“It has been extremely rewarding working with a talented and energetic group of youth who are determined to make positive environmental change and have fun along the way,” says Stephanie, who also volunteers as a Pathfinder leader with Girl Guides of Canada. “It is a challenging organizational shift to work with students because their availability can be unpredictable.”
Stephanie says her position requires patience, organization, and a positive attitude. As President of the Erindale Environmental Association, she realized she wanted to follow an environmental career path.
She took an ENV400 internship with a company called Evergreen and credits that experience with being the window to her current job.
“I searched for jobs within the organization I had interned with and checked listings specifically in the field I was interested. The strategy I used was to call everyone I met from other organizations while networking at my internship, tell them my interests and ask if they knew of anyone looking to hire,” she says. “I was eventually hired because when a position came up at the Peel Environmental Network, I had already contacted everyone that was on the volunteer board and they knew who I was and that I was looking for a job in the field.”
If she could have done anything differently, Stephanie says she may have taken a more diverse course load and gone for a major and a minor (rather than a specialist) to leave herself more options when looking for careers.
“When starting out, you have to make yourself indispensable and be willing to do any type of work to prove that you're passionate about your career choice,” she says. “Flexibility and a positive attitude are very important in the environmental non-profit world.”