goal. This does not mean you will be unsuccessful. According to Judith Provost and Scott Anchors’ book, Using the MBTI Instrument in Colleges and Universities (2003), there are three general stages most students go through during their university years in their career development. Since most Canadians will work in at least five different career areas, and have on average 15 jobs over the course of their lives, this is really only the beginning of the journey. Just as you will take away learning on a variety of levels from your time here at UW, the skills you can learn in career exploration and decision-making will assist you for many years to come. Whatever stage of career development you’re at, talking with a career counsellor can help you feel more confident you’re on the right path and make the transition smoother.

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The Inside sCo-op eNewsletter is published six times a year for co-op students, by co-op students, through the Co-operative Education & Career Services department.

In the second stage, usually occurring during the middle years at university, plans start to solidify. A major is chosen, students take more advanced courses in a specific area, and start to see connections between what’s important in their academic and working lives. Focus on self-assessment and decision-making strategies at this point will help students create criteria for refining their choice of major and assist in determining extracurricular activities for balance.

As students are about to finish university, it is not necessary that they know what they’re going to do “for the rest of their lives”, but rather, what is the first step into the world of work that makes sense for them, taking into consideration such aspects as interests, abilities and training to this point. Career Services can assist students in identifying their goals and how these fit with market trends. Graduating students will start to gain expertise in job search techniques, researching potential employers, and fine-tuning the idea of how and where their career might take them.

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3Book an Appointment with Career Services!Career Services offers a number of one-on-one sessions to aid you in the path to a successful career. Sign up though the Appointment page on the Career Services website for one of the following:

Co-operative Education & Career Services | Phone: 519-888-4026 | Fax: 519-746-4103 | E-mail: cecs@uwaterloo.ca

Résumé and cover letter critique

Career exploration

Job search advice

Mock interviews

Grad school process & review

CV critique