Beedie School’s Career Management Centre: going above and beyond

The Beedie School of Business’ Career Management Centre (CMC) is a busy place.

Each semester, staffers offer a dizzying array of career resources, workshops and employer networking events to undergraduate and graduate students, and recent alumni.

They also manage initiatives and programs that connect the business school to a growing number of local, national and international employers.

Their mission: to provide exceptional career-management services through comprehensive education, advising and coaching, and by establishing connections between students, alumni, faculty and the business community.

Over the past seven years, CMC’s staffers have accomplished this mission so well that they are the winners of SFU’s 2010 Staff Achievement team award.

“The staff was really thrilled and had a tremendous amount of gratitude for being recognized,” says Kirk Hill, CMC executive director, who has grown the team from three members in 2004 to 10 full-time staffers. “As one of them said, ‘it makes me want to work harder’.”

The team functions so well, says Hill, because they have a clear vision, they are good communicators and “we have a heck of a lot of fun.”

He adds their teamwork is heightened because “everyone involved can see the impact of what they do, as students find jobs and develop themselves. It really unites us because we know we’re making a difference.”

Team nominator Daniel Shapiro, dean of the Beedie School of Business, says the team has made a significant contribution to positioning the school within the business community, and to SFU’s overall image both locally and nationally.

Shapiro adds, “Many students have commented that the CMC staff go above and beyond, and are clearly passionate about helping students and career management.”