1210212.us16.myftpupload.com Managed WordPress Site

Author: Susan Huebert

  • STEM Jobs of the Future

    STEM Jobs of the Future

    Most of you probably know who Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison were, but you might not have heard of the famous mathematicians, John Nash or the ancient Greek scholar, Archimedes. Do you know what these people have in common? They were all part of a field of work often known as STEM, which includes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Work in these fields has always been important, and they are a good choice for anyone with a creative but disciplined mind and the ability to see how far their work can go.

    People like Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison are famous for a very good reason. They knew a lot of theory, but they also helped to change people’s everyday lives. Long winter evenings would be very different without Edison’s light bulb, for example. The value of work that mathematicians do is less obvious, but their discoveries make all kinds of other work possible. Without mathematics, for example, engineering would be impossible. Without engineers, we would have no bridges or tall buildings. Their calculations make it possible to build many of the towers and other structures we now have.

    Training for work in STEM jobs normally involves a high level of education. A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is normally necessary for work in these fields, and usually a master’s degree or PhD is required. The most specialized training is in engineering, where students learn to apply their education to building bridges and other structures. Other STEM fields of study lead to work in areas such as computer sciences, statistics, and agriculture. For many people, this involves further studies beyond a basic bachelor’s degree. With this training, they can become qualified to work in many different areas of society.

    Workplaces for people in STEM jobs can be in offices, universities, and laboratories. They might work with test tubes inside a building or travel around the country, collecting samples of soil or testing the water for anything that might harm the environment. Many people with training in STEM fields also become teachers or university professors, where they pass on their knowledge to others.

    STEM training can help in many areas of life. In biology and biomedical sciences, for example, research results can affect how doctors treat illnesses. Studies in mathematics can lead to work in gathering and analyzing statistical information, which can help people in government and many other fields to plan for the future. With so much variety in workplaces, salaries also vary. Low-level STEM jobs start at about $36,000 per year, but high-paid jobs can reach over $120,000 per year.

    What kinds of people work in STEM jobs? In the past, men tended to take most of the jobs in this field, and that can still often be the case. However, women are starting to become more involved in the work, and many of them are becoming well known in their fields.  Do these kinds of jobs appeal to you? Working towards a career in STEM fields can be a good choice for the future.

  • Career Profile: Chemical Engineer

    Career Profile: Chemical Engineer

    Suppose that one day you write on a piece of paper, use hand lotion on your dry skin, take some medication for your cold, put on a nylon jacket, and sit on a chair with metal legs. Do you know what all of those activities have in common? In all of them, you used products developed by chemical engineers. These scientists help turn raw materials like wood or flowers into products that people use every day. If you enjoy math, chemistry and other sciences and have the ability to solve problems, the job of chemical engineer might be right for you.

    Chemical engineers are involved in making many of the products that people use every day. Normally, their work is in developing processes for other workers to use in making products for customers to buy. For example, chemical engineers might experiment to find the right combination of plants and chemicals to produce a certain colour for dying cloth. Some chemical engineers work to make products better for the environment and some have even found a way to turn used chewing gum into other substances like plastic. That way, they turn what is normally garbage into something useful.

    Inventing ways to solve problems or to help make life easier for people is what chemical engineers do. Normally, a Bachelor’s degree in engineering with an emphasis on chemical engineering is the minimum requirement for working in this field. About twenty universities in Canada offer this kind of training. High school courses in mathematics, physics, and chemistry are good preparation for studies in chemical engineering, and reading magazines about the profession is also a good idea.

    In many cases, a Master’s or a Ph.D. degree is required for finding work as a chemical engineer, although a Bachelor’s degree is enough in some cases. Bachelor’s degrees normally take three or four years and Master’s degrees take another year or two after that. Getting a Ph.D. usually involves writing a book-length paper called a dissertation, which can also take a few years to finish. If you decide to become a chemical engineer, you will need to spend some time at a university.

    People with degrees in chemical engineering work wherever their knowledge is needed. They might help deal with problems in processing plants or do experiments in university laboratories. Some of them might work for cosmetic companies or help produce medications. Depending on their level of experience and where they work, chemical engineers make between about $50,000 and $70,000 per year in Canada, although salaries can also be higher. Job prospects in Canada are fairly good, but declining work in areas like construction has changed employment for engineers. However, jobs should still be available for new graduates.

    Do you enjoy combining different substances together to see what happens?  Why don’t you see if chemical engineering is right for you?

  • February Scholarships of the Month: Apply Now!

    February Scholarships of the Month: Apply Now!

    The shortest month of the year is upon us, but it’s still jam-packed with things to do. If you’re heading into college or university this fall, make applying for scholarships part of your February plan. Come September, you’ll be thankful to know that part (or maybe even all!) or your tuition will be covered by free money that you received simply by taking the time to apply for scholarships and bursaries. Here’s some of the latest ones we discovered this month!

    1. Gear-Up Scholarship – Open to students across Canada who are entering post-secondary education or are current college students. Amount: $1000. Deadline: February 15, 2014

    2. Canadian Meat Science Association Undergraduate Scholarships – Open to students across Canada who are enrolled in an undergraduate program in Agriculture and/or Food Science at a Canadian University. Amount:  Two (2) prizes of $2500. Deadline: February 14, 2014.

    3. Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion Undergraduate Essay Contest –  Open to students across Canada enrolled in an undergraduate program who submit an essay about religious studies. Amount: $300 for first prize and $100 for second prize. Deadline: April 18, 2014.

    4. Ascent Social Enterprise Competition – Open to Ontario residents under the age of 35 who submit a business idea to solve a social or environmental issue. Amount: Top prize of $5000, secondary prizes of $2500 and $1000 plus a trip to Waterloo. Deadline: March 4, 2014.

    5. Industrial Undergraduate Student Research Awards –  Open to undergraduate students across Canada who are enrolled in a natural sciences or engineering program. Amount: $6500. Deadline: February 28, 2014.

    6. Keith Gilmore Scholarships – Open to Canadian students enrolled in an agriculture, agricultural journalism or veterinary medicine undergraduate program. Amount: Varying prizes ranging from $1500 – $2500. Deadline: May 15, 2014.

  • Scholarship Application Tips

    Scholarship Application Tips

    Like getting a ton of free money? Of course you do!

    Those lines might sound like the beginning of an un-reputable online advertisement but the truth is there are plenty of scholarships aiming to do just that; hand you free money to support your education.

    So how do you score some of this free cash? Start by applying to any and all scholarships you can.  The more you apply to, the higher your odds of receiving an award.

    If you’re not sure of your eligibility for a scholarship, apply anyway.  Many scholarships are not given out due to lack of applicants. Even if your eligibility is hazy you may be the lucky winner by default.  This was the case when Sandro Rocco, Niagara College Photonics alumni, applied to the Walker Technology Grant.

    “I wasn’t entirely sure if I qualified but I thought why not give it a shot, a lot of people don’t bother,” he commented.

    “Turned out I was the only person to apply for the scholarship so I won. The award was really helpful and got applied directly to my tuition” Sandro continued.

    Some students shy away from scholarship applications because they feel their grades aren’t high enough. However, plenty of scholarships are handed out as a result of achievement in other areas including extra curricular involvement, athletics or charity work. Financial aid and area of interest are also taken into consideration when handing out scholarships.

    Lara Muldoon, Relationship Manager with StudentAwards.com noted, “There are scholarships available that have nothing to do with academic performance or volunteer experience.  We have awards for everyone, from people of specific ethnicities to people that are tall ”.

    Take time out of your schedule to make great applications. Prioritize and spend time on scholarships that are most applicable to your skills and experiences.

    When asked what differentiates a successful candidate from an unsuccessful one Lara responded, “the number one thing is to be really passionate about your subject, pick applications that really speak to you, most providers are looking for students not with great marks necessarily but with a path in life that they are really passionate about”.

    Remember that scholarship application is not limited to your first year of studies.  Many students stop applying after their first year thinking that the majority of scholarship funding is reserved for new students.  This is not the case; many awards are reserved for students in their second, third and fourth year of studies.  StudentAwards.com commented that while the majority of their application pool stems from grade 12 students, their user demographic spans between 13 and 30 years of age.

    Students are sometimes intimidated by the amount of work involved in applying to scholarships, but by using an incremental approach and developing decent time management (yes, it is possible) you will be able to handle the stress and hopefully reap the benefits of scholarship application.

    Many online scholarships allow you to save your work in their own word processors, making it easy to finish one or two parts of the application at a time.

    Having a stock application template done in advance is another easy way to save time and minimize stress while scholarship hunting.

    Have a thorough list of your skills, past experiences, awards and academic achievements on hand as part of your application template.  This go-to list will make a world of difference in the quickness of your application process.

    Also, prepare a general, but flexible essay that highlights your personal qualifications and can be tweaked to fit specific scholarship criteria.

    Keep your audience in mind when filling out applications.

    If you are applying to an academic scholarship be sure to use academic language and keep the tone of your writing as professional as possible.

    In contrast, some scholarship review panels are looking to see a more personal response.  For these, don’t be afraid to use a less formal language and be sure to highlight your own opinion, giving judges a better understanding of your personality.

    Just like that summer job, it is never too early to start the search for scholarships! So good luck and happy applying!

  • Making Peace with Debt

    Making Peace with Debt

    Debt is a four letter word that should not be feared.

    Students who learn how to manage debt during university are paying themselves a great investment. You may be hearing horror stories of friends of friends who are paying off student loans years after graduation. Even the media pitches in and tells tales of students with debt so large that it seems unlikely they will ever pay off.

    No one wants to start out in life saddled with debt, but this could really be the best thing you do for yourself.

    Good Debt vs. Bad Debt

    A $1000 handbag or watch from your favourite designer is bad debt. $1000 towards books and supplies is good debt. Debt that goes towards something that will benefit you in the future is fine. Using borrowed money to earn your degree will only guarantee yourself a chance to earn much more than someone without a degree or diploma.

    Dr. Richard Settersten and Barbara E. Ray’s book Not Quite Adults highlights this fact, “taking on a little debt for a bigger payoff down the road is smart”. Settersten and Ray also shared Nobel laureate, Milton Friedman’s advice: people should borrow the most early on when their earnings are the smallest, save a lot when they are in their highest earning years in midlife, and then start spending all those savings after they retire.

    Be Realistic

    BMO Financial Group surveyed students across Canada and found that half believe that they will graduate with zero or less than $10,000 debt. This doesn’t quite match up with the findings from Statistics Canada, which states the average student graduates with $18,800. Be realistic when you’re borrowing money and always know how much you’ve taken out and how much you’re spending.

    Be Strategic

    Arthur Chan, who took out Canada Student Loans for fives years at Carleton University to complete his engineering degree, graduated with a debt of $21,000. He wasn’t able to find a job in his field until 8 months after graduation. Now, 2 years in a full time position with the government of Canada, that massive loan is all but a distant memory. How did he do it?

    Just because you’re able to borrow a large amount of money, doesn’t mean you have to spend all of it. Arthur lived at home during university and took public transportation everyday to keep costs low. He also worked part time retail jobs during summer vacations. When he wasn’t able to find a job right away, he applied for interest relief on his student loans. Once he was able to secure a job, he used his earnings to get rid of the debt as quickly as possible. The key is to learn how to save as much as you’re able to borrow.

    With tuition costs rising across Canada, sometimes adding everything up really discourages prospective students. Don’t let debt deter you from getting the education you want. Remember: education is a right, not a privilege.

  • Health Tips: Handling Stress

    Health Tips: Handling Stress

    Everyone gets stressed out once and a while. Situations that are out of our control, people who cause us grief, and pressures that we feel we cannot handle happen to all of once at some point. Whatever the cause of your stress, even if it is just a generalized sort of anxiety, talking to someone about it will help to relieve the pressure you are feeling. When we remember that everyone undergoes stress at some point in their lives, we remember that we are not alone. Sharing our stories can only help to strengthen and improve ourselves and our lives.

    By sharing your story you are helping yourself out by re-framing your life and seeing yourself more objectively. By identifying the causes of your stress, you can see the problems you are facing and can then take action to provide solutions to those problems.

    Talking to someone can involve chatting in person, over the phone or even in writing. Whatever method of communication you choose, make sure that you are empathetic with yourself and the situations you are facing. Try to picture yourself as someone you don’t know, and think about the story you are living. What are the pressures that you are going through, what are your challenges, what are your goals? Identifying these aspects will move you from being the victim of your life’s circumstances to being in the driver’s seat, being in control and being ready to find solutions to your problems.

    Use your friends, your family, counselors and other resources to help you to see yourself from a different perspective. When you can see that you are just another human being living a human existence, you will discover that you are in control of your destiny. If  you are fighting with your siblings often, for example, you may want to talk with a counselor to see what coping strategies you could use to improve that relationship.

    Whatever your situation may be, gaining control, setting goals and developing coping strategies is your way forward. By talking with someone about what it is that you are going through, you are allowing yourself to see your problems clearly. This is the key for developing successful coping strategies and setting goals for dealing with the situations that you are facing. Remember that you are in control – unless you don’t let yourself speak out. You don’t deserve to suffer, so free yourself from the burden of your problems and let it out today.

  • Discovering Your Skills and Talents

    Discovering Your Skills and Talents

    Everyone has skills and talents. You may not have figured out what your particular set of skills and talents are (yet), but you definitely have them.

    But let’s back-track for a second. What is a skill or talent? A skill or talent is something that you are good at. For instance, you could be skilled at cooking up a gourmet meal or fixing cars. Sometimes a skill could be a particular quality or set of qualities you possess, such as talking, listening, negotiating, planning, organizing, typing or analyzing.

    For some people, figuring out their skills is simple. They seem to have been born with it.  For instance, I have a friend who is talented at playing the piano. She has always been talented at the piano since the time she was a child. Other people acquire their skills over the years. I have another friend who is skilled at making beautiful cakes. She wasn’t born with this ability, but learned it after years and years of practice.

    It doesn’t matter whether you are born with a skill or have developed it over time, what matters is that you figure out what your skills are and use them. Figuring out your skills might seem hard at first, especially if there are no obvious signs to point you in the right direction. Pay attention, then, to what others notice about you. Often times, your friends, family and colleagues may recognize a particular skill or talent you have before you do. In fact, it might help to ask those around you what your skills are. A few years ago, I e-mailed my family and friends and asked them, “Are there any skills or interests that you see in me, that perhaps I am not aware of?” The answers I received were eye-opening. I never knew I possessed certain skills and talents until those around me told me I did!

    Interestingly enough, I discovered that many of my skills and talents were in areas I was interested in.  For instance, I am skilled at writing and research – and I also happen to enjoy doing both! It’s no coincidence that this happens. You tend to spend more time doing things that interest you, and when you spend more time doing something, you inevitably get better at it. (Practice makes perfect, right?)

    So do yourself a favour. Figure out your skills and talents (either by observing your own behaviour or by asking others) and then use these skills and talents. You will be a much happier person for doing so. The majority of the time, what you are good at also happens to be what you are passionate about!

  • Note Taking: Not as Scary as You Might Think!

    Note Taking: Not as Scary as You Might Think!

    Taking notes is a formidable task for students in high school and college. There is a lot of information to take in daily from each class, and that amounts to a lot of writing. But fear not, young student! With the following tips, you will soon have bountifully overflowing notebooks filled with all sorts of useful knowledge. First things first, however: why take notes at all when there are textbooks available?

    There is a huge difference between writing a sentence and reading it. For instance, you finished reading that sentence in likely a quarter to a third of the time it took for me to write it. If I had written it by hand, the gap would be even larger. When you write out your notes as opposed to just reading them in a textbook, it is like eating with chopsticks instead of a fork. This is because you are eating more slowly and giving yourself time to digest every bite. When you pay attention to the things you’re writing and think about them more, you’ll have achieved what every student strives for: retention of information. Retention is when you keep something in your memory. Instead of just passing through your mind in that moment, you will remember it later. But taking notes is boring, right? You might think so, but it does not have to be.

    Depending on how you prefer to learn, you can make your notes as detailed as you want. However, they should be understandable to you. Styles range from writing down keywords under main points to drawing and labelling pictures. When you are in class, try out a few different methods. Do you like your pages neat and organized with headings for every point? Perhaps you like to have your sub-points all aligned neatly down the page for easy reading. Or maybe you prefer a mind map, with the central idea in the middle with each concept in an offshoot of its own. As long as it is understandable and gets the important points of what you are learning across, then those notes work for you.

    The next logical step, then, is using the notes you have created. They have already been of benefit to you with regard to recalling information, as already discussed. However, you will likely take a lot of notes between tests and there is no way you will remember everything simply because you wrote it down. If your notes meet the above criteria of being understandable and containing the knowledge you will need to do well on your exam, they will be easier to study because you created them yourself. Because of this, you are much more likely to succeed when you take and use notes in class.

    So don’t be afraid of taking notes. With a little organization and practice, they will be of great used to you. Try it out for yourself to see just how easy it can be.

  • Writing Effective Cover Letters

    Writing Effective Cover Letters

    A cover letter is a formal letter used to introduce yourself to a potential employer and to convince him or her that you are the best candidate for the job.  Its purpose is to highlight the skills you have that are relevant to the job you want to apply for.  Employers are very busy people who usually receive hundreds of applications for any particular job.  That means an effective cover letter has to immediately grab their attention and tell the employer why he or she should spend time learning about you.  Keep your cover letter on topic and try to use succinct sentences that are relevant to the job.

    To write an effective cover letter, you must include three important elements.  First, introduce yourself, identify the position you are applying for and explain how you found out about the position.  This can be done in a single, introductory paragraph.  Next, in the body paragraph, explain why you are qualified for the position by describing your skills and how you demonstrated those skills in past jobs, volunteer positions or at school.  You probably have lots of skills that could apply to a range of different jobs.  However, it is best to discuss in your cover letter only the skills that will be most useful for the job and keep discussion of all of your other strengths for the interview that will come later.  But how do you figure out which skills are the most important to include in the letter?  You can figure out which skills to discuss in the cover letter by closely reading the job application and trying to get a clear sense of what the job will entail.  Finally, in the third and last paragraph of the cover letter, ask the employer to set up an interview and thank them for considering your application.  Always make sure to include your contact information so they will know how to get in touch.

    Here are a few more tips to keep in mind when writing an effective cover letter:

    1. Do your homework:  Learn as much as you can about the company you are applying to so you can show, in your cover letter, that you will be a good addition to the organization.
    2. Follow instructions:  Be sure to clearly answer everything that is asked in the job posting in your cover letter.
    3. Be brief:  Your cover letter should usually be made up of three paragraphs and never be more than one page long.
    4. Personalize your letter:  If possible, address the cover letter to a specific person by using their name and title.  Do not misspell the name.
    5. Don’t just restate your resume:  Usually employers read the cover letter first, so catch their attention in a way that persuades them to continue reading your resume.
  • Scholarships and Bursaries for Aboriginal Students

    Scholarships and Bursaries for Aboriginal Students

    Bursaries and Scholarships
    The Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada is dedicated to helping Aboriginals reach the highest standard of excellence in finance and management. AFOA’s initiatives in the development of Awards and Scholarships are examples of that commitment.

    See link below for scholarships and bursaries.
    http://www.metisnation.org/programs/education–training/education/bursaries–scholarships