From classroom to career: how co-op can propel Arts students forward
Stefan Venceljovski (he/him) is a double major Political Science and History student with a minor in international studies and a specialization in international relations. He is currently in his 3B term. Stefan speaks about how he has explored potential career paths through his co-op experiences.
Stefan's co-op journey:
Work term one: Stefan was employed by Waterloo International as an international relations analyst doing background research for the department.
Work term two: Stefan then worked as a policy analyst and researcher with the National Research Council in the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP), conducting internal research on systems and procedures and client background research.
Work term three: Most recently, Stefan was a policy and research analyst with Policy Horizons Canada. Here, he worked with the research team on briefings and workshops, interviews with experts and stakeholders and foresight analysis on geopolitics, economy and technology.
Q&A with Stefan
What has been the most rewarding thing about co-op?
“I think the most rewarding thing is having the opportunity to figure out what I don't want to do. I’ve always struggled to parse through my interests, wants and things I can see myself doing.”
“My primary academic path is as a History student. There isn’t a career path as a historian or political scientist, unless you're in academia. It’s the type of thing that exists in the background of another job, a part of your qualifications that's always there but isn’t necessarily your whole job. Co-op has helped me determine where my degree could lead.”
What's been the most challenging thing about co-op?
“The most challenging part as a Faculty of Arts student is that Arts students have limited job opportunities, especially for History and Political Science students. The number of Arts students further compounds that too; we’re all competing for the same few positions, so it’s challenging to find ways to make your résumé stick out and make your highlight your unique skill set.”
“My biggest struggle is imposter syndrome. It’s really easy to get in your head throughout the process, there have been times when I felt like I was not qualified or that my application wasn’t good enough so I didn’t apply or removed my application. I think it happens to all of us and I think people are too shy or scared to talk about it, because it feels like we are going through it alone.”
How do you market yourself so that you are successful in the co-op job market?
“The biggest thing I try to do is highlight the little things I'm doing within the academic community or the University on my LinkedIn. I think it’s a great platform to highlight and share with employers as a digital résumé and professional collection of achievements, activities and other accomplishments.”
"I also try and highlight the extra stuff I'm doing. I published a few papers for the Economics Society on campus and I work with the History Society a lot. Trying to showcase my love for working with people and in the community through these different campus organizations helps to display a rounded résumé. I try to highlight little things like that in interviews and on my résumé.”
“I also try and stand out in terms of my personality, the way I dress and the way I carry myself. I keep it professional and always make sure to carry myself responsibly, very mindful of how I might be presenting myself. The way you dress is often the first thing that people see, so it’s important to me that I make a great first impression – and I’ve found it to be very successful so far!”
What's one thing that you were curious to learn about from Policy Horizons Canada?
“It’s the same thing that I've been curious to learn about with every organization that I've worked with so far, and that's how my supervisor and co-workers have used their degrees and adapted them to the sectors that they're working in. What experience they use? What classes were useful? What elements of their degrees do they leverage in their daily work?"
“I think a lot of students have a very narrow view about what they can do with their degree. Based on my experience, it’s often programs like Political Science, Communications or English students who get hired because the available jobs need students to write, research and read. But so many people from so many different backgrounds are challenging that narrative by also bringing their experience from all these different degrees into new places. I think seeing and learning from that is one thing that I’m curious about.”
What are your tips for connecting with co-workers and networking?
“Whenever I start a job, when I first meet with my co-workers, I write down their names to later look them up on LinkedIn and send requests to connect."
“I think the biggest thing is engaging with your co-workers. Most people are more than happy to have co-op students and young people to learn from them. Engaging with them and talking about what you’ve done as well as being open to asking questions and learning from their experiences.”
Did your classroom learning prepare you for your co-op positions, or did you do more learning on the job?
“I think it’s a bit of both, though mainly it’s been on the job learning. The kind of classes I’m taking, the kind of classes that most Arts students are taking, are very specific to their major. As a History student, I mainly study the Cold War, Canadian history and stuff like that. I haven't had the opportunity to do a co-op term that focuses on Canadian history yet. There's not a lot of museum jobs. There also aren’t many research jobs in those specific sectors, so I have had to adapt my approach.”
“You have to look at the surrounding skills that you learn, things like communication, presentation, writing good research questions, forming arguments and the ability to effectively communicate those questions, arguments and research to different audiences.”
How do you relax and rejuvenate after work?
“I like to read a lot, so I try to keep myself within that kind of academic headspace because I found after my first co-op when I got back, I struggled to get back into writing long papers. I try to read articles and connect with professors to send me stuff to read over the work term. For me, staying in that academic space is relaxing and fun and it keeps me on my toes for when I get back to the study term.”
“I also hoard books. I like to buy books and then never read them, so I’m trying to go through all my books right now. But just collecting them and categorizing my little personal library is a fun pastime.”
“I play a lot of tennis. That's helpful because then I’m focused on the ball, on the task at hand and not all the deliverables waiting for me at my desk.”
“I like to throw parties, I have a pretty tight friend group, so I'll throw a little cocktail party where we'll get together and they're always black tie. Whenever I throw parties, it's always black tie. We all get dressed up in suits and dresses and then it's just a fun, silly evening because we take our dress so seriously. I try to make moments like that and then hang on to them throughout the work term.”
What advice do you have for other co-op students?
“Don’t ever settle. For History students there's maybe five jobs, two of them are customer service and three of them are out of province or international. People I've talked to say, “You have to apply for something. Just apply for whatever and just do that for four months.””
“But I've never had that mentality. I've always thought that I am not going to settle and take a co-op job just for the sake of having one, especially if I don’t think I’m going to learn something or get out of it what I need to and admittedly not everyone has that luxury, I am very lucky that I'm able to have that mentality.”
“When applying for upper-level positions, it’s important to remember that the only difference between you and an upper year student, or you and a master’s student, is that they’ve read a few more books than you have and submitted a few more papers than you. They’ve taken a few more classes than you. When I’m applying for an intermediate or senior position and it’s looking for upper year or master’s students, I go apply for it anyways. Really what they’re looking for is people who are capable and have the skills – you can show them that you do.”
“Finally, the biggest thing that has been my guiding philosophy is that the worst that they can say is no. If I apply for a job, the worst thing they can do is not rank me or not interview me and I’m okay with that. Thanks to this mentality, I have landed co-op jobs that I have loved and gotten involved in some awesome projects on campus that I otherwise would have never done. You have nothing to lose by applying to that job, that club position or asking that professor something – it may hurt your ego if they say no, but you’ll be better off for having asked in the long run.”
What’s next for you?
“I have a year and a half left, so I have a few more study semesters, a few more co-op cycles to get through and then I’m probably doing a master’s. I really enjoy working in public service and research.”
“I’m going to try to look for some co-op experiences that are geared towards the academic realm. Maybe a research assistant position? I’m interested in some kind of research position to get some more formal experience in the academic realm. Then, I will steer my way towards a master’s somewhere abroad to get a taste of how other institutions and students are perceiving the world.”
“Most of all though, I want to keep connecting with students and young scholars to learn from them and hopefully teach them something that I know as well.”
“I want to help build the next generation of young academics and professionals coming out of history and political science streams.”