Getting a certification or training to build your skills and competencies is a way to show that you’re interested in a topic!
Online courses
Online courses that are designed to help life science professionals make strategic business decisions, navigate important regulatory hurdles, and move healthcare products from the bench to the bedside.
Learn more about common certifications as well as how you can get them on the Co-op website. This list is intended to get you started, but please check with organizations directly for up-to-date information.
The Level UP program is an opportunity for students to work on short-term remote projects, connect with future employers, and gain real-work experience within a supportive and thriving community of Canadian students!
8 week remote internships for Canadian Students
Funded by the Government of Canada
Get paid $1,400
Employers of any size work with talented, bright students. Students are compensated directly through Riipen.
Wavemakers is a free career-building program that will give you a head start to your career. Build your skills, network with mentors and peers and meet top Canadian employers.
The best part? It’s open to all students and takes place in an immersive, virtual reality campus so it’s easily accessible to everyone.
Inclusivity is Wavemaker’s jam, and they are passionate about creating equal opportunity for all.
Immersive VR experience for Canadian and international students
Funded by the Government of Canada
Each cohort offers a $2000 scholarship in for students who complete the program
All students are eligible to receive a $200 stipend for equipment, internet costs, and childcare.
Partake in the virtual career fair and meet with recruiters from companies such as Deloitte, IBM, Bell, Parks Canada, Manulife and many more!
Wavemaker alumni are invited to every event and career fair even after they’ve finished their program. It’s a great way to build your connections professionally and practice networking before co-op!
Youth Boost is a free online platform to help you build digital and human skills.
Your free account gives you access to learning labs, resources, and courses developed to help you understand and build the skills in demand by employers across different industries.
Connect to resources and supports like:
Learning labs and courses focused on real skills and challenges.
Resume and interview feedback tools to help you stand out to employers.
Notifications of new jobs that match your skills and career goals.
Globally recognized certifications in social media, public relations, search engine optimization (SEO), and Google Ads & Analytics.
Here’s how it works:
Get started by creating a free Youth Boost account.
Get growing: Choose from 20 learning labs with a focus on different in-demand digital and human skills.
Get matched: Add new skills to your profile as you complete learning labs and courses to get matched with relevant job opportunities posted on Magnet.
Get Informed: Learning labs are developed with support and input from employers, industry leaders, and educators. Projects are based on real challenges, using real skills needed in your industry of choice.
Get Hired: Youth Boost will also connect users to paid placements offered through the Canadian Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) Boost Your Business Technology Grant, funded by the government of Canada. Participants will gain valuable experience implementing and managing technology solutions and strategies.
Networking is more that just meeting new people. It’s also about maintaining existing relationships. This involves staying in touch with contacts, sharing updates on your work, and offering support and assistance when needed. This all supports your career growth and development.
Here are three questions you can ask at your next event to start to grow you professional network.
Start by asking where they did their undergrad
Reply to show you know something about the school or the area.
Using humour can be a great way to get the conversation rolling.
Try gently poking fun (any other school in Canada will have worse weather than UVic!)
Next, ask for some advice: What can I do in my first few years after school to succeed?
This is where you can tap into someone’s enthusiasm for their field
Follow their lead and start to build rapport
Thank them for the great advice
Conclude by asking “Do you mind if I keep in touch with how things go?”
When you use that great advice you got, let them know that they saved you time, you learned so much.
This will continue to build the relationship over time.
As this camaraderie grows, the network of people you can call on when you are looking for your next opportunity will expand as well.
J. Kelly Hoey spoke at a UVic Alumni event in the Fall of 2021. You can watch the recording of her talk at the bottom of this page. I just finished reading her book Build Your Dream Network and I took notes that I wanted to organize and share.
People, persistence, planning, politeness, and people
Your network won’t build itself overnight. Don’t get discouraged. Keep at it! A swipe might get you a date, but building real relationships is a long term investment in other people.
What it’s not
“Those moments when you exchange business cards with someone and figure out how you can benefit from them.” ~Jonathan Beninson
What it is
Networking is all about strategic curiosity. You can’t type in your question and expect an immediate answer with people you meet. When you use your network like a search engine:
You might not get the answer you’re interested in
You might not get any answer at all
Think about what you’re interested in doing and what the person you’re interested in meeting with is interested in. When a connection benefits both, it is more valuable for both.
“You can’t just sit back and think magic will happen – you gotta enthusiastically wave your wand, put some tricks up your sleeve.” ~ Alison Levine
Consistent actions produce results more often than serendipitous encounters with a dream boss in the grocery store line up. Think sit-ups: consistency is where the effort you put in gets you on the path to success.
What’s your goal?
How do you figure it out? Do some research – talk to someone who loves what they do!
You have an idea, but … What’s causing that hesitation or uncertainty? Do you need to conduct more research? Maybe you need to talk to a mentor or get more feedback to focus on your goal.
So you have a goal! So move on to deciding who can help you reach it!
Who can help you achieve your goal?
Time to do some research – ask a mentor and seek information from friends. If they are already in your network, stop procrastinating and ask for help! If they aren’t in your network, take a second look. Don’t overlook anyone – everyone matters.
Strong connections – friends, family
Shared experiences – coworkers, club members, classmates, peers
Learning – mentor, boss, teacher
Relationships
“Relationships are your secret weapon. It pays off (big time) to be nice.” ~Erin Newkirk
It’s all about gratitude. End a conversation by saying thank you. Introduce yourself by saying, “Hello, my name is Heather and I’m grateful to be here. Thank you for having me.” Sign an email using “With Gratitude”.
Purpose and preparation
Know why you wrote an email or sent a message or accepted the invitation to an event.
Is the opportunity aligned with my goal(s)?
Will my participation add value to the other attendees and be valuable to me?
Does the opportunity expand my connections or build on existing relationships?
What does my gut say?
Events you should never turn down
Never say no to opportunities to get to know your peers and colleagues. The importance of social skills at work is directly related to the way technology has shifted the way the work is organized towards flexible teams, job rotation, and multitasking.
Things you can do to improve your visibility online
Maintain a complete LinkedIn profile
Once a week, post an update on: industry-relevant news, about an event you are attending, or a question for your network
Connect with everyone you meet on LInkedIn
Ways to build connections IRL and online:
Follow the person on Twitter or Tik Tok
See who you might have as a common connection on LinkedIn and ask for and introduction
Send a LinkedIn connection request to people you meet at events. Include where/when you met, who you have incommon, why you may want to stay connected
Follow the person’s publications or posts on their blog or places like Medium.
Leverage your UVic alumni network. Over 184,000 people follow UVic on LinkedIn – an amazing resource for job leads and introductions
Set up a Google alert for when companies or individuals are mentioned in the news
Attend events when you discover the person you want to meet is scheduled to speak
Live tweet interesting panel discussions at an event and make sure to include the Twitter handle of the panelists
During Q&A Sessions, tell people your role, company, department, then ask your question in a clear and precise manner.
Follow up connections that you make online with real-life meeting – can be as quick as a chat over coffee at a conference.
When you feel like your email is being ignored, send it again, politely. And follow up again after that too.
Keep your connections in the loop so they can share in the joy of your success along the way.
Guest writer: Elliott van der Wee, Science Co-op Peer Mentor and Biology Co-op Student
Participating in the Co-op program is a great opportunity for you to gain career-oriented experience relevant to your field of study. It is also a chance for you to engage more deeply with your academic work from classes and labs.
When you are actually on your work term, it can be easy to forget about advancing your career when you are caught up with the busyness of your work routine. It is important, during your work term, to think about how you can be setting yourself up for more success in the future. There are a few thing you can think about to maximize what you get out of your Co-op work term.
Relationship Building
While you might imagine that you won’t see the people you work with once your work term is over, remember that your colleagues and supervisors are people in your field with similar career trajectories. Prioritize building friendships with your co-workers – it is likely that you may run into them in the future in a professional setting, and having good connections will set you ahead of the game.
Take opportunities to network with your supervisors as well: this could give you an advantage if you are competing with others for a future position.
Learn as much as you can
From an academic standpoint, you can learn a lot on your work term that you will be able to take to future classes. Take any opportunities at work where you could learn about something new, and ask questions as you go. Learning on your work term can also mean learning skills and gaining information about the fields you are interested in.
Ask your supervisor about their work and how they came to be where they are – you might end up on a similar path. Learning about how your supervisors like their jobs can help you understand whether those positions might be a good fit for you one day. It is also a great idea to write down new skills you learn on your work term. You can then use this information when you build your resume and write cover letters in the future.
Connecting with people in your field is a required component of Introduction to Professional Practice for science co-op students students that teaches new co-op how to choose a job opportunity to apply for, prepare for and submit an application, prepare for an interview, and how to create your own opportunity.
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!
