This is the weekly Careers newsletter.
Déjà Leonard is a copywriter and freelance journalist based in Calgary.
Take Our Kids to Work Day is a career-exploration event launched in 1994 by a charity called The Learning Partnership. Typically held on the first Wednesday of November – Nov. 2 this year – the goal is for students across Canada to spend the day alongside a working professional.
We asked three Canadians who took part in the event as youths to look back on the experience.
Seeing what your parents do can be ‘mystical’
“I found it really fun and exciting to get out of school and see what your parents do for work,” Elan Paris, a PR manager, said.
“It can be kind of mystical – like you don’t know exactly what they do. You don’t really have any idea of what work actually looks like, even though you’re going to school to prepare yourself to work for the rest of your adult life,” she laughed.
Ms. Paris followed her mom, Tami Paris, to work as a real estate agent. She remembers going to open houses, seeing beautiful homes and how her mother’s outgoing personality seemed to be a solid fit for her line of work.
Sparking interest in a future career
Megan Sutton, now a senior communications specialist at Vancouver International Airport, took a different approach.
She had wanted to get into journalism since she was a kid, so she took the opportunity to follow a friend’s dad to work at the local radio station in Altona, Man.
“I just loved it and it reaffirmed what I wanted to do. I eventually ended up getting hired by them,” Ms. Sutton said.
When she was just in Grade 9, Ms. Sutton was hired on as a board operator. By the time she hit high school, she was reporting on weather and sports and voice tracking – a technique employed by some radio stations to create the illusion of a live disc jockey or announcer sitting in the radio studios of the station when one is not actually present – on the evenings and weekends.
“It was really neat to get that kind of experience and to get hired right away. To have that sort of trust instilled in me at such a young age really empowered me to keep going with it,” Ms. Sutton said.
She ended up choosing a college program based on her experience on that day, and had a 14-year career in journalism before moving into communications.
Learning soft skills
Michael Alexis, the chief executive officer of teambuilding.com, says his experience helped shape his current approach to entrepreneurship.
He followed his mother, who was an interior designer and entrepreneur, around for the day. He said one of his biggest takeaways was watching the way she interacted with her clients and made meaningful connections.
“Those personal touches absolutely had an impact on me,” Mr. Alexis said. “I’ve definitely carried on my mom’s approach to entrepreneurship. I will work relentlessly to solve problems, especially when it’s something that affects a client’s experience,” he added.
Mr. Alexis said the day is also a great way to bring families together, and help kids get a better appreciation for what their parents do.
Using your everyday skills at work
Ms. Paris said that a big part of her job now is to build relationships, get to know people and network.
“I think [the day] just showed me that you can take skills from your normal life, and those can translate into your career, and that you can actually be really human at work,” she said.
“It showed me the more broad opportunities outside of school that you can do to provide for your family.”
What I’m reading around the web
- Calgary has an interesting role as a logistics hub because of the city’s location, land availability and transportation. While it is a great way for the city to diversify its economy, there’s no denying the social and environmental impacts related to the needed infrastructure.
- The holiday season is right around the corner and that means more companies are looking for seasonal workers – but it’s been a struggle in Ontario. The Ontario Chamber of Commerce says that more than 60 per cent of its members are having a hard time finding workers across many sectors, including tourism, financial services and health care.
- When you hire a new leader at your company, it makes sense to want to onboard them and help them get immersed in the company culture. However, onboarding leaders the same way you onboard other new employees may actually work against their ability to create change and bring forward innovative ideas.
- Tomorrow, Oct. 10, is World Mental Health Day. New research from Robert Half shows employees are more concerned about mental health than ever. Thirty per cent said they would seriously consider leaving for another company if it offered better mental health support.
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