End of co-op/start of school

In May I finally moved out of Lister, the dorm-style residences I've lived in for the past three years, and into East Campus Village, an apartment-style residence. It's a pretty decent place, nothing to write home about really, but I have my own room which is a change from Lister. All the time I was living there I had a roommate, sharing the same white cinder-blocked cube, sharing a bathroom with 10 other people and a TV with 35. I don't mind it but I feel like I'm actually living "on my own" now.

That means I have to cook. Luckily mom supplied me with a lot of her recipes, and I've been cooking out of some cookbooks from AJ. I cook the full amount, which normally is good for 3 meals (that's the target zone, +/- one day) - so I only cook about twice a week. I'm always surprised when I throw together a bunch of random crap and at the end of the day it actually tastes approximately correct.

I'm winding down my co-op job at PricewaterhouseCoopers for the year - last couple weeks were surprisingly busy. This week everybody realized I was leaving so they're madly reviewing a bunch of work I did in case there are changes (which there almost always are) and so I'll probably be working OT all this week to tie up the loose ends.

The firm offered me a second co-op term (May-August 2011) and a full-time job after graduation. Nothing to get too worked up about however, this is SOP if you're half-decent at the job. It's one of their primary sources of associates to work 60-hour weeks in audit. Haven't decided if I'll take it yet. Accounting is okay but not great; on the other hand the prospect of a guaranteed job after walking through the door with my degree is really attractive.

For fall I'm signed up for the usual slate of classes. I'm also an RA (resident assistant) for the apartment residences I'm in now, along with another small residence role. As well, I'm a TA (teaching assistant) for the intro operations management course, and am sitting on the Operations Management Club again. Should be a busy year. Hopefully I can handle it all.

Next week I start training for the RA job (got first-aid certified on the weekend), and once that's done then back to school!

Offers

I got co-op job offers Friday. And so ends a two-month saga - 19 applications, 11 interview invitations, 10 interviews, 3 second interviews, 3 office receptions, a lunch, and 5 offers. The accounting recruitment process is very long. For example, for E&Y there was a first interview on campus, a second interview downtown, an office tour, a lunch, and then an office reception. Most firms do some variant of that, which makes the whole experience very draining.
In case you were interested (which is a rather tenuous assumption), they are:

Solution 105 Consulting - Data Analyst. This company does forecasting and budgeting for companies needing to manage their utilities.
PricewaterhouseCoopers - Tax associate. One of the largest accounting firms in the world.
Auditor General's office - Staff auditor. Audits government agencies and departments on behalf of the people of Alberta.
Running Room - Junior accountant. Chain of stores selling running shoes, apparel, accessories, and offers running clinics; publishes a running magazine.
Merit Contractors Association - HR Research Assistant. Non-profit that provides a benefit program, advocacy, and training to non-unionized workers and contractors in the Albertan construction industry.

Quite a range there. Even the three accounting ones are totally different. I was quite disappointed that I didn't get offers from either of my top two choices, Ernst & Young and KPMG (both large accounting firms)... but I suppose I should count my blessings and so on. I really have no idea what they base their selection process on anyway, so I don't know what I would need to change.

I ended up going with PricewaterhouseCoopers - it was a straight toss-up between that one and the Auditor General.

Back at school

Finished up at the historic site in the last week of August, and boy was I glad to be out of there. How can somewhere with so many young workers have so much office politics? However, I got a promise of a good reference from my boss, so that's good, particularly as I'm looking for a co-op position.

My first two work terms are back to back, supposed to be January to August. So I've been really busy applying to anything that sounds like it's remotely applicable to my major (accounting) or my minor (operations management) or not even close, but sounds all right (HR, management consulting, finance) so hopefully I'll get picked up by somebody out of the 20 or so organizations I'm applying to. It's pretty stressful, especially since accounting is so competitive.

My courses are pretty rough this semester, two ops management courses, two accounting courses, and intermediate macroeconomics to top it off. I'm finding it really difficult to keep up with everything normally, never mind when group projects and midterms are surfacing already. One that looks like it will be difficult is about where to put receivers for reading utility meters on the sides of houses in the most efficient way. Now, that might seem pretty banal to you (ie. Who Cares?), but it's the kind of thing I like doing and it's a real-life problem facing operations people.

I'm still working as the Food Ombudsman this year. The position, which I did last year, is basically the three-way communication link between ARAMARK (the food contractor), the university administration, and the students on a meal plan. The meal plan is a mandatory part of living in Lister, so it's a touchy subject. Anyway, this year ARAMARK's contract expires after 15 years, so the university is putting together a request for proposal. I'm involved in this through focus groups and advising, and as always, transmitting the information between the three stakeholders. The workload has increased as more students want to get involved and I'm personally involved in the process, but at least it's interesting and pushes my portfolio from the back burner into the spotlight. The Lister Hall Students' Association (LHSA) president seems really interested in food this year, so I got office space and a computer, which is sweet. Plus I know more about it than anybody, and it's nice to be an expert at something.

I'm also VP Academic for the Operations Management Club. Mostly what I do there is coordinate the OM tutor program. Half the people in business are on the exec of some sort of club, so I thought I'd better start up for resume material.

This year I also moved floors, up to 9 Henday from 3 Henday. I have a roommate again, for the third year. He's an offensive lineman for the varsity football team. Somehow the smallest guy on the floor got put with the biggest; his legs stick four inches over the bed. However, he is pretty chill and we get along really well.