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

Book an Employee appointment here!

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)

Registration on Waterloo Works!

Career Advancement for Women

January 22 - 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Based on the book, How Women Rise, this workshop will examine the small ways that women may be holding themselves back from achieving the career success they are seeking. It will offer tips on how to change the 12 habits that prevent women from reaching their career goals. What is holding you back?  Sign up now!

Career Advancement for Women: Community of Practice

January 29 - 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

We will be discussing the book, How Women Rise and how to begin to change the 12 habits that can hold women back in their careers. We will also be discussing topics for future community of practice meetings and how this group can support career advancement for women at UWaterloo.

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.

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