Office Hacks
Nov 27, 2017
Working at your first office job can be a strange shift, especially if your only previous employers come from the service or retail industry. Over the past year, I’ve picked up a couple of small ways that you can make the most of your space (and experience) while working in an office.
I want to start by saying that these tips are brought to you by an older office building; you know, the kind of office that has a questionable patterned carpet that seems to absorb everything you spill on it. It’s also worth noting that I manage to do all of these even without having a permanent desk space (I don’t sit in the same spot every day). So for those of you who don’t have a large office space where you can store all of your goodies, fear not! I still have some tips that you can work with no matter where you sit.
#1: Makeshift Laptop Stand
This is for those of you who like to extend the display between your laptop and monitor so you’re able to take advantage of a larger screen space (if you’ve never done this, do it). If you have an obnoxious amount of paper stacks near your office printer, you may want to consider borrowing a few to stand your laptop on. It’s really nice having my laptop and monitor at the same height and a lot of people in my office do it.
#2: An (almost) Ergo Assessment
Some of the more long-term employees are lucky enough to have professional ergonomic assessments for their desk spaces. Although most students don’t have the opportunity to be professionally assessed, there a many googleble online resources that you can use to give yourself a self-assessment. Obviously it won’t be as accurate as a professional assessment, but it’s good for things like knowing how to specifically adjust your chair position or your posture (nobody likes being hunched over all day).
#3: Emergency Shoes
I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer not to be wearing my business casual footwear while sprinting through the winter slush to catch my bus. I started leaving a pair of black flats or heels at work so I can wear my oversized red Bogs to work with no shame.
#4: The Extra Phone Charger
This one may seem obvious, but I can’t begin to tell you the amount of times that my phone has died at work or on the bus home (maybe I should consider getting a phone with better battery life?). I would suggest buying a charger to keep at work. This way, you never have to worry about your phone dying, and as an added bonus, you can become the hero that your office needs: the bearer of the phone charger.
#5: Tea Drawer
I keep a box of tea, a mug, and a small bottle of honey at work to avoid dropping daily dollars on social tea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really nice to go for tea or coffee with my coworkers in the morning, but when I found myself paying $2 for hot water almost everyday, I knew something had to change. I generally just make my own tea and carry my mug with me during the coffee stroll with my coworkers. It may sound weird, but it saves me a lot of money and it’s the first step in my fight against social eating (and drinking).
#6: The Power of Cookies
If you’re having trouble socializing in your new job, just bake cookies and bring them in for your office to enjoy. In my experience, people tend to love having baked goods to spice up their day and it’s a good way to show that you’re friendly.
I hope some of these office hacks are helpful for some of you!
Offsite Work Days: Working at the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards
Apr 10, 2017
The Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards
So I’ve got good news — I get to work once per week at a really cool place. Have you ever heard of an innovation centre? In short, an innovation centre is a place through which entrepreneurs, startups, grant programs, etc. can work collaboratively in one work space that facilitates the sharing of ideas. They have a lot of shared workspaces that include well-lit board rooms filled with ergonomic chairs and flat-screen televisions. The centre even has a seating area that features a very inviting, casual workplace hammock. You may be wondering: “hey Alex, what does this have to do with your job? Aren’t you an English student? Don’t you work for the federal government?”
As you may remember from my last post, I work for a commercializations program that buys state-of-the-art technology from innovators and tests it in a government facility. This place is actually really useful for our program to make connections within Ottawa’s innovation ecosystem.
Now — let’s talk about working off site. At first, I was a little weary about working at the innovation centre myself since, as a student, I wasn’t sure if I was the best person to represent the program I work for when speaking with entrepreneurs who may be future applicants. However, I decided to go with the flow and look at it as an opportunity to further improve my people skills and spice up my week. I have to say that in my experience, taking opportunities like this is a very important part of the co-op experience. I find that pushing myself really boosts my confidence and reminds me that I’m really a valuable member of my team. I genuinely look forward to working in a new environment once per week — and not just because of the delicious food and kombucha from the in-house LUNCH café.
From English Student to Public Servant
Feb 7, 2017
I’d like to start by admitting that this isn’t my first work term. My days of being bright eyed and bushy tailed have passed, and I no longer remember what it feels like to be a student. How is it going over there? Is the Loeb building still strangely hot all the time? Has anyone decided yet if we should use the oxford comma or not? 
I’ve been completely immersed in the workplace for five months now, and I’d like to think I’ve learned a thing or two about transitioning into the workplace as an English student. Before I tell you about that, an important piece of information about me is that I’m very bad at planning. I’d like to think that I plan things in advance, but I never end up sticking to my schedule and things can change pretty quickly. I didn’t plan on taking co-op at Carleton. In fact, I didn’t plan on taking English at Carleton. I started out as a Journalism major in my first year. Carleton Journalism is an incredible and (admittedly) challenging program. Though I’d like to pursue a career in the publishing industry, Journalism just wasn’t for me. Half way through my first year I decided to bite the bullet, leap into the breach, take the bull by the horns (or whichever cliché phrase of your choosing) and switch into a degree that I had a passion for. Though it’s a slightly different (and likely, longer) route, I’m hoping that switching my majors to English and History will still lead me to the publishing industry someday. This was one of the reasons that I decided to take the co-op option at Carleton. My professor mentioned it at the beginning of Brit Lit one day before we resumed our discussion about the chaos ensued from Grendel’s Mother. I thought about it and figured it would be a good opportunity for me to make some money and explore my options.
So take it from me, someone whose plans frequently derail — if you work hard, things will often eventually swing in your favour.
So here I am, five months later, working for the Federal Government. Though it’s not completely on track with my career path, I actually have a really cool job. For the past five months, I’ve commuted across mountain and valley (from Orleans to Gatineau) on my noble steed (a dingy OC Transpo express bus) to work for the Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP). In a nutshell (through which I will refrain from using trendy government jargon), our program is a commercialization program that buys new and innovative technologies produced by Canadian businesses, and tests them in various government departments. I know what you’re all thinking, and yes, we have worked with robots before. Maybe not the WALL-E or Iron Giant kind — but still robots by definition, which is pretty cool in my humble opinion.
My actual title is “Junior Policy Analyst,” but I have never once analyzed policy. It’s actually a running joke in the office, because every student on my team has the same title and does completely different jobs. My roles are more communications related, and have been for most of the time I’ve been with BCIP. My team focusses on outreach and engagement, so I often find myself writing material about the program or the innovations that we work with, much of which is shared externally. I also get to write posts for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, which is pretty fun and sometimes challenging. Twitter’s 140 character limit has never been so cumbersome throughout my entire life until this point. You might be wondering what this has to do with an English degree. To be honest, the friend and foe of pursuing an English degree is that it’s very versatile. A lot of employers look for people with writing and research skills. Though this job isn’t directly on my career path, I’d like to think I’m gaining experience writing for different purposes and audiences. The experience is really what you make of it.
I’ve come a long way from being a scared little first year in the wrong program, and I’m pretty excited to show you all of the cool stuff I get to do, and the cool places I get to go. So take it from me, someone whose plans frequently derail — if you work hard, things will often eventually swing in your favour.