Elizabeth Walker

MA in Canadian Studies (1988)

1. What field of work are you in, and what duties are required in your position?

I’m in the second phase of my career and have been working since 2012 as an independent consultant in the field of organization development and culture, and as an executive coach. Both roles require a lot of listening and observing, shifting perspectives, imagining possibilities, and supporting people as they plan for and manage change.

2. What challenges did you face when looking for work after graduating?

The non-academic career path for a Literature graduate is rarely obvious! I knew I wanted to be a writer but I didn’t know that there were jobs for people with writing skills in business. I have a cartoon I cut out at the time that mocks the idea of English majors in business: “Translate these minutes into sonnet form, pronto!” I was thinking narrowly about working in creative fields but had no connections there. I worked in a variety of apparently unrelated jobs while I was in school and, in retrospect, all of them provided something—skills, experience, connections—that became part of a coherent narrative that helped me find a permanent position after graduating.

3. How did you arrive at your current position?

The long way! I responded to an ad for “Writers” with the tech start-up Newbridge Networks and began an unlikely career in telecommunications writing user’s guides. Eventually I became the leader of global marketing communications for the French company Alcatel, and then head of operational marketing in Europe and other regions when Alcatel and Lucent merged. Working in an environment of constant change and leading people in times of great uncertainty stimulated my interest in organization behaviour and leadership development. When I returned to Canada after five years in Europe, I was determined to use my experience to help other leaders navigate change. Story-telling, character and plot development have been the golden thread throughout my working life. It was a natural move for me to become a coach and advisor.

4. What advice would you give to a graduate student looking to follow a career path similar to yours?

Follow your interests, treat everything as a learning opportunity, think broadly about where you can apply your skills. If you were drawn to the study of literature because you love stories and the power of language to create worlds of possibility, the world needs you. Go with confidence and when you feel challenged or stuck, ask yourself “What would the hero do?”

Elizabeth Walker has been involved with . The Alumni Mentors program pairs motivated upper-year students and recent graduates with an alumni mentor. Mentors are established professionals who help students and recent graduates develop skills for the workplace and expand their professional networks.

The post Elizabeth Walker: MA in Canadian Studies (1988) appeared first on Graduate Professional Development.

Keenan Wellar

MA in Applied Language Studies (2001)

1. What field of work are you in, and what duties are required in your position?

Since 1997, I have been in a full-time leadership position with LiveWorkPlay, a charitable organization that I co-founded in Ottawa in 1995 to help the community welcome people with intellectual disabilities to live, work, and play as valued citizens. The organization now has about 25 full-time staff and over 150 volunteers. I serve as the co-leader (reporting to our elected volunteer board) and my main focus is marketing, communications, and public relations. I am also co-owner of Wellstone Leadership Services, a private consulting company that specializes in governance and leadership support to the nonprofit community. I also write for Nonprofit Quarterly, with stories to their website about once per week, and occasionally to their print magazine.

2. What challenges did you face when looking for work after graduating?

I completed my MA at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ part-time and I was already working, but in a very different sector (Information Technology) and although I enjoy using and being creative with digital technology, as a career this was never my chosen field. My challenge was figuring out how I could to do the type of social change work that interested me, knowing that I am very unconventional (not well oriented to 9-5) and do my best work when I feel I am making an important contribution to my community. In the end, I took the risk of leaving behind a steady paycheque to invest full-time in establishing and developing LiveWorkPlay. All start-ups in any field are risky, but nonprofit organizations, particularly those with a focus on marginalized populations, typically face serious issues with growth and sustainability. This is not a path for the faint of heart, but for those who do achieve a sustainable status, there is an opportunity for a very high degree of job satisfaction.

3. How did you arrive at your current position?

My ability to focus on communications began in earnest after more than 5 years of the organization being in survival mode, where I was doing front-line engagement with individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families, as well as partnerships development, fundraising, and many other activities. This shift was nearing current levels in 2008, with a significant expansion of funding as well as re-organization of staff. By 2011 we had adopted a very assertive human rights perspective around the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in homes, jobs, and community venues, and since that time my primary role and identity has been developing our messages and communicating them to internal and external audiences. This has also meant a more direct connection to my MA in Linguistics and Discourse studies (see /slals/2018/keenan-wellar-ma-01/).

4. What advice would you give to a graduate student looking to follow a career path similar to yours?

Ignoring for the moment that a nonprofit startup is not going to be a career path very many will follow, I would say a more general and applicable lesson from my journey is that now more than ever there are opportunities to be creative about how your skills, talents, and gifts might contribute to any organization in any field. Be great at what moves you, and others will find you, or you will find them. It is a very competitive marketplace and I believe this means that what sets you apart is most important for your future success. There are now many new ways to demonstrate your value other than a traditional career path that involves incremental moves over 20 years with the same company or organization. You might start with your own small business, get discovered, and move more directly into a position or opportunity that best utilizes your strengths.

Note: Keenan Wellar has been involved with . The Alumni Mentors program pairs motivated upper-year students and recent graduates with an alumni mentor. Mentors are established professionals who help students and recent graduates develop skills for the workplace and expand their professional networks.

The post Keenan Wellar: MA in Applied Language Studies (2001) appeared first on Graduate Professional Development.

Christen Rachul

PhD in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies (2016)

1. What field of work are you in, and what duties are required in your position?

I work in the field of health professions education and specifically in the University of Manitoba’s Office of Educational and Faculty Development, which is a service unit in the Faculty of Health Sciences. In my role as Director of Research in the office I coordinate and consult on educational research projects within the office as well as with faculty members, residents, and students in the faculty; I conduct workshops and organize research events for educational research; and I am developing my own program of research in health professions education that draws on my expertise in applied linguistics and discourse studies.

2. What challenges did you face when looking for work after graduating?

My PhD research had a somewhat interdisciplinary focus and it was difficult to figure out where I belong and where I should be focusing my job hunting efforts. My unique knowledge base and experience felt like both an advantage and disadvantage when looking for work. I was also a little flexible in terms of location, but had some restrictions for where I could move for a position that limited some of my possibilities.

3. How did you arrive at your current position?

I always hear people talk about how getting a job is more about who you know, but my experience has been almost the opposite. I have found two great jobs, a position I held prior to starting my PhD and my current position, by simply responding to a job advertisement I had come across.

4. What advice would you give to a graduate student looking to follow a career path similar to yours?

I rely on my diverse research knowledge and experiences in my position and not just my specific and narrow expertise that I gained through my PhD research. If a graduate student were interested in a similar career path as mine, I would encourage them to broaden their research knowledge and skills. Also, I wish I had sought out more training and experience in the administrative aspects of academia, such as chairing committees, planning events, etc. My position includes a lot of those types of duties and more experience would have been very helpful.

The post Christen Rachul: PhD in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies (2016) appeared first on Graduate Professional Development.

Ted Lougheed

PhD in Cognitive Science (2014)

1. What field of work are you in, and what duties are required in your position?

I work as an Application Specialist for Futurescape, a reseller of 3D modeling (CAD) and analysis software, specializing in the Design and Manufacturing sectors. My roles lie primarily in software demonstration, training, and support, but being part of a small business means that I take on many other duties as needs arise, such as invoicing and other administrative tasks. I also manage the company’s IT infrastructure and function as lead developer on in-house software projects. The position requires a great degree of flexibility in my daily routine, and is a lot of hard work, but is highly rewarding.

2. What challenges did you face when looking for work after graduating?

After graduation, my greatest challenge was translating the skills I acquired in an academic setting to non-academic roles. Many employers will not understand the value of your education if it is not directly related to the position being applied for, so it is essential to learn how to market your skills and experience. Completing a graduate degree requires a great deal of dedication, clear thinking, and good time management—qualities that are highly valuable outside the academic world.

3. How did you arrive at your current position?

I arrived at my current position through my interactions with local businesses at community meetups. I met the owner of Futurescape through mutual interest in software development, which eventually led to a conversation about an opportunity at the company.

4. What advice would you give to a graduate student looking to follow a career path similar to yours?

Attend community events and strike up conversations with local business owners and peers. If you are a visible member of the community and have a genuine interest in the field in question, people will recognize your passion and opportunities will arise, sometimes when you least expect it. Be prepared to put in the work to prove yourself—your degree won’t sell itself, and you will need to demonstrate your value to potential employers.

The post Ted Lougheed: PhD in Cognitive Science (2014) appeared first on Graduate Professional Development.

Jeremy Maron

PhD in Cultural Mediations (2011)

1. What field of work are you in, and what duties are required in your position?

I am a Curator at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a National Museum in Winnipeg, MB. In this role, my primary responsibility is to develop content for exhibitions related to the Holocaust, genocides and other instances of historical atrocity, as well as content on the growth of international human rights law and social movements since the Second World War. [Check out at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights website.]

2. What challenges did you face when looking for work after graduating?

I knew towards the end of my degree that I did not want to pursue a career in academia proper. With this in mind, the most significant challenge was adapting a description of my mostly academic experiences—that I was used to presenting in an academic CV—for jobs outside of academia.

3. How did you arrive at your current position?

My PhD was focused on Canadian films on the Holocaust, and right around the time I was finishing, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was looking for a Research Assistant (I was promoted to Curator a year later) with a background in Holocaust representation in a Canadian context. So while this was very well-suited to my experience, I can’t overstate the role of fortuitous timing.

4. What advice would you give to a graduate student looking to follow a career path similar to yours?

Try to take opportunities to broaden your experiences and focus, even in the midst of working on a very focused dissertation. Take as wide an array of classes as possible, and try to gain experience and knowledge that will complement your primary area of study. You never know what might make you stand out in future job competitions, and the wider range of different experiences that you can draw on, the better. And if your goal is to work in an institution that presents information to the general public, try to make opportunities for yourself to participate in such broad public dissemination while in grad school.

The post Jeremy Maron: PhD in Cultural Mediations (2011) appeared first on Graduate Professional Development.