Shakiba Ghaffari - Career Fair Team Lead
Behind every successful event is a passionate Team Lead. After two years of virtual events, Shakiba Ghaffari, Industrial Liaison, has led the CIC Toronto to make its in-person comeback with the Annual Career Fair and #ShiftYourCareerForward. The event has successfully brought together 148 attendees and 20+ representatives from 9 different organizations to participate in this dynamic event, featuring multiple company booths, roundtable discussions, oral presentations, etc.
Shakiba is a master's student from York University. Her research focuses on the separation and detection of biologically relevant proteins and aptamers using capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. With industrial experiences during her undergraduate, Shakiba excels in her role not only as a well-rounded chemist but also as an invaluable member of CIC Toronto. After the Career Fair, we got together and reflected on the events, the highlights, the lessons and the important role of leadership. Check out the interview to learn more!
I decided to take the lead for three reasons. The first was personal. I wanted to gain experience outside of chemistry and to gain transferable skills, such as project management, because I think it would open up many more career avenues for me. The second reason was that I believed I had a particularly special skill set to organize the career fair. And by this, I mean not only did I study chemistry, but I also took co-ops throughout my undergraduate degree. Besides receiving training from the university to work in a professional setting, I also had experience applying to jobs as well as connections in the industry. So, all of these are important experiences to have before planning a Career Fair. But I think the most important reason was due to my co-op background.
"I can actually empathize with all of the thousands of students or early career professionals in Toronto when it comes to job hunting, and I sincerely wanted to make this an easier process for everyone."
And that's why I wanted to take the lead on the Career Fair. I also figured that after COVID, it was time for many companies to reorganize the hiring process. And with the lifted restriction, we don't need to do it through the screen, we can do it in person.
One of the big challenges was not hearing back from companies. From the very beginning, I was adamant about making an outstanding event, but how could I do that without the cooperation of companies? It was very hard to stay positive, and it took us two months of relentlessly sending out emails while not getting any kind of reply. But it was thanks to our Chair, Trevor, who always stayed positive and didn't have a doubt in his mind at all. He kept saying: "Don't worry, all the companies are going to get back to us at once." He encouraged us to just keep sending emails, keep staying positive and in the end, he was right. Almost within a week of each other, the companies started responding. Hopefully, this will become much easier in the future as we have these strong relationships with the industries, and the buzz will keep spreading to even more companies so we can make this event bigger and bigger.
The main highlight was for sure how welcoming and enthusiastic our company representatives were.
"Essentially, we eliminated the online forms, the resume analyzing algorithms, and the carbon copy emails. We replaced them with a few dozen smiling faces, ready to answer all your questions and work with you to find a good fit for the [respective] companies. What could be better than that?"
You don't have to go through a hundred websites; you can just talk to someone directly. I think that was the main highlight, and I don't think anyone would disagree.
The second highlight, in my opinion, was the raffle. Typically, when a group of chemists or chemical engineers get together, it's usually to share their research, which can be fun. Still, it can also be on a little more of the dry side. So, I wanted the event to have an element of thrill and excitement. And what better way than having a ticket in your hand, anticipating the call and leaving the event with an awesome prize? It also works to break down the negative energy associated with applying for jobs, the competition, and the rejection we all receive. So having something fun really balances that up. I believe the last highlight was the roundtable discussion. At the end of the day, approximately 50 of our attendees got a chance to sit very casually with the company representatives, get an almost intimate look at their work and receive some priceless advice that I don't think they would have gotten in any other scenario.
Like any other volunteer work, we are expected to donate our personal time. It is our evenings, our weekends, that we are donating to do good for the community. Of course, it was a busy couple of months, but it was the first time I've actually ever experienced something so fulfilling. It was a pleasure to spend every minute planning, hosting meetings and talking with my super team, so it didn't feel like grueling work. I was just happy to be there and happy to lead the team. I'm enjoying my break now, but I would do it again!
โThe most valuable lesson is that teamwork really makes the dream work. Our planning committee and CIC Toronto have been blessed with volunteers who donate so much of their personal time and special skill sets.โ
For example, the communications team is really good at designing standout graphics, and it helped us push the event forward from every front. Without their dedication, the event couldn't have been pulled off. Maybe it is because I have never played team sports or led a project that involves many people before, so I have never experienced this, but I feel like if you have the right team, you can really do amazing things.
I would say the democratic one, at least in this context. Because we are all volunteers, no one has power over everyone else. We are all each other's peers who give our free time to make the event happen. I want to make people feel like they're being heard and their time is important because they really are. In the end, it was about getting everyone's opinions and trying to pull off an event that we were all happy with. However, with this leadership style, I think sometimes it takes a longer time to make decisions. A one-hour meeting could go over time because we would spend 20 minutes making one decision. But again, I feel like it kept people motivated if they felt heard, and they would continue to volunteer and contribute to the project. If anyone had new ideas and the time to do them, I would always be happy to include them. So that was my leadership style for this particular project.