SAF Events

On Episode 2 of SAF Ready the Podcast, our event manager Jessica joins Sam to discuss the plethora of events that SAF offers. She shares insight into the events that current and prospective students can attend and their value in enhancing your experience at SAF.

Transcript

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Hi everyone, and welcome to SAF Ready The Podcast here at the University of Waterloo on this podcast we’ll have a variety of guests students, faculty and staff to let you in on all that the School of Accounting Finance has to offer. I'm Sam and I'll be your host. We want to ensure that you're hearing everything that you want to know about the School of Accounting and Finance. So after listening to the podcast, feel free to DM us on our variety of social chains as well as email us at SAF@uwaterloo.ca with any more questions, topics, or people that you want to hear from. Tune in soon for our next episode on Buzzsprout, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Honestly, any platform that offers a podcast we’re most likely on there. On today's episode, we have Jessica Bauer. Here she is, one of our amazing staff members here at SAF, and we're going to be chatting about events today, so. Hi, Jessica. Thanks so much for coming in. Hi, Sam. Thanks for having me. Too funny. Oh, goodness. This is going to be hilarious. Okay. So let's -let's talk about first, like, what's your role at the School of Accounting and Finance? Mhm. So my role is newer. I am the event manager for the School of Accounting and Finance. So essentially, my job is to plan all the fun things that our students, staff and faculty all attend over the course of the year. And just for reference, SAF gets so many events. I have a really busy job. Like, I was like looking through everything that was going on and like when I was working in my term. I'm like, they get so many things and I'm very jealous. Yeah, we have about 55 events over the course of the year and it's growing. So who knows what's going to happen in 2024. So if you're thinking about it, so we're going to try to break up kind of like the events that kind of go on SAF because there are so many. Mmhmm. So let's kind of start with where prospective students can find us. So can you talk about some of the recruitment areas that we kind of hit? Yeah. So every year students can or prospective students, I guess, can check us out at the Ontario Universities Fair, which happens in the fall every year in Toronto. There's a number of universities that attend and our university is one of them. Lots of staff, faculty, students, alumni. They'll all be available to ask any questions to any of our members that Are there. Other events that we have over the course of the year. We have our fall open house, high school students or prospective students. Anybody that's really interested in attending the School of Accounting and Finance can come to our buildings that are on campus. So generally it's in Hagey Hall and you can talk to our, again, current faculty, staff. Current students, ask some questions, see the building, see where you're going to be over the year, come check out our classrooms, and then there's generally some treats to have. So those are fun events to come to. Oh, we had. What was that? The one that happened recently? It was coffee. You guys had like a coffee cart come. And they made like, specialty lattes. Yeah, we had a local coffee shop come. They did some specialty lattes, hot drinks, cold drinks. It was very yummy. And then we had another local vendor do some cake pops. So it was a - it was a sweet treat day. That was so good. I know. Especially when you're going to get through those long days, like having that spike of espresso can really get you through the rest of the day. So definitely a ten out of ten there. But yeah, that sounds awesome. And they happen in the fall and winter, correct? Yeah. So they happen generally in the fall and then in and around March break, we have another one called March Break Open House. Sometimes it doesn't quite fall over high school, March break, it's in and around that. So I think we're leaning to try and call it March Open House. But yes, there is one in March. It's the same kind of thing. Sometimes. The benefit, though, of attending March is that's kind of when application season is so students are a little bit more inclined to potentially attend March Open House. It definitely is a busier of the two, but it's the same kind of thing. You can meet with our staff, faculty, current students, some alumni, ask them questions, see what life is going to be like at the university. And again, it's a really nice opportunity to see what just the campus is going to be like, too. You're not just exploring the School of Accounting and Finance or our buildings. It's also a great opportunity to see everything that the university has to offer and then what Waterloo itself has to offer as well. Yeah, absolutely. I guess I kind of like leads perfectly into my next question, which is like, why do you think it's so important for students that are interested in the program or just in the school in general to come to these events? And I know you kind of touched on but if you have anything else you want to add to I guess? I think it's really important to just attend every opportunity that you really can to see any institution that you're interested in, because it really shows you what your student life is going to be like. You get to see who your instructors are going to be and if you can really vibe with them, which we've got some pretty good ones here, so. Yes, tune in for some episodes, thats me plugging them right now. But yeah, it's a great opportunity to see, you know, who you're going to be learning from for the next couple of years or who your advisor is going to be and how they're going to help you and your student journey. It's a great opportunity to see if you really like the campus or if you like the region. And there's a lot of there's just a lot of really great opportunities and reasons why you'd want to come. And yeah, I would just say, come check it out because it'll be worth it and helping you make your decisions. Yeah, I think that like when we... When we're like picking programs, I think that it's all to me, like people forget that, Like, you're not only picking the school, but like, it's going to be where you live, like it's going to be your entire life. So having that experience of what kind of college campus you want and what kind university campus, I mean, you would like to be a part of. I think that there's so many differences and so many of the universities around Ontario and Canada in general. So I think that having that taste of what like day to day would be like is different than just versus, oh, I, this program has like really great reviews. You know, you want to have that ultimate experience. Exactly. I think it kind of touches on that for sure. All-righty. So now kind of moving on to some of our next questions. We offer now, moving into our current students, we offer a lot for them too. It doesn't just end at open house. You get lots of fun stuff while you're currently studying, which means I get fun stuff because I work at those events. Oh, why do you? Oh, we often offer variety events for co-op and such and things like that. So what kind of networking opportunities do students get when they're at School of Accounting and Finance? Yeah, so our current students are definitely the ones that keep me the busiest. We have a lot of events over the course of the year for current students and it's, it sometimes goes from year to year. So right off the bat our first year 1A students that come in, they get an orientation event aside from the university as a whole, planning an orientation event, we also host our own academic orientation where our first year students get introduced to who their instructors are going to be. Again, it's a really, really great opportunity to meet who they're going to be spending the next four or five years with in terms of their faculty and their - and their fellow students. Yeah, and a lot of the staff are still like involved in the current like and, what's the word, workplace that they want to kind of join into eventually. A lot of them are still currently working, so it's also just a good way to meet some potential connections. Exactly. Exactly. And then we have a number of events over the course of the year. We do Co-op Ready, which helps our second year students learn a little bit about how to apply to co-op positions. They get their resume critiques, which is a really, really great opportunity to have your resume reviewed by a second set of eyes that aren't in a job interview, which is really, really valuable, even from just a grammatical standpoint. Yeah, I need help with that. And formatting and templates. And then we also host. I feel like I can just go on and on and on about all of them. But we have Launch Your Career, which is for our first year students and again, it's to kind of help get them ready for co-op as well. But that one's really cool because we bring in a modeling agency and have like a full on fashion show. That's so fun. struuut, strut your thing. Exactly. So it helps you learn how to kind of dress for success. And then they also make sure that they use vendors or stores that are local to Waterloo so that if there's something on the runway that you see that you like, it's really, really easy to purchase because it's right down the street. So that is so cool. I love that. I know because I always get so nervous. I'm like, Oh, what should I wear to work? Because like business casual, what's the difference in like business formal? And you have all these other levels, especially when you get into like the accounting and finance field specifically with like big offices and corporate and all that fun stuff. So I definitely can feel the intimidation of I need to look good, when I walk into work, it's the first day. It's how they get my first impression. So that is awesome. Yeah, very, very helpful. I love that. Maybe you should volunteer. Maybe I should. So as far as so, that's a lot of a cool, like specifically to focus on networking and experience and things, but we also offer social events which are super fun. So can you kind of dive into a little bit there about some of our social events? Yeah. So every - actually at the end of every term pretty much we do host events to just essentially thank our students for being our students kind of help them de-stress and then ease into their exams. So we just generally bring in a food vendor, maybe a drink vendor and it's essentially a meal or a snack on us. So we've had ice cream truck vendors, we've had a barbecue truck vendor, which was like, That was so good. Such a hit. Lancaster Smokehouse. With Lancaster Smokehouse. Exactly. We did also have beaver tails come in that also came in with a coffee truck. Yeah. So it's just a really nice opportunity for us to thank our students and congratulate them on a really, really busy term. We also do kind of just before exams, we bring in therapy dogs for our students to just kind of they get to cuddle with the puppy. So, Thats so sweet. Yeah, I love that. Ah, well, that's so nice. It's nice to have a space to unwind. And also - but it's also not worrying about - so much about, Oh, I have to plan all this and I want to like get to with some of my other classmates, but it's just nice to have it all organized and put together for you. So that's super chill. Awesome. So now kind of dipping in more. So we - if you weren't aware and you're hoping to pursue your CPA designation, we offer our Masters of Accounting program, which is a eight month program that begins right after your fourth and third four years and a third degree. I always like mess up how to say that. And we have events just for MAcc students. So can you kind of go into a little bit of detail about those events specifically? Yeah. So those are very similar to the end of term events, but they’re again, specifically to our Master of Accounting students, we bring in food truck vendors or just a really, something of interest like bubble tea or something like that. And it's - it's an opportunity for our MAcc students to socialize amongst themselves. I think one thing that's really important in all of these events is recognizing how important they are in developing and aiding in your future career. Yeah. Because a lot of these events you're, although they're with your fellow students right now, they could be fellow colleagues later and they could be the defining or deciding factor into whether or not you get the job that you're applying for, because there's a lot of companies that are of massive interest to a lot of our students. And if you already have a leg in with a reference with those relationships that you've built with current students today, like it all matters at the end of the day. Oh yeah. these events are kind of where you can do your legwork and start to really develop and nurture relationships that you're going to have for your entire career. Yeah, no, absolutely. I know Like I always quote the saying, you never know you're going to work for work with or work under. So it's kind of good to know or who you're going to be the boss of. So you never want to like, tarnish any relationship or - not take advantage of the opportunity to make that change and make that chance to connect and work together. Especially, especially when you have like group work and things like that too. So lots of cool things there. So I guess kind of like just kind of wrapping things up. What would be like your takeaway from the events and what would be kind of your favorite experience about being an events manager here? Well, I'm really lucky to love my job, so I love everything. Again, a key takeaway is come to these events because you never know who you're going to meet and you're never going to know the relationships that might seem so small today, but can impact you so greatly once you graduate ten, 15 years, Like all of the relationships that you're making today, are going to affect you in years to come. And I know that that sounds silly, but I'm speaking from experience, so nurture those relationships, really develop them and come to the events because that's where the magic happens. I mean, you get the opportunity to meet fellow colleagues, fellow alumni. There's also some events like Opportunities in Accounting and Finance, where you get the opportunity to meet with 20 plus co-op employers. That could be your future full time employer one day. How valuable of an experience is that to go and meet and talk with the teams that are going to hire you in the future and learn about what that company does or what they offer before you even have to apply. And you get to see if you align with them right there. That's so awesome. Yeah, definitely So if you're thinking about finding us, come find us at any of the recruitment events throughout the year. We're - we're around. You'll find us. You'll see Jess’ face and for sure, all of our current students definitely take advantage of coming to the stuff. It's free. It's most of the time. It's free all the time, I'm just kidding. It is free. So come get a free snack and make some connections and absolutely reach out and look on. If you go on the SAF website, they'll have all of our upcoming events and if you're available for those events, definitely check them out. So yeah. They're generally on the social channels too. Oh yeah. Also, yeah, we've been posting a lot on Instagram and, and variety of different social chains about what's going on. So definitely follow us on all those things. If you want to find these cool events. Same with our prospective students. So we look forward to seeing you and thank you so much for coming in Jess. Thanks for having me.