LOOKING AT THE WORLD OF WORK: PERSPECTIVES of MOTHER & DAUGHTER

In 1994, when the Bank of Montreal was named the best employer for women in North America by the Catalyst Foundation in New York, Harriet Stairs was a big part of that success. With a wealth of experience in human resources, she pauses to offer some advice to McGill graduates looking for work. Meanwhile, her daughter, Andrea, who will soon graduate, gives a student's perspective.

In every hierarchy, there are junior jobs and there are senior jobs. But the entry positions that provide a steppingstone for college graduates are becoming fewer, and there are many more contract jobs. Yet I think the job market is getting better for everyone. Despite the numbers of people looking for work, I still think there's a lack of people who have it all together: smart, good personality, good academic training, good conversation skills.

Employers are starting to ask, "What behaviours are necessary for this job? Can you work in a team?" If you don't work well in teams, then I think the career scope is limited, unless you are brilliant.

You should think of a career in terms of building blocks: one building block is academic ñ the ability to continuously learn; another block is the ability to communicate ñ to listen and to resolve problems; and yet another is the ability to manage oneself in personal situations in a mature manner.

NETWORK LIKE CRAZY

I think young graduates should give themselves a long lead time to find a job and, even after four or six months, not to despair. Use everything that McGill University has at its disposal and network like crazy. I would encourage graduates to be flexible in their approach ñ even if you don't find exactly the right job, look at any job as an opportunity. The funny thing is that companies are always looking for bright, common sense people, but there's a "disconnect" because of budgetary reasons. It's hard to get your foot in the door and to get that first job.

Yet any job can be a way into a company. Then sell yourself. You'll have access to internal posting systems and you can seek out an initial sponsor, a person inside the company who can help you.

I suggest using networking systems. For instance, my daughter, Andrea, was responsible for the mentoring program of SOAR (the Student Organization for Alumni Relations) at McGill last year, and she told me there were more volunteer mentors than students taking advantage of the service. Take advantage of the systems! If you can, get a mentor to have one lunch with you, then ask that person for some contacts. Your father doesn't have to be a company president. Everybody has some contacts.

GREAT CAREER MOMENTS

I think one of the things I'm most proud of in my career at the Bank of Montreal is the Task Force on the Advancement of Women, which was the seminal work in Canada. It is an issue of competitiveness because 75 percent of our employees are women. If we can become the employer of choice in the marketplace, then that's an advantage. We followed up with task forces on visible minorities, aboriginal people and people with disabilities. We want to be the employer of choice, including these four groups.

Progressive hiring policies are good business because these groups have choices as consumers. When we walk in and bid for certain kinds of work, sometimes our policies have worked in our favour. Our mission statement is embedded in everything we do. We have three objectives: to be competent, committed and cost-effective. We align this through responsibility to our shareholders, customers, employees, and communities in which we operate. Our community is Canada and this is how my volunteer work with McGill fits in.

ANDREA STAIRS, BA'96
Humanistic Studies
Arts Representative, SSMU Council
Co-Vice-President, Events, SOAR

When I graduated from high school (Branksome Hall in Toronto), I made sure that I had the prerequisites in order to keep my options open. I began studying industrial relations, then changed to humanistic studies in my second year. I knew I wanted to work in business but my mother helped me see that I'd need a specialized graduate degree, either law or an MBA, and I thought I'd prefer to study subjects that I may not have the chance to study again. I love medieval history, for instance.

As far as the future, I plan to go to law school. In general, in looking at the job market, I think there's a feeling among students today that it's a whole lot harder to get a job than it was for our parents. It's sort of sad that after four years at university, we're in the same place parents were when they graduated from high school.

To date, I've worked as a waitress at a country club in the Eastern Townships, as a customer service associate at Holt Renfrew in Vancouver, and as a research associate at an executive search firm in Toronto. My mother helped me with only the last job, through an introduction. I think there's a feeling among students that connections are a big help, yet at the same time, there's a reluctance to use them. There's a moral question because other students don't have the same opportunities. Yet regardless of connections, every student goes through the period of asking the question: What am I going to do?