I am an International student, born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to Canada to pursue my education here.
This past summer I had the privilege of working with Information Technology’s Change Management & Engagement team as Digital Communications Officer. I had the pleasure of handling and overseeing the creation of the Digital Campus Transformation Plan website. The experience was a positive one and allowed me to not only develop my technical skills but also improve on an array of soft skills that are necessary for today’s job market.
Starting in May, the project was super-fast-paced due to its tight deadline. With only a few months until the deliverables needed to be submitted, I had the challenge of prioritizing my time to be able to complete all the given tasks. With that in mind, I needed to improve my time management skills to meet the requirements. Using MS Planner was a perfect solution. It integrated my required tasks in one seamless tab and allowed me to stay connected to my team.
Working with my manager, I helped create a communications plan that outlined the responsibilities anticipated with a RACI-VS matrix, set deadlines, and assisted with the creative brief. I then began drafting several mock-ups with the aim of creating a website that had a different look and feel than Information Technology’s other web pages. This required extensive research to gain inspiration. Then I started incorporating new designs. Fun!
Additionally, I created a one-pager document detailing the strategic pillars and priorities of the Digital Campus Transformation Plan. Designed on Canva, this document went through several design changes as we got closer to the deadlines and integrated the CIO’s feedback. I worked closely with other IT professionals, focusing on the overall presentation of the document. The design process allowed me to advance my content editing skills and gave me the tools to easily construct more documents in the future.
Throughout the entire development period, I was collaborating with another student working in IT’s Web Services team. Given his expertise with web page creation, we were able to deliver a classy result.
Looking back, I’m beyond grateful for this opportunity and would like to thank my manager and the IT professionals I collaborated with for helping me conceptualize, design, and implement the Digital Plan. The finished product is something I’m deeply proud of. The skills I’ve obtained this past summer have made me better prepared to enter the job market.