New career centre opens at First Nations University of Canada

FNUniv and Co-Operators celebrated the opening of a new career centre on Thursday. (Brittany Poitras / CTV News)

The First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) opened the doors to a new career centre through a partnership with the Co-Operators.

The new centre can be found on the mezzanine of the FNUniv, and will provide students with services like resume writing, mock interviews, as well as employment and internship opportunities.

The new manager of the career centre, Callie Morris, is a former FNUniv student - and said she’s been in the shoes of the students who are looking to enter the workforce.

“When I was a student, we didn’t really have a dedicated person helping students with that employment opportunity. It was a bunch of people kind of working off the sides of their desks and trying their best to support. So, I think having someone dedicated allows students to reach out as opposed to feeling lost,” she said.

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“The goal at some point is to develop services like mock interviews, just because it does help to get that practice out of the way and not have to interview for the first time when you’re going up for a real job interview,” she added.

Nathaniel Merasty, the president of the FNUniv Regina Students’ Association, said that the centre will be a benefit for both employers and students alike.

“It gives them a tool to connect our students to employers. So, all the employers have kind of like a central network. Now that they can go to the career center, they can go there, with different student positions,” he explained.

According to Jackie Ottmann, the president of the FNUniv, the new centre will create a path for students to find different sectors of employment down the road.

“This career center will be a bridge between the university and the workforce. And it will also help identify and provide students with opportunities like summer employment, co-op opportunities, internship, which will all help develop their resume for the workforce,” she said.

“We’re all treaty people. We’re coming together to co-create, to help build a better society. And we need Indigenous peoples in our workplaces, in our students who want to be there,” she added.

According to Alec Blundell, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Co-Operators Life Insurance, the Co-operators invested roughly $390,000 over the course of three years into the partnership with the FNUniv, to help support the growth of the workforce.

“This partnership is two ways. It’s helping students and making the connection to the First Nations university. But ultimately, it’s also helping us get a footprint with the university so we can have more skilled workers and resources,” he said.

“We need the skills and the resources and to have them close to home, with somewhere like the First Nations universities is so beneficial for us, and ultimately the economy, as they grow and flourish,” he added.

The new centre will allow students to be just a few steps away from success, a goal that Morris hopes benefits everyone who comes through the doors.

“Even if one person benefited from it, I view that as a win just because that’s kind of how I approach working with students,” she explained.

The partnerships, connections and opportunities created at the First Nations University of Canada Career Centre may go on to help employ hundreds of the 15,000 students who are currently enrolled at the FNUniv and may support a stronger workforce and reconciliation.