I Was a University Dropout. This is How I Found a Career I Love.

I studied economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, for a semester after high school. I was on a rugby scholarship. I quickly realized the program wasn’t for me: it was focused on theory and data, whereas I excel at understanding people and building connections. I switched to marketing management, which combined business and creativity, at the University of Guelph. I then had a series of setbacks: painful, chronic ear infections that required surgery; and the passing of my grandmother, with whom I was very close. I left school after two and a half years and got a job working full-time as a sales consultant at a Bell store at a mall near my home in Oakville. 

I loved my job at Bell. My co-workers were great and working in sales fit my personality well. But my earning potential and prospects for career progression weren’t good. After three years, my wage had only increased incrementally. When COVID hit and the entire mall was shut down, it really shook me. Suddenly, I had a lot of time to think about my future and whether I was on the right path. I started researching post-secondary schools, and the marketing management program at Sheridan caught my eye. I liked that it blended business, communication and strategy, and that it had a co-op component, so I’d have the chance to get hands-on experience. 

I started at Sheridan in September of 2020. I was able to transfer some credits from my university courses. I learned about leadership, group dynamics and creative problem-solving, but I also had classes on resume-building and interviewing, which helped me secure my co-op placements. I did three co-ops in total: as a territory sales representative for PepsiCo; a sales excellence and strategy manager for Microsoft; and a marketing intern for H.H. Angus, a Canadian engineering firm. 

At Sheridan, I was involved in a lot of different extracurriculars, like becoming the student brand ambassador for the Canadian Marketing Association. One of my marketing professors recommended I try out for the role, and that helped me build more connections at school and in the industry. Once I graduated and changed my status on LinkedIn to “open for work,” a former colleague at Microsoft reached out about a job opening. He had started working for the digital services team at MNP, a consulting firm, and thought I’d be a great candidate for a role there as a Microsoft business manager. After a rigorous interview process, I got the job. I help the company use Microsoft’s suite of tools and adopt new ones, especially ones focused on AI and automation.

I’m truly exuberant at MNP. I like getting to work with so many different clients and people in the company. My role is demanding, but it’s also rewarding because I can see the impact of my work in our company’s sales reports as soon as a week later. I’m earning twice as much at MNP as I did at Bell and there’s a lot of room to grow in my role. It feels like everyone wants me to succeed.