I’ve always loved the second semester of school more than first. Don’t get me wrong – I love the feeling of coming back to school after summer (well, for the first week anyway) and all the events/parties that take place, but second semester is when the UBC Engineering community gets busy!
In the next few weeks, E-Week 2016 (Engineering Week) will be underway. From February 1-6, you’ll have the chance to represent your department in a series of events and show your Engineering pride. If you haven’t heard of E-Week or haven’t yet participated in E-week, I highly encourage that you do it! There are events such as: Chariot Races, CaPPture the Flag, fEUSball Tournament, Pit Purge, Annual General Meeting, E-BALL Soccer, and 4-Legged Race – just to name a few!
On top of this, the annual EUS Career Fair will be taking place on February 4-5. This is a great opportunity for students to network with representatives from big companies. In some cases, these companies may also be looking to hire students for the summer. Words of advice: dress appropriately and it doesn’t hurt to have a few copies of your resume or business card on you! When I attended the EUS Career Fair in my first year, I hit off an awesome conversation with a HR Rep from SNC-Lavalin. She was telling me about this Project Management Summer Student position that sounded really cool. When I told her I was interested, she said that she thought I would be a great fit and asked if I had my resume… And I didn’t. Looking back, it was a pretty big mistake on my part, but when I think about it some more – in my first year, nobody really told me what to expect from a career fair/networking type event. Even today, I still feel like people aren’t sure what to expect or how to prepare.
This was a big topic that was brought up during the EUS Industry Committee meeting that I sat in on last week. Upon discussing this with other departments, we are working on implementing a “How To Network” type event for all engineering students because we believe this is pretty important information to have. Over here in MECH Student Services, we are planning a First Year Networking event with our senior MECH students and alumni! This will give you first years a chance to practice your networking skills AND learn more about our awesome department. Details have yet to be confirmed – we will keep you posted!
Prepare yourself for some very exciting weeks to come!
Cheers,
Ashley