Co-op Results

As promised, here is my entry about my co-op results. For those who have been keeping up with my results via my MSN name, then you don’t really have to read on (but you should anyway because it’s interesting, non?)

The employer ranking results were available on Tuesday; hence, we had to do our rankings. After nine interviews, I had a pretty good feeling of who I wanted to work for and who I did not want to work for. I had a good feeling heading into Tuesday because there were some interviews that went really well, while some didn’t go as expected.

I came home from work and quickly logged onto the co-op navigator. As soon as I saw that Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (for the ATIP position) ranked me #1, I was ecstatic. I started jumping up and down with joy! I was sooooo relieved that I had two employers rank me #1. What a relief. I really didn’t want to do they whole “risk” game where if I was just “ranked”, it would be a risk game since I have idea how I am ranked in comparison to the others.

But here was the dilemma. Which job do I want more? I mean, both job opportunities are wonderful. Both offers great learning opportunities and both offer something that’s closer to my field of studies. I didn’t really have much time to think about it as I had to rush off to French class. But I was soo ecstatic at the news that I could barely concentrate in class. Hehehe. JC was the lab monitor and I told her about the happy news. After class, I talked with her about my dilemma. She said something that really struck me. “Lydia, you should go for the job that really interests you. It should be something that you will be able to gain valuable knowledge.” Thank you JC.

So why was I in a dilemma? Well, because I want to work for CIC when I graduate but the position they offered me wouldn’t really stimulate me, as I would be working with their Access to Information and Privacy Services and analyzing the requests that are sent to CIC. Moreover, there will be 4 co-op students in the office, which would, in my opinion, make it difficult to show your abilities, as your work may be compared to the other 3 students. At Service Canada, I would be working with their Identity Management Directorate, working in the area of social policy and analyzing how to better identify Canadians for SIN-based programs. This position, as the interviewer told me, would touch upon security issues, immigration policy and social policy, three areas I’m really interested in. What made Service Canada more attractable was the fact that I would be, hopefully, working on a project with biometrics. After racking my brain of choosing which department to rank #1 (to work for), I made my decision:

Drum roll please……SERVICE CANADA. Although it may not sound as “prestigious” as Citizenship and Immigration Canada, I believe that working with Service Canada will stimulate my interest in security issues and learn more about SIN-based programs and how to better serve Canadians.

The results became official on Thursday and I was glad to be matched. I did not want to go to round 2 and I certainly did not want to go through anymore interviews. Although they’re really good practice for “real-world” employment, I was getting tired of missing class and spending time researching and preparing for them when the time could be spent working on my papers and doing my class readings. The last few weeks have been incredibly stressful and I’m looking forward to a nice long break at home in Toronto. Nonetheless, I will be working on 3 short papers (article critiques) for my Honours Seminar. Buggers. At least I will be in a warmer climate! It was way tooo cold in Ottawa this past week.

I hope the canal is still open after I come back. It would be a real disappointment if it wasn’t because this would be my first year in Ottawa that I haven’t skated on the canal.