NEWS PHOTO JEREMY APPEL University of Lethbridge's Clayton Varjassy speaks to second-year Medicine Hat College finance student Cleodel Capiral about further educational opportunities available once she finishes her diploma.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Medicine Hat College hosted its annual job fair Wednesday, providing students and the general public an opportunity to see the different career paths available in the region.
Shelly Drefs, MHC’s career services assistant, says students aren’t always aware of the breadth of career opportunities available to them once they graduate.
For example, many people associate health care with doctors, nurses and paramedics, but there’s also opportunities for people with business and trades backgrounds, she said.
“There’s not just one size fits all for every credential we have,” said Drefs. “There’s lots of opportunities and different industries they can work in and the skills they’re learning are highly transferable, so it’s a really good option to show them what they have available.”
Sgt. Jason DeJong was on campus recruiting for the South Alberta Light Horse, specifically looking for students interested in working part time as reservists.
“Our biggest bulk of people who end up joining are actually high school students and those at various post-secondary institutions,” said DeJong.
He said the army’s scheduling fits “perfectly” with theirs – Wednesday evenings throughout the school year, a weekend or two each month and then full-time work throughout the summer, which DeJong pitched as a good way “to help pay for their schooling.”
“We also offer scholarships that will aid them through their schooling,” he added.
University of Lethbridge recruitment officer Meagan Koshman was at the fair to tell MHC students about opportunities to continue their education in southwestern Alberta.
“It’s a really good launching pad after your diploma into a bachelor’s degree,” she said.
Koshman says a bachelor’s degree offers a different range of job opportunities than a diploma, which she emphasized are “not necessarily better, just different.”
She said U of L specifically has “really smooth transferability” from the business diploma programs at MHC into the Dhillon School of Business.
Right across from the main U of L table was the business school’s mobile trading lab, which allowed prospective students to get a feel for buying and selling stocks.
“It’s a simulated market with simulated money,” explained Clayton Varjassy, a U of L spokesperson who manned that table.
This particular simulation dealt with oil, with news popping up on screen that impacts the commodity’s price and the user buying and selling based on this information.
“This just gives them a taste of the beginnings of what their experience would be like taking a finance degree in particular at the Dhillon School of Business. It gives them an idea of how we build on the learning at the school,” said Varjassy.
