Boost Your Career by Getting Involved on Campus

by Marie-Madeleine Kabupu

4th-Year Accounting Student

As you already know, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. You always have the chance to try out several possibilities before choosing what really interests you. Looking back, I am extremely proud to be involved in clubs, with the Career Centre, and in internal and external competitions; this demonstrates a high level of accountability in professional and personal development. Getting a degree is something that we all strive for, yet employers don’t just look at that. Here are three reason why getting involved on campus can boost your career:

Reason n^o 1: it allows you to gather career information

Through campus activities, you get to ask employers what makes a candidate more attractive, what type of community engagement they are looking for, or if there is something valuable to them and to what extent? Let’s be real: they won’t tell your everything, but they will surely give you some hints. While doing JDC, I had the opportunity to discuss with a few employers about ways they could put in place their strategies and be more attractive to students and overall employees. I also got to ask them questions about their recruiting process and ideal candidates. The result? A win-win situation!

Reason n^o2: it helps you to get job opportunities

There is pretty much everything at school for any type of personality, whether you like to go big or small. After my teammates and I won first place at the Telfer Internal Case Competition, we were offered a co-op position at the sponsor company of the case category. This allowed us to extend our network and develop new skills.

Reason n^o 3: it helps you increase your professional or personal network

When you start as a first year, you only know your classmates and maybe a few upper-year students. However, when you start getting involved, you get to meet more people who can give you advice on a lot of different topics. You’re in college for four years or more, so make the most out of it: have fun, meet new people, and create those long-term relationships. Therefore, I encourage you to try out new things and become accountable for them; the school community will then consider you as one of the well-respected students. This means good references for job interviews or school admission as well as an improvement of the school.

The current times are hard for everyone, but I can guarantee you that getting involved is one of the best things you get to do at Telfer. Remember: you get out of your four years what you put into them. Trust me: this is a key differentiator for employers. Try it, you won’t regret it.