IT World Canada project manager Nicole Scholz got off to a quick start at the company thanks to another employee, and she hasn’t looked back since.
Near the end of completing a two-year program at Durham College for advertising and marketing communications, Scholz was offered a paid internship at IT World Canada by senior manager of sales and operations Desere Cowin, who was looking for a new project manager at the time. Despite not having her diploma yet, Scholz turned the internship into a full time job and will be celebrating her one-year anniversary in April 2017.
“I was at the end of my program at a job placement, and I left it after a week to come work at IT World Canada when Desere reached out. I didn’t even have my diploma yet and I was already an employee. I went back to school at a later date and finished, but overall I’m so glad I took the job – I love it,” Scholz explains.
As a project manager, Scholz is integral to the sales and operation department and is in charge of ensuring smooth transitions for client marketing campaigns.
“My role here is to make sure everything goes correctly within our department and make sure we’ve gathered all the information before a client’s campaign gets launched,” she said. “There’s a lot of elements to it and deliverables I have to look after to make sure things are running smoothly before they’re launched and go live online, whatever they may be.”
The job brings many responsibilities with it, but Scholz stresses that she enjoys her work. She is often in touch with employees at other IT World Canada locations, such as the Montreal offices.
In her spare time after work and on weekends, Scholz frequently visits her mom, who lives on the water in a small town east of Peterborough. She notes that one of her favourite hobbies is spending time outdoors.
She lives in the fairly small community of Courtice, which is located about an hour east from provincial capital Toronto and adjacent to Oshawa.
When she first started at IT World Canada, she recalls that memorizing what everyone in the company did was incredibly difficult.
“We are quite a big company and one of the hardest jobs when I first started out was learning everyone’s roles. I’m sure others felt the same; they probably don’t know what this person does or what that department takes care of, but learning that was important to me.”
She enjoyed getting to know her coworkers at IT World Canada’s recent staff party, and despite playing and losing a game of pool, hopes that there will be more opportunities for similar staff bonding events in the future.