Homage to a Two-Wheeled Commute

Allow me to preface this post by stating that my purpose is not to expound on the lack of abilities of cyclists/drivers in this city. Raising the subject evokes impassioned criticism and defenses from both ends of the biking vs driving spectrum without fail. I think it’s fair to say that there is a myriad of horrible and self-absorbed cyclists AND drivers in this city, so let’s just all do an extra shoulder check and be on our merry way, shall we?

I just reached my 2^nd anniversary of biking to work, so I feel it appropriate to share my sentiments towards my two-wheeler. I had been a casual cyclist since 2005, but it wasn’t until the Vancouver Winter Olympics that I began to cycle to work regularly to avoid the throngs of Olympic tourists using the public transit system. Although it was initially a bit of a challenge to start cycling in the dead of winter, the benefits of biking to work eventually won me over.

Here are a few of my favorite things that I have come to love about biking to work:

Providing Value to Interns in the Work Place

It’s interesting reading Michael’s take on the relevance of internships to gaining  employment after university. Before coming to the BBOT I had never worked with interns and really had no idea what it was all about.  What surprised me was the willingness of smart  people  to work for free. What surprised me even more was how diligent and professional they were. In retrospect I’m not sure why I was so surprised. Interns are afterall young professional people looking to get the experience and contacts to take the next step in their professional development.

Yet, there is something about people working hard for free that makes me uncomfortable and I haven’t been unaware of the controversy surrounding unpaid internships. The Globe & Mail  did a story that exposes both its benefits and drawbacks and Intern Nation: How to Earn and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy  describes itself as “the first no-holds-barred exposé of the exploitative and divisive world of internships.”

The intern relationship has to be a value proposition on both ends for it to really work. For me, the importance of an intern is the value of their freshness and intellect that youth and recent education bring to the table. The value for them is our life and business experience and providing a soft cushion for them to land if they wander too far off course.

Giving an intern all the ‘joe’ jobs doesn’t work for me and I don’t think it actually benefits our organization. Inviting them to participate in our planning and creative meetings is as important as ensuring that along with the regular boring admin tasks, they also have the opportunity to work on projects that benefit us as an organization and allows them to use their creativity and brains.

Of course, finding the right person is key along with the time commitment they’re prepared to make. Through experience we’ve learned that anything less than 3 days per week doesn’t work -  and 5 can occassionally be daunting in terms of filling up their time meaningfully. Typically we look for someone who first of all can fit into the culture of our team (fun, a little unstructured at times, can run with projects, is good with dealing with the more routine tasks, can multi-task wildly). As a result of this ‘program’ I’ve developed great professional and personal friendships and as an organization we have actually hired 4 interns full time.

Gaining Experience in a Ruthless Job Market

Here’s a post for all you English-major baristas, astrophysicist salespeople, and communications couch surfers.  Read carefully.

Jobs are hard enough to find at all right now, never mind stimulating jobs in your field paying a decent salary. Don’t be fooled by stats showing BC unemployment hanging steady – increasingly,  good, full time jobs are simply being replaced by low wage part time positions. The good jobs that remain are in high demand for people with a lot more experience than you. That means for a lot of soon-to-be and recent graduates, it’s back to serving and cashier jobs.

It kind of makes you wonder why you just spent at least four years (probably more) and a fortune to get a fancy degree that seems to buy you little more than a piece of paper to hang on the wall. At least it did for me. Eventually though, after a lot of searching (about 18 months) I was given a solid opportunity – to work for free. For two months I worked very hard to prove myself as indispensable. And then I got the job you ask? No. But I did get a three month temporary contract to continue to prove myself as indispensable. THEN did I get the job? Yes, yes I did. With health benefits and everything!

The first lesson here today, kids, is that unpaid internships are a godsend. Employers are always looking to save some money and they will often take a chance on you if you’ll do the job for free. It may not always lead to a permanent position, but it will give you the vital experience needed to compete with other well qualified candidates.

Now believe it or not, even unpaid internships can be hard to come by, and yes, even they often require some experience. The reasons are simple: there is a ton of demand, and employers – who are not interested in babysitting you – have the luxury of choosing professionals with proven competency. I neglected to mention that even I had a good two years of significant professional work experience before I was given the aforementioned internship opportunity. That’s thanks to my participation in a university Co-op program, which brings me to lesson 2: take advantage of youth development programs.

It’s one of the most common complaints I hear from recent grads, and one I have made myself numerous times: how am I supposed to gain experience in my field if even entry level jobs require experience? The answer is through volunteering, Co-op programs, and association with business organizations like the Burnaby Board of Trade. In regards to the latter, business associations often have youth development programs designed to help students transition into the business community. These programs can be invaluable for building confidence, making connections in your field or industry, as well as fine tuning those job hunting skills.

The BBOT is launching its very own youth development program this spring with first enrollment expected in the fall. If you’re a third or fourth year student looking to bolster your resume, or if you know one, keep your eyes open for more information on all BBOT communication channels in the coming weeks.

Happy 2012! Marketing Plans for a New Year

Just before signing off in the old year (just a few short weeks ago) I posted a link to Boxcar Marketing’s The Twelve Days Until Christmas Marketing Tips (or what you can get done before the year ends). We definitely didn’t have as much down time as I thought we would have but I did take the opportunity to tweak our social channels. I opened our group on Linked In, added links to our blog, @BurnabyBOT and Facebook , and have made a list of to do’s for Facebook. A beautiful landing page to start and flesh out what the numerous initiatives BBOT is involved with (more to come on that) and develop an awesome social media engagement plan.

Last year we were all relatively new at the BBOT so a lot of our focus was just keeping things moving. But to get better at serving our members, we need to stop, assess, listen, plan and execute. As most of us who work in small organizations know, pausing, planning and executing on a plan is much easier said than done. As soon as things get busy (which is pretty much right away) it’s easy to lose sight of your goals.