L’Association des agents financiers autochtones du Canada (AFOA) a pour vocation d’aider les Autochtones à atteindre les normes d’excellence les plus élevées en matière de gestion des finances. Les initiatives de l’association qui visent à développer des prix et des bourses d’études sont un exemple de cet engagement.
Voir le lien ci-dessous pour se renseigner sur les bourses d’études :
http://www.metisnation.org/programs/education–training/education/bursaries–scholarships
You’re in your first year of post-secondary and in the midst of a myriad of assignments and preparing for exams – so you’re probably not thinking about scholarships. But by taking only a few minutes out of your day to apply, you can be on the fast track to free money to help fund your education. If you’re planning on entering college or university next September, many scholarships for 2015 are also accepting applications now. Read on to see what we found this month all across Canada!
1. Beggs-Dowling-Mathieu Scholarship – Open to all students across Canada. Amount: $1000. Deadline: September 30, 2015.
2. Bourse commémorative Ken Hildebrant – Open to Quebec students studying an Engineering field. Amount: $2000. Deadline: September 30, 2015.
3. Bracebridge Generation Award – Open to Ontario students active in environmental causes and/or community service. Amount: $1000. Deadline: September 30, 2015.
4. Pipe Line Contractors Association of Canada Student Bursary – Open to students whose parent is employed (or has history of employment) with a company who is a member of the Pipe Line Contractors Association of Canada. Amount: Depends on need. Deadline: November 24, 2014.
5. CIPS Alberta Blaine Feniak Memorial Scholarship – Open to students in Alberta and Northwest Territories who are enrolled in a Computer Sciences program. Amount: $500. Deadline: September 30, 2015.
6. Barney Danson Scholarship – Open to students with vision loss across Canada who have proven their dedication to success through their academic, personal and charitable endeavors. Amount: $5000. Deadline: May 31, 2015.
7. Pearl & Max B Herman Bursary – Open to Bachelor degree students at the University of Regina. Amount: $5500. Deadline: September 30, 2015.
This is a question that you might ask yourself as a student. How do you know what to be? To figure that out, you need to think about what you like to do and what you’re good at. Maybe you’re good at painting so you might want to become an artist. Maybe you enjoy science so you might be interested in becoming a doctor. Maybe you like to play sports so you join the soccer or basketball team because you want to become an athlete as your career.
The best part about school is that you have the opportunity to find out what you enjoy and what you are good at. Maybe you do better at certain subjects than others. This is something to keep in mind. Also join clubs. There are so many available like the art club, drama club, math club, join any you think that you would enjoy.
Towards the end of high school is when you will really start to figure out what you want to do because you have gone through all these experiences. The best thing to do is to pursue a career that you would enjoy and will do well at so make sure you take advantage of all the opportunities that are available to you in elementary school and high school. This is your time to explore. Also if you’re not really sure what you want to go, ask your teachers and guidance counsellors. They can assist you and help guide you to the right career path.
Deciding to go to university is one thing, but deciding which one is another matter altogether. What factors should you consider when evaluating your options?
Take university rankings with a grain of salt—have a look not only at each school’s reputation, but also what they’re famous for. Many institutions focus their attention on one or two extremely strong programs. Unfortunately, this may mean they neglect other fields. The best thing to do is to choose an overall renowned university (with no defining program), or a university that places a focus on your program. In either case, you ensure you’re getting a good education.
Regardless of awesome residences or an amazing party scene, when making your choices you have to remember what’s important. The main reason you’re going to university (presumably) is to learn: education should be your priority. Maybe you’ll have a ton of fun at University X—but then again, maybe you’ll achieve your academic goals (and have a better chance of finding a job) with a degree from University Y. Consider that.
Of course, post-secondary being such a crucial (and expensive) decision, you also want to make sure you’re seeing the issue from all sides. Here are some other factors you can consider when evaluating your options.
1. Location. Would you prefer to study in a big city or a small “university” town? If your school is close enough to home, commuting may be a cheaper alternative to residence. If your school is far away, consider the adjustments you will have to make (potential homesickness, a new city, and in some cases, even a different culture).
2. Size. Giant institutions offer some of the most comprehensive resources and talented faculty—but it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. Meanwhile, at tiny schools it seems like everyone knows your name. What’s going to work better for you?
3. Accommodation. If commuting isn’t an option, where are you going to live? Many universities have different residences (single suites, apartments, etc.), and there are always off-campus options. Residence is an expensive investment, so do your research and make sure your school’s amenities are satisfactory.
4. Social opportunities. What are you interested in? School is important, but involvement in your school community can be vital to a comprehensive education. (Fortunately, most universities have literally hundreds of clubs and associations, but see what they’re offering anyway.)
5. Identity. Whether you like it or not, you may come to find you are perceived a certain way because of your university. It’s an unfortunate bias, but you can actually use this to your advantage. Pick a school that will reflect a part of you, and one of which you’d be proud to call yourself a student.
University research may seem daunting, but you can usually find all of this information on school websites. For a more in-depth look at academics and student life, check out open houses, attend academic sessions, or speak to current students about their experiences.
An employer can shuffle through hundreds of job applications every day. How do you make sure yours stands out?
Writing a resume is the first step to landing your dream job. In a work setting, it’s how you represent yourself—even before you speak to an employer, they often want to have a look at your qualifications. Not only is it important to advertise your best assets, but you have to tailor each application to fit the job you’re looking at.
A standard resume consists of a Header (name, address, and contact information), Objective (a sentence explaining your career goal), and a variety of headings citing your Experience: education, past work and volunteer positions, skills, awards, and anything else you think is important to mention.
Beyond that, the way you structure your resume is up to you. That being said, you should keep a couple of things in mind the next time you’re pulling together an application.
Be adaptable. Imagine what your employer is looking for and think of skills you have that fulfill their expectations. Your resume should reflect the position you’re trying to obtain and why you’re the best candidate for the job. However, make sure you include only relevant information (e.g. if you’re applying for tutoring, you probably don’t need to mention that you can use a band saw).
Be clear and concise. Your resume shouldn’t be longer than a page (beyond that, the employer’s likely to stop reading anyway). Requests for references often vary from job to job, but you can put these on a separate page if needed. And of course, make your resume easy to follow: avoid long sentences, embellished fonts, or extremely elaborate vocabulary.
Be creative. Don’t be afraid to switch it up a little—especially in fields like art and design, which often leave their “resume” component open to interpretation. Sometimes a portfolio or even a video can impress an employer. For jobs with stricter requirements, you can still be flexible with your headings and layout if you want to make an impression. Just make sure you’re striking a balance between being imaginative and being understood.
Be sincere. It might seem difficult to express your abilities through your resume. Be careful if you feel tempted to exaggerate your talents. Sometimes this works, but if you get called back for an interview, be prepared to justify all that you’ve written. More importantly, why would you want a job that you can only pretend to be good at? You should appear to be “the better version of yourself”, not someone else entirely.
No application is perfect, but with practice you’ll find the resume style that works for you. Keep a copy with you the next time you’re going to school or running an errand: you never know where your next job will come from. Good luck!
In your house, you probably have a lot of family pictures. You might have formal school or graduation pictures and your parents might have their wedding picture up on the wall. Maybe there are pictures of your relatives, of places that you have visited, and maybe pictures of your pets. These pictures tell the story of your life and the lives of your family members. Photojournalists are professional photographers who do the same kind of thing. Instead of telling their own stories, however, they tell other people’s stories through pictures. Whether they are telling the story of pleasant or unpleasant occasions, photojournalists help to let other people know about the events that are taking place around the world.
If you take pictures with your phone or camera, you are helping to record what has happened throughout your day. You might record ordinary events, such as a rabbit running across your path, or major events such as your brother or sister’s graduation. Photojournalists take pictures of all kinds of things, including cultural festivals, political events and even wars. Sometimes photojournalists work in very dangerous situations where they have to be very careful to keep safe, but at other times they work in very quiet places.
Working locations can also vary a lot for photojournalists. They might travel overseas to take pictures of a royal wedding. During that time, they would probably stay in a nice hotel and be well dressed to fit in with the crowd. They might also record a canoe trip across the country, spending their nights in tents and wearing jeans or shorts. Some people do photojournalism as a full-time career, but many of them are freelancers and might work at another job to earn money for their photography work.
Being able to take good pictures of various places and events is the most important requirement for photojournalists, but they also need much more. Depending on what kinds of pictures they take, they might need to be quite physically fit so that they can walk long distances and carry everything they need for their work. They need to be able to use different cameras and other equipment and to have the technical knowledge to set everything up for taking pictures. Most photojournalists need to know about darkrooms and different techniques for developing film. Although there is no standard educational requirement for photojournalists, some courses or a degree in photojournalism or in the fine arts could be useful.
Photojournalists work in many different places, but the most common employers are newspapers or magazines. Salaries vary between about $20,000 and $52,000 per year. Experience is the most important factor in becoming a photojournalist. If you like the idea of this type of work, you can already start taking pictures that you can put in your portfolio of samples that show your best work. You can start experimenting with different cameras and type of equipment. If you love telling stories through pictures, you can already start now on a future career as a photojournalist.
Everyone wants to score a good job. But how do you do that? Make a good first impression. The job interview process is the most important part of starting work at a new place: not only do you get to market your talents, but you give your potential employer a sense of who you are and whether you’re the right fit for the position.
That being said, you have to come prepared. In order to land your dream career, you’re going to have to prove you deserve it—and you definitely want to be memorable enough (in the positive sense!) to warrant a call back. Here are some tips for preparing for a job interview.
Dress the part. Looking professional is a key part of your visual first impression on your employer, and it shows you really care about the job. That being said, dress appropriately for the work environment—if you’re applying for a job as a busboy, it might be a little weird to show up in a suit and tie. “Business casual” is usually your best bet: look presentable, but not like you’re about to go to the opera.
Bring your file. Print out two copies of your resume, one to give to your interviewer and one for yourself to refer to as you speak. Depending on the job, you could also bring other documents that you think the employer might want to see (e.g. a portfolio, past works, etc.). Don’t be pushy, though. Only bring out these extra documents if they happen to come up in the interview.
Know your answers. To make sure you don’t get blindsided, try to think of what may be asked of you. Don’t prepare a speech, but you should have an idea of what you’re going to say in response. Some classic interview questions include: Why do you want to work for us? Why do you think you’d be a good candidate? What are some of your strengths and weaknesses in the workplace? You can even try out a “mock interview” with a friend or family member.
Be confident—and be yourself. You may be nervous, but stay calm and speak clearly. Bring a bottle of water—if you feel like you’re losing track of what you’re saying, pause and take a sip before you continue. If you are levelheaded and rational during the interview, the interviewer is going to know you’ll act the same way on the job. However, don’t feel like you have to put on a charade. Let the employer get to know your unique abilities. If you act totally different during your interview and you get hired, chances are you’re going to have to maintain that disguise when you start working.
Good luck on your job searches!
As you grow up you may find that things that were previously interesting are no longer interesting to you, or that things that were previously uninteresting are now interesting. When you are at school, at home, in extracurricular activities or hanging out with your friends, there will be things that you may prefer to do at certain times and not at other times. This is normal.
For example, at school you may find that your favourite subject is math when you are in grade 3 and then you may find that you prefer English when you are in grade 6. At home you may prefer to read books in grade 3, but then in grade 6 you may prefer to watch television. In extracurricular activities, perhaps you enjoyed playing the flute when you were in grade 3 but now you prefer playing the guitar in grade 6. In volunteer activities, you might have enjoyed working at your school’s bake sale and now you prefer volunteering for the Meals on Wheels charity. At your sporting activities you may have found basketball to be the best sport to showcase your athletic skills, but now you prefer playing soccer because you like to be outside. Our friends change, too! You may have had a certain group of friends when you were in grade 3 and then you changed groups or lost or gained a few friends over the three year period.
Sometimes changes can be the result of learning new information that disallows going back to the former way of seeing things. Change can be scary because we are adapting to new circumstances and experiencing new and different things. This can be good if we learn to have a positive perspective on the change and we decide that we are going to approach the change with a can-do attitude. Sometimes there are so many new things that we are doing that we may find ourselves starting to feel negative because we are feeling that the challenge is too difficult. In these situations, it is best to find things that remind us of what we have done in the past in order to find a balance between the new and old.
Growing up and growing out of things is normal – we all go through it. Remember that the past is always there and you are building your future. Have fun with it!
Let’s get real. Post-secondary education is expensive and very few people have thousands of dollars casually lying around the house. Most of us are in search of cash — the type that you don’t have to pay back. In other words, we’re all searching for those illustrious scholarships. If you’re new at this whole “applying-for-scholarships-because-I-need-money-to-pay-for-school-which-suddenly-isn’t-free-anymore” thing, then you’ve come to the right place.
Here are seven helpful tips that could help you score some extra cash!
1. You do not get scholarships for simply existing. Almost every scholarship application that you come across is going to inquire about your extracurricular activities and community involvement. You need to do something, be a part of something, or participate in something. You don’t necessarily need to be the three-time reigning champion of every competition you compete in, or the newly-elected President for every fancy club that you’re a part of. You simply need to get out there and participate.
2. One of the hardest parts of getting free money is finding free money. Luckily, there are people who dedicate themselves to doing it for you! Make sure to check out websites like Scholarship Canada. They have information on hundreds of scholarships— both large and small. Also, take a glance at your school’s website. The majority of Guidance Councillors will actually post a list of scholarships that they’ve come across. But don’t stop there. Go the extra mile and go digging through the websites of other schools. You’re guaranteed to come across a fresh new list filled with new opportunities.
3. Keep your eye out for obscure scholarships offered by smaller organizations. This may require an advanced Google search and some serious digging but this very well might be the key to your first scholarship. Most students set their targets on big scholarships offered by well-known companies. There’s no harm in applying for those, but your chances quickly diminish when you’re facing so much competition. However, with the lesser-known scholarships that might be sitting on page 17 of a Google search, your chances of standing out in the significantly smaller crowd are far higher.
4. Your best bet to scoring a scholarship is to apply to as many as possible. This may sound frighteningly obvious but you would be surprised by how many people lay all of their eggs in one basket. Yes, it’s time-consuming and painstakingly tedious but you need to apply, apply, and apply some more!
5. If a scholarship application sounds too long, too boring, or too overwhelming, there’s a pretty good chance that other students are going to think the same thing and avoid it all together. This, of course, means that you should go ahead and do it! The more tedious the application is, the less competition you’re going to have. So suck it up and get writing!
6. Never lie. Don’t lie about your qualifications, achievements, activities, awards, or anything of the sort. Just don’t! If you get caught, you’ll suffer from third-degree embarrassment and, even worse, you may sever some really important connections.
7. Most organizations will release profiles of the previous year’s winner. Take a look at those to find out what kind of people they’re looking for. This might give you some ideas on what to include in your own application.
The field of sociology is a major one and it is one of the fastest growing of the STEM career paths. Sociology has been growing in size and importance since it began to be studied in the early 1900’s. A degree in sociology can take you down a large variety of career paths and it is up to you to decide which one most suits and benefits you personally.
The first step towards becoming a sociologist is being accepted into a sociology major program at a university. These programs generally take about four years to complete, but universities are flexible and it’s possible to complete the program faster (or slower) depending on your learning style, financial situation and other factors that might affect your education situation.
Once you graduate from your sociology bachelor’s program there are a number of options available to you. You can decide to take further schooling and apply for a masters of sociology, or even achieve a doctorate if you decide to put in the serious dedication to the science of sociology. Many people don’t wish to take that path for a variety of reasons, and it isn’t necessary to hold a doctorate to be a sociologist.
Some of the career fields open to sociology bachelor’s graduates can include the following: human relations, development, marketing, industrial relations, or as a personal support worker (PSW). PSWs are an integral part of the community and perform a number of important functions.
PSWs can include youth support workers, whose function is to work with troubled young people in the community and reach out to those in need of support, especially youths with troubled home lives and legal issues. Community PSWs can also work with drug addicts and alcoholics in the community, helping them to find shelter, direct them to rehabilitation centres, find employment or hand out supplies such as sterile needles, clean pipes and pamphlets on addiction. Many PSWs will work with those most disadvantaged in society. It’s a difficult yet very emotionally rewarding job.
Community social workers work with those in extreme poverty as well as the homeless. They help to provide support and direct them to services that can help them such as shelters, food banks, and navigating the complex welfare and disability system. Often PSWs work with the disabled or mentally ill as well, giving support to people that have no one else. Social workers can aid these people in finding affordable housing, work, or treatment.
Community social workers can have a major benefit on the area in which they work, and they can often improve or even save people’s lives. It is not an easy job, requiring odd hours and being able to handle diverse situations. Patience and good people skills are essential for this line of work. All in all, being a community social worker can be an extremely rewarding job. Each day you work to improve people’s lives.