Bonjour! My name is andrea bennett – you may recognize me from previous blog posts on the Career Update blog. I am a first-year MFA student in Creative Writing here at UBC.

With many of you about to start your Work Study or Work Learn positions for the summer, I thought I’d share my experiences to give you an idea of what you can expect from the program.

I’ve been working as a Communications Assistant with Career Services since early October. As part of the program, I completed the Student Learning Components, which were designed to help Work Study students link their placements with their future career goals. I also signed up with the Professional Skills Advancement Program (PSAP), which is offered in the Winter Session, to try to get as much out of my Work Study experience as possible.

I’ll tell you a bit about all these experiences, so that you can get an idea of what they’ve been like, how they’ve helped me progress down my career path, and what they might do for you. I’ve broken my experiences up into three parts, because I know the only novels on your radar this spring probably involve werewolves and vampires, not Work Study.

Work Study

One of the first things I did when I moved to Vancouver last August was try to find a job. I was really excited to see that UBC had Work Study and Work Learn programs for students, and, further, that I was eligible. Work Study and Work Learn positions have reasonable hours and they pay well – important criteria for overworked, penny-pinching students.

I applied to several Work Study positions, and went on a bunch of interviews. I ended up deciding that being a Communications Assistant with Career Services would be the best fit for me – I’d be able to work on my writing, design, and web skill-set, which will come in handy as I look for publishing jobs after I graduate from my program.

Working as a Communications Assistant with Career Services has fulfilled all of my expectations. My primary task has been to send out the weekly Career Services newsletter.

I also got the opportunity to redesign the newsletter (my redesign is pictured above), and test out different aspects of the newsletter in order to improve its design, function, and usability (I’ll talk a little more about this in a future post on PSAP).

Print design is probably my one true love. I also got to work on print design at Career Services, creating promotional materials like this I. Work quartersheet, as well as materials for Arts Career Expo and other Career Services handouts.

I’ve written for the blog and the website, and interviewed staff and students on campus to hear about their work and volunteer experiences. I’ve learned a lot about web design and HTML coding. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed my experience with Career Services, and have appreciated all the opportunities that the Work Study program has afforded me.

If you’re interested in Work Study (for domestic undergraduate and graduate students) or Work Learn (for international undergraduates), you should check out the website, and keep an eye out for parts two and three of this series.