by Heather Croft | Mar 2, 2022
Guest writer: Elliott van der Wee, Science Co-op Peer Mentor and Biology Co-op Student
Searching for Co-op jobs is hard – especially for your first placement. Writing an application that will get you an interview is even harder.
DON’T WORRY! You can reach out for help in a few ways you might not be aware of.
Your Coordinator
You may not be fully aware of what your Co-op coordinator can do for you. You may feel that you could use some help if you are struggling to get interviews with employers. Your coordinator can help you with your application!
Try reaching out with question or feedback on your cover letter and resume before submitting an application. Your coordinator has a lot of experience on what can be done to improve your application to give you the best chance of getting an interview.
Have an interview? Reach out to your coordinator again for help preparing for your interview. Your coordinator may have knowledge or resources about your employer that can help you prepare.
Co-op Peer Mentors
Undergraduate students with Co-op experience (your co-op peer mentors) are another tool to help you with applications and prepare for interviews. They know some of the struggles you are facing as you look for Co-op placements and offer a more accessible means to communicate with someone (in the form of a peer, rather than your coordinator) about your Co-op experience.
You can send them drafts of your cover letters and resumes for feedback and questions. Students often have a better chance of being a successful candidate after implementing feedback from these resources. Reach out to them at scicoopmentor@uvic.ca.
by Heather Croft | Feb 4, 2021
Working as an undergraduate in a lab on campus will look good on your resume, and will help you connect core concepts across classes and departments. The process of getting into a lab can feel like an intimidating, unknown goal. It’s broken down here into steps that you can work on over the course of your term.
Step 1: Figure Out What You Like
It’s crucial that you have an idea of type of research you want to do. Try to get an idea of what piques your interest. Go to guest lectures on campus, read Nature, watch TED Talks, read science books on the Amazon best seller list; whatever. The point is to be like a sponge: absorb as much as you can and you’ll naturally find yourself drawn to certain subjects.
Step 2: Find Some People Who Like it Too
UVic has clubs for each scientific major. Getting involved with these groups will allow you to learn more about your interests and meet students who are already working in a lab and who know if any labs on campus are hiring. Surrounding yourself with people who are interested what you’re interested in will keep you excited and in the know about new research in the field. You may also be able to find out which faculty member is the clubs “sponsor” or “advisor”, which brings us to step 3.
Step 3: Find a Professor Who’s Doing Something Related to Your Interest
You probably won’t be able to find a professor who’s researching exactly what you’re interested in. However, that isn’t your goal. Your goal is to find a research lab where you can learn and begin to understand common techniques and theories in your field of interest. You may want to work in a very specific field of genetic engineering, but any lab where you have to figure out how to use restriction enzymes is going to be incredibly helpful to you.
Getting any hands-on experience and truly grounding your understanding of the basics is what’s going to help you get a solid start.
UVic Science departments have individual pages for each professor that describes the type of research they do, the classes they teach, and provide links to recently published papers by the professor. Read these pages. These will be immensely helpful in quickly figuring out whom you do and don’t want to contact.
Step 4: Get a Hold of a Few Professors and See if They Have Lab Space
Once you’ve chosen a few professors, send them an email expressing interest in “sitting down and talking” to give them the impression that you want to meet with them in person – say whatever feels natural to you.
Chances are, you aren’t going to hear back after the first email, but don’t be discouraged! You know how busy your semester is? Now multiply that by responsibilities like applying for research funding, having a family, supervising grad students, and planning lectures and you’ll understand why your email may slip through the cracks. So email them again! And if they don’t respond to that, call and leave a brief voice mail. You want to be tactful, but don’t give up after one email. Don’t be afraid to persist until you get an explicit answer as to whether or not they’re willing to talk.
by Heather Croft | Apr 26, 2020
Depending on your field, there’s always a newsletter that your can add your email address to. Industry newsletters usually have a section for job postings. Even if you don’t see a job that you think you’re qualified for, this is a great way to see who’s hiring.
These are the newsletters that I opt in to:
Biotech and Pharma
General Science
by Heather Croft | Apr 3, 2020
The daily three
Every day, go on LinkedIn and:
- Comment on three posts in your feed,
- Share three posts in your feed with your network, and
- Send three connection requests.
That’s it
by Heather Croft | Mar 13, 2020
As part of their course requirements, students can choose to work on an elevator pitch. Here’s how to build your pitch.
Who are you?
Keep it short. What would you most want the listener to remember about you?
What you can do?
Here is where you state your value phrased as key results or impact. To organize your thoughts, it may help to think of this as your tag line, or purpose statement.
Why are you doing it?
Now it’s time to show the unique benefits that you and/ or your company bring. Show what you do that is different or better than others
What are your goals?
Describe your immediate goals. Goals should be concrete and realistic. Include a time frame. This is the final step and it should be clear to the listener what you are asking of him or her.
Vocabulary
Use words that show what you do instead of tell: advanced, approved, authoritative, certified, confirmed, dominant, early, endorsed, established, finest, foremost, inaugural, inceptive, key, responsive …
Practise practise practise so you don’t repeat words or ramble, but be careful not to sound like you’re reciting off a script.
Be flexible. If your audience asks a question or looks like he or she wants to interrupt, be willing to go in a new direction. After all, the pitch is designed to start a conversation. If that conversation starts sooner, well done!