“I think what I most took out of IME was my true love for management. I transitioned in my 3rd year from an Accounting Major to HR. I knew and understood that I belonged in management and received great support from my peers during this transition (as well as several meetings with Dan Kazakoff). IME boosted my confidence like crazy, helped out with interviewing techniques and also strong presentation skills. It also helped me understand that it’s important to look professional in the work place as well, as more people take you seriously this way, or you just look plain old silly haha!
After I completed my degree at the U of L, I moved to Saskatoon to commence my career as a Human Resources Administrator with one of Saskatoon’s crown corporations (Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation or better known as Innovation Place). I am also heavily involved in the Saskatoon Fashion and Design Festival - which is a not for profit organization. I sit on the board of SFDF as the Marketing Coordinator, I do all the work behind the scenes, such as posting on all social media platforms, sending out emails, assisting with sponsorship, etc.
My boyfriend and I have also talked about going further with some consulting we have been doing. We have some friends involved in small businesses or personal businesses. As I said, I am the Marketing Coordinator with SFDF so I am helping small businesses with ideas for their marketing and to help them get the word out about their organization. My boyfriend does the back end of things, he works for a tech company here in Saskatoon and helps organizations out with their digital marketing strategies. We are doing this on the side and mostly for people who know us or close friends. We have talked about expanding and helping out other organizations, specifically those involved in the creative/art industry (Photographers, PR Specialists and Stylists).
Looking back now, I found that IME allowed my skills to be transferrable, I was able to pick the brains of so many different management majors and gain necessary skills that I never thought I would find myself using - like marketing. I also am never afraid to make a presentation, and I am always confident with the information that I am presenting on, I never question my judgement. I also believe that IME taught me good professionalism and I can look back consistently and talk about my experiences and how they were relevant to what I am doing now. When other IME alumni’s told me that I would get a job because I had taken IME, I didn’t believe them. The fact that you got the job from having put IME on your resume isn’t true. It’s the fact that you know and understand the drive of what it takes to have and want a job as well as you have gained confidence and relevant skills to make you seem like the best candidate in the interview.”
“ I have used the teamwork component of IME vastly. I am able to relate to different people and understand their working styles. This allows me to partner with many different types of people and work effectively in group settings. The conflict management styles that I learned have also been very valuable to me through my work and school careers. Lastly, I met some of my best friends through IME and they have enriched my life in ways that are too valuable to count!
Currently I am at the University of Saskatchewan taking my Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, majoring in Soil Science. I hope to do some consulting or other small business work once I have graduated. I will look to rely heavily on the skills learned in IME once back in the working world.”
“I attended IME around 2006-2007. At the time I would have said that it gave me skills in real world situations as well as presenting in front of a group. While I did learn those skills in IME, from a hindsight perspective 10 years later, I’d say it gave me much more. It gave me the boldness to network and pursue creative solutions to hard, real life business issues. My husband and I own and operate our own plumbing company. We’ve grown significantly in the 5 years we’ve been in business, and some credit of that goes to learning to network, learning to work with other people and their strengths, as well as effectively communicating our message to a larger audience.”
“IME was instrumental in me finding a co-op, which eventually lead to a full-time position after graduation. Like many students, I did not have relevant work experience to differentiate myself as a candidate for many co-op roles, but IME provided me with some practical experience to supplement the theory behind it. After graduation, I was hired with Imperial Oil as an HR Advisor and have worked in several different roles over the past few years.
Not only did IME provide me with a great learning experience, but I also made a lot of great connections and still have close friends from my IME class. I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity IME provided me with and excited to see that this invaluable program continues to deliver an amazing experience. ”
“IME was a program that taught me to come out of my shell and apply my classroom knowledge to practical experience. The ability to see how the knowledge we learn in a classroom setting applies and impacts the local community was a primary motivation for entering the program. IME helped me to grow my confidence in my networking and presentation skills. Since the IME program I have gone on to pursue my accounting designation. Thus far in my career I have worked for a meat processing company, a corporate farming business, and I am presently working for a travel and recreation business. My career path has been greatly impacted by the people I have met through my networking skills.”
“The Integrated Management Experience (IME) was the most rewarding and practical program I participated in at the University of Lethbridge. The IME program teaches so much more than just a textbook. You learn real skills that you are going to use everyday such as leadership, problem solving, teamwork, and public speaking.
The greatest gift I received from IME was the network I created, my classmates and instructor Dan Kazakoff. You see each other everyday so you become great friends; we still catch up when we can! I’d also never had an instructor quite like Dan, he took a real interest in everyone and really pushed us to excel as individuals as well as a class. Having done the IME program I learned a lot about my strengths, my weaknesses, my interests, and myself which are all important. It also looks fantastic on a resume!
After graduating in June 2016 I went home to work on the farm. I completed my Canadian Securities Course (CSC) and applied for my Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. I got accepted. So I am currently studying, meeting new people from all around the world, and touring Australia! When I am done my goal is to work in the financial industry as an Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager.
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“IME provided me with my first opportunity to apply classroom taught business principles to real life scenarios in a collaborative team based environment. Now, as a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group - consistently rated the top consulting firm in the world to work for - I get the chance on a daily basis to utilize the exact skills I began to develop in IME; namely, solving an organizations most challenging problems with a team of high caliber individuals.”
“My name is Ashna and I was apart of the IME class of 2014-2015! After IME I consistently stayed busy and active in my studies. I picked up more classes and more independent studies. I volunteered and was lucky enough to work with LFS and the Syrian Refugees. IME prepped me for my last year of my undergrad and it has definitely made me confident for pursuing grad school. I am glad that I was given this amazing opportunity and I recommend it to all students.”
“After IME, I felt more connected to the community and more importantly, empowered to make a difference. This led me to become the president of the Management Students’ Society at the University. I graduated over a year ago and I am currently employed with Brookfield in Calgary, where I work as a Service Analyst in the Information System department. I get to apply a lot of the skills I acquired in IME in both my personal and professional life.”
“The University of Lethbridge IME program was instrumental in equipping me with skills and confidence in business communication, teamwork, and leadership. Every student should be seeking hands-on learning opportunities like those provided by IME to get the most out of their Management degree.”
“The IME class was probably the most influential university class I ever took. It gave me the confidence to publicly speak which has helped me both in my career and in my personal life. It gave me the experience to work in a group setting, which has helped me in my job to work as a team with my colleagues. And it gave me the opportunity to make life long friends!”
“I feel like I owe a lot to the IME program. My year with IME proved to be both extremely challenging and extremely rewarding, and truly helped to prepare me for my eventual career in industry. IME puts into practice what is learned in the classroom - my experience with IME pushed me to think outside the box, to take greater initiative in my studies and in my community, and opened doors to new possibilities from numerous networking opportunities provided through the class. It is one of the best experiences I received throughout my University career and I would without a doubt recommend the program to anyone. I will always be grateful to the IME program, and my IME class for how they helped me to develop and strengthen the skills I need to succeed in the business world.”
“I was a student who would have otherwise quietly worked away on my classes until graduation and would have slipped under the radar as another average student. I grew up in a very rural environment outside of Lethbridge, was extremely shy and as the first person in my family to go to post-secondary I was very naive to the experience. I had no knowledge of the IME program or unique learning opportunities available to me. What encouraged me to join was an IME student who came to my second year accounting class and spoke about her experience, and her passion and emphasis on what a life changing experience it was for her made me consider putting my name forward.
The course taught me skills in a more hands on way, which I felt was more practical in preparing me for the workforce. For example, instead of writing a research paper, we were able to actually apply the skills we learned in class to projects we did for the community. The course also taught me how to work together with others; sure, project based learning is offered in other classes, but it is short-term. When you work with a team for 8 months, like I did with IME, you learn skills like conflict resolution and negotiation which comes in handy in the real world (because in most work situations you don’t get to pick your co-workers and you have learn to work with them). Networking was another skill that I can say was emphasized with IME - I felt better connected to my instructors, I met other students who became friends I carried throughout the rest of my student career, and I was connected to the business community.
IME sparked a pivotal change for my student career at the U of L. After the program I found opportunities to take advantage of classes offering hands on learning opportunities, case competitions, and sitting on a Management Students’ Society committee. I saw post-secondary education differently, as something to prepare me for work, not an extension of a high school diploma or something to do until I figured out “what I want to be when I grow up”. I discovered what I was passionate about (business strategy) and found an initial job opportunity while finishing my last semester (I worked for an economic development organization in Medicine Hat). I currently have a role with Alberta Works (Government of Alberta) in Medicine Hat, working with employers and job seekers, and gathering labour market information to help inform our office’s practices.
I know I am very fortunate to have experienced the opportunities I have at my age (26) - maybe it was being at the right place at the right time, but I feel the IME class was the first step in building the path towards a more meaningful career. As someone who works with recruitment and job seekers, I can say skill development is so important to your career development, and marketing your skills to employers is so important when trying to find a job. I certainly encourage any current students to check out the IME program.
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