Employee Career Advising Program

The Centre for Career Action provides confidential career advising to all employees at the University of Waterloo including contract staff (with contracts exceeding 1 year), regular staff, faculty, and CUPE members.

Sue Fraser                              

I have been a psychotherapist and trainer for over 25 years. I have worked with survivors of trauma, as an Employee Assistance Counsellor working with Employees and their families and as a Counsellor with University of Waterloo’s Counselling Services.

I am an alumni of University of Waterloo with an Honours BSc. in Co-op Biology and an Honours BA in Psychology. I have a Masters of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University. For 15 years, I had a full-time private psychotherapy practice and provided custom training to other psychotherapists in a trauma treatment technique across Canada.

My counselling and coaching skills, my degree in Science and my small business background makes me uniquely qualified to help employees to explore their career options and create a path to achieve their goals. I help staff to identify and clearly talk about their skills and strengths. My mission is to provide an exceptional experience to everyone who seeks support for their career growth.  My hope for everyone who comes to see me is that they will leave excited and hopeful about the next steps in their career development. 

As the Employee Career Advisor, I want everyone who is seeking support for their career development to have an exceptional experience in our session and leave feeling excited, hopeful and motivated to take action. I provide way more than just a résumé review. I want to understand the answers to the question of “Why are you considering a career change now?”. In understanding your motivations for a new role, I can better guide you in your career exploration and growth.

At the end of every session, I always ask this question – “Was this session helpful for you today?” My goal is for everyone to say “Yes, this was awesome. I learned a lot.”

I look forward to working with you.

Take care,

Sue

 The Employee Career Advisor can assist you with:

• Planning your future career development
• Decision-making around career changes
• Personality and interest assessments
• Identifying ways to advance at work
• Exploring professional development and further education opportunities
• Résumé, CV, and cover letter critiques
• Interview skills and mock interviews
• Networking strategies
• Career and job search workshops
• Pre-retirement support

Employee Career Advising update, effective March 17, 2020:
Sue is taking individual appointments virtually at this time. You can meet with her on the phone or on Skype. When you book your appointment on WaterlooWorks, please indicate which format works best for you: phone, Teams, Skype for Business, or Zoom. 

Book an employee career advising appointment on Waterlooworks.

Types of appointments:

• C.V. (UW Employees)
• Career Planning (UW Employees)
• Cover Letter (UW Employees) 
• Further Education Exploration (UW Employees) 
• Further Education: Grad School/College Program Planning (UW Employees) 
• Interview: Academic Interview: Job/Volunteer (UW Employees) 
• Résumé (UW Employees) 
• Résumé/Cover Letter (UW Employees) 
• Work Search (UW Employees)

Assessing your Skills Using SkillScan – Thursday, July 16, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. 

• Being able to confidently talk about your skills starts with being able to clearly identify all the skills you have and want to use in your career. Prior to this workshop, you will have an opportunity to use the SkillScan assessment to identify your skills. This work from home time is a great opportunity to reflect on your current skills and check-in with your career goals. In this online workshop, we'll discuss how the results of the assessment can be used to guide your career development plan, update your résumé and be ready for future growth opportunities.

Achieve Your Goals with 1% Effort - Monday, July 27, 1:00-2:00 p.m.

• In this encore presentation, you will learn the essential step of understanding your why. Using this foundation, you will learn a new way of goal setting that distinguishes between destination and process goals. This system can easily apply to your career, health or lifestyle goals. Sustainable change can happen with 1% effort, come learn how! Presented by Stacey Majaury, Conditioning Coordinator, University of Waterloo Athletics and Recreation.

Staying Positive: Developing your Career during these Challenging Times, Thursday, July 23, 1:00-2:00 p.m.

• In the last few months, opportunities for new positions and advancement have disappeared or have been delayed. We are currently living in the “Waiting Place” described by Dr. Seuss in the inspirational book, Oh the Places You’ll Go. In this workshop, you will learn tips to stay positive and build your happiness while taking actions to grow and develop your career.

See the Career Centre Events Calendar on Waterloo Works for all upcoming employee workshops. 

Career Hub is an online resources for career development and exploration. It is geared towards supporting students. However, it does have sections which are also helpful for employees.

You can log on to the website using your email address or WatIAM user name and your password.

There are six sections on the Career Hub. The most relevant sections for employees are the following:

Decision Making: Includes self-assessments of your values, skills, interests and personality factors and exercises to guide your career exploration

Apply/Interview: Includes tips on preparing an excellent résumé and cover letter and how to effectively prepare for an interview

Find Work: Includes suggestions on work search strategies

Visit CareerHub here.

What is holding women back from reaching their definition of career success? According to How Women Rise authors Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith, there are 12 habits that limit women from reaching their career goals. How can we rise up against these unexpectedly significant ways that may be holding us back from moving our careers forward?

Be part of the conversation and support other Waterloo employees in their career at the Moving Careers Forward Community of Practice for Women. Sign up to receive further information, including meeting notifications, from the Centre For Career Action.

Next meetings:

• Staying Positive: Developing your Career during these Challenging Times, Thursday, July 23, 1:00-2:00 p.m.

  • In the last few months, opportunities for new positions and advancement have disappeared or have been delayed. We are currently living in the “Waiting Place” described by Dr. Seuss in the inspirational book, Oh the Places You’ll Go. In this workshop, you will learn tips to stay positive and build your happiness while taking actions to grow and develop your career.

Leading the Employee Career Advising Program as the Employee Career Advisor and Learning Specialist, Sue Fraser supports and guides staff members who seek to further develop their career. Book an employee appointment with her to discuss your future career development, identify ways to advance at work, and explore professional development opportunities.

Thank you so much for these resources and for the session today. It was so incredibly helpful! I am very excited to get working on my resume! – Staff Member

I have to tell you that meeting with you today was refreshing and revitalizing and rejuvenating. Truly. I can’t thank you enough for your advice and thoughtful probing. I haven’t had the best week and was seriously considering cancelling this meeting, as I wasn’t sure I was in the right headspace. But, low and behold, you were exactly what I needed today. Thank you. - Staff Member

I can't thank you enough for your advice and help. It has been one of the most transformational hours of my career. Thank you. I have been revisiting all of my accomplishments having the courage to own them and write them down. - Alumni

I just want to let you know that I got this job. Wohooo!!!! Thanks for all your patience and help! The mock interview helped me a lot! Appreciate it so much! - Staff member

I just wanted to take the time to truly thank you for all of the support you have given me. You’re such a kind and intelligent individual and I’m forever grateful you were always so flexible and there for me when I needed it. I want you to know that you have truly made an impact on me and I have realized that where I go next will be somewhere I want to be and where I am supposed to be. I know you work hard and support a lot of people and you should know that you are truly an incredible selfless individual. Words cannot begin to express my gratitude to you and know that you are awesome - Staff member