Episode 81: No (Self) Doubt (Guardian Edition)

We’re back with the final Guardian episode for season 3! In the Guardian series, we’ve been focusing on the concerns and perspectives of future business and HR professionals.

This time, our Guardian is Laura Orban. Laura is a current business student at BCIT who has worked in a few fields and explored different education paths before pursuing business administration...and she has discovered she loves it!

Over the course of the last couple of seasons of DBAJAW, we’ve talked about self-doubt quite a few times and how much it impacts us and our work. It can be a total jerk! Today, we’re revisiting that topic from the perspective of someone who is educating themselves to embark on a new career, and how pervasive self-doubt is when you are thinking about how to “sell yourself” and your past experience when applying for jobs in this new career space.

Key Takeaways:

• Think about the skills you’ve gained and how you can connect the dots for the interviewer/recruiter. Prepare in advance and anticipate how to create the links that will tell the story you want to tell and communicate them in a way that shows how transferable they are!

• Don’t downplay your experience in the service industry. So many awesome skills are required in that setting...and are keenly transferable to so many environments.

• You’ll never have all the answers all of the time! It’s about how you would think about getting the answer. Resourcefulness for the WIN!!

Episode 78: My Boss is a Jerk! (Guardian Edition)

This is our 4th episode in our DBAJAW Guardian series – a series of episodes focusing on the concerns and perspectives of future business and HR professionals. We call them the guardians because they are the next generation that will strive to keep the jerkiness down at work.

Our Guardian this time around is Amrit Humpal, a 2nd year student in the British Columbia Institute of Technology Human Resources Management Program. Amrit talks with us about what makes a boss NOT a jerk, and how that’s an important factor in deciding where he’ll work in the future. Besides being passionate about HR and positive work environments, Amrit is also VERY passionate about the Vancouver Canucks. 

Key Takeaways:

• Good boss traits include compassion and empathy -- a boss that recognizes when their team member may be having a hard time.

• Also...recognizing when their team members are doing a great job! Not taking it (and them!) for granted.

• When assessing whether or not you want to approach your boss about a difficult behaviour they are exhibiting (scary situation!!), motivate yourself by focusing on the positive that could come out of it! Nothing will change if you say nothing.

Bonus Takeaway:

• The next gen is generation Alpha! Born between 2010 and 2024. Wow.

Episode 75: COVID is a Jerk! (Guardian Edition)

Our latest episode is the 3rd in our DBAJAW Guardian series… our series of episodes focusing on the concerns and perspectives of future business and HR professionals. We call them the guardians because they are the next generation that will strive to keep the jerkiness down at work.

This conversation’s guest co-host, Nura Salous, is a current student at Concordia University of Edmonton, she loves pasta, and due to the time difference, she made the HUGE effort to record with us at 6am her time! Thank you, Nura!!

While we have talked a lot about COVID-19 and how the global pandemic has impacted our working lives, with Nura we tackle it from the perspective of a university student.

Key Takeaways:

• Necessity forced the building of some new skills -- learning how to cope with uncertainty and how to adapt to change.

• The resilience we develop during this time will translate well into workplaces! We’ll face challenges every day, just like now, and be able to tackle them with more confidence. 

• The pandemic experience makes us realize the day-to-day things we took for granted that now we miss -- even walking in the freezing cold to class!

Episode 72: Be Prepared!

This episode is the 2nd in our DBAJAW Guardian series --  our series of episodes focusing on the concerns and perspectives of future business and HR professionals. We call them the guardians because they are the next generation that will strive to keep the jerkiness down at work. In this discussion, we talk with Guardian Maggie Majerova, a student at Concordia University of Edmonton, about how prepared / unprepared students and new grads feel about starting their first career job and what they are doing about that. Big thank you to Maggie for showing up as her true self and sharing her experience and her feelings about the future!

Key Takeaways:

• Make the most of internship and co-op opportunities. These help fill in the practical knowledge gaps that can’t help but exist in educational programs.

• Think about how to reframe concerns -- ask yourself questions that can help you take your concerns and identify new ways to approach building confidence The fake-it-to-you-make-it approach might be your friend!

• Keep learning! Stay curious! In addition to the program at university or college, there are other ways to add to your education: networks, community, podcasts (that’s us!!), reading, etc. 

Bonus Takeaway:

• Misconceptions of Gen Z? That they don’t want to work hard or for anyone else. Rather, they want to work with organizations that focus on development and sustainability, where they can show up as their true selves, and for and with leaders who want to make a difference.

Episode 66: No Pressure (Guardian Series)

We mentioned at the beginning of the season that we are trying some new things! We are excited to introduce our DBAJAW Guardian series where we focus on the perspectives of future business and HR professionals. We call them the guardians because they are the next generation that will strive to keep the jerkiness down at work. Goooo guardians!

We are also excited to share the mic with our first guardian, Christie Sage Reddy. Christie is a current student in the human resources program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and she was brave enough to sit down and have a conversation with us about how she’s feeling about embarking on her HR career. (Thanks for joining us, Christie!)

It’s been a minute (okay, a lot of years) since we started our careers and it is safe to say that there are a lot of things that a) we don’t remember and b) have completely changed. That said, one feeling that might be consistent across generations is the PRESSURE to find that first career job. Oof.

Key Takeaways:

• While a first job may not be perfect, it’s highly likely that there is still something to be gained from the experience. (As long as it isn’t a terrible workplace!)

• It’s not just about the right job, it’s about the right company, too! Does the company have values that align with yours? And then the company needs to actually follow through on them.

• Keep goals in mind! Reflect. Ask yourself: in a year from now, will this opportunity have taken you closer to your goals? (Also note, your goals are likely to change over time!!)