1. Can you tell us a bit about who you are? 

I’m Jennie and I'm heading into my 3rd year in the Accounting and Financial Management program. For my first co-op, I worked in Transaction Services at KPMG where I was involved in financial due diligence for mergers and acquisitions. At KPMG, I mainly covered technology, industrials, and healthcare. Now, I’m on my second co-op term in private equity at Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and the groups I cover are consumers, diversified industrials & business services, and energy & power. Aside from co-op, I’m also heavily involved with the hEDGE Conference, and it’s my third year on the club as one of the Co-Chairs. 

2. Why do you think it is important for women in finance to take initiative? 

I think it’s really important for all students to take initiative, not just women because I find that’s what often sets you apart from your peers. You’ll find when you enter the workplace that the distinguishing factor of top performers is always their willingness to go above and beyond because you’re offering to do more of what is expected of you in your role. At my first co-op in transaction services, I stayed a lot of late nights not because I was required to, but because I needed to do more in order to prove I was just as good as the prior co-ops that were there before me. What’s important to me is that I leave a good impression of both SAF and the University of Waterloo at the firm as well as to recruiters to continue to hire students from our school. During my work term evaluations, common things that were said about me were a great work ethic and that I was good at taking initiative. I take pride in that because it shows I was consistent throughout my entire work term. I often go into the role thinking I’m unprepared for it and I think that’s a humble way to approach it because then, you’re always willing to put in more effort to go above and beyond. 

3. What did you take part in during university that helped you to take more initiative?

hEDGE really motivated me to take initiative. I think the reason for that is because hEDGE is a merit-based and initiative driven organization as there really is no established structure in terms of what each person can and should work on. I never heard the answer no when I offered help or when I asked to partake in a certain part of the conference. I think because there was no limit in terms of what I could or could not do, I took it upon myself to learn as much as possible. The supportive environment my upper years fostered really helped me learn about the goals I could achieve with initiative because after I started offering more help, and started getting involved in every aspect of the conference, I became the person upper years would go to if they needed something done. You always want to be that person because you know that you’re in the best position to learn from the best people. I would also emphasize to never reject work that you think may be irrelevant or wouldn’t add value to yourself. I always come with the mentality that all work is good work. If you’re able to offer help in some way, then do it because you never know where it might lead you. I started out mostly working on venue and securing catering, and I didn’t really focus on corporate sponsors. After I was able to earn the team’s trust by securing the venue and finding caterers, my seniors saw that they could rely on me with these things and so they let me try communicating with the corporate sponsors. I started my first year focusing more on the external parts of the conference to having corporate sponsors that I was going to be in charge of by the second year. Again, I take a lot of pride in that because I worked hard for it and it wasn’t handed to me. I would say that was the main aspect at university that taught me how to take initiative and the results that can arise due to the hard work that you put in. 

4. How do you think your initiative skills have developed compared to when you first started university? 

I was not very confident when I first entered university because I felt that I was more of a reserved person. AFM kind of broke me out of my shell. I think I was able to develop that initiative element of my toolkit and work ethics because I started to surround myself with people who are equally driven and like-minded in the sense that I saw them take initiative in their own ways. When I started to pick up these patterns of the people around me, I naturally fell into a similar route of my own. 

5. How have you taken initiative or shown initiative at your co-op in finance? 

I think the most important thing I would say to anyone in any career path is always read in your downtime. I would read up on the material that will be discussed in the next meetings and catch up on my readings on all the deals going on whether I’m on that deal team or not. I think knowing what’s going on in your workplace in general is very important because you never want to be in a situation where your colleague asks you for information and you have no idea. Overall, I always think if there is more that I can do to add value to the skills that I could bring, then I should be. I would also pick up side skills that I’ve identified I’m not so good with on the job. There are some things with Excel and Powerpoint that if I could sharpen on the side, I know could help me on the job. I would go through Excel tutorials during my downtime and also read up on how to make better stylistic choices on Powerpoint because these are small things that I feel when you do them repeatedly, are things that will set you apart eventually.

​Some other aspects where I’ve taken initiative is to offer to help with anything. For example, after handing in a task, I would always end the message asking if there is anything else they want me to do or if they have any feedback for me. I think always offering to do more even if the answer is no is still valuable because they know that they can always come to you. It sounds like I’m always asking for work, but there are not a lot of times in your career where you can decide how much exposure you want whether it be deals or any other aspect of work. After you prove that you’re good on the smaller tasks and can take on more, they might ask you for help when more important things come around. Then I feel like I’m producing work that has more substance and I’m being integrated into the team, and I believe that integration only comes with initiative. 

Lastly, I would say never be afraid to ask questions because you never know what opportunities might come your way. Recently, a deal came in that I was really interested in, but I wasn’t originally on the deal. I was initially nervous, but I reached out to my director and I told him that I’m actually really interested in this company and that I’m interested in taking part in the management meeting coming up. I said I could just come with my video off, muted, and I would be very happy to sit in and just take notes. He agreed and we got to meet with the founders of that company. I was actually introduced in the call, and I felt like I was really a part of the team. This was probably the highlight of my first 3 weeks so far, and that would have never happened had I not asked. A lot of times, you may think that just because you’re an intern, you’re not allowed to participate in certain things that may be above your level, but I think as long as you do it politely and come in with some humility and be humble about it, people are more willing to take you in. 

6. What tips would you give students to motivate and prepare them to take initiative?

I would say make your mornings useful. I usually get ready in the morning while listening to podcasts. Someone recommended to me, “Snacks Daily”, by Robinhood. It’s two people that talk as if they’re having a coffee chat, and they post new podcasts everyday, so it’s very relevant to keep up with financial news. I feel like some podcasts can be too taxing on the brain for an early morning, but this one is very casual and the content is very digestible. Another tip is to follow business related pages on your social media. For example, on your Instagram news feed, you can have educational posts mixed in with all your friends’ feeds. Everytime I took a short break and scrolled through social media, I was learning at the same time. I would recommend following CNBC, Bloomberg, or any other business resources. 

I would also say learning how to google is very important. If you can google a question, then you shouldn’t be asking someone that. Knowing how to google using keywords is very important and that is essentially your problem solver right there. Also, use previous company data. If you don’t know how to do something, chances are someone has done it before you, so make sure to go through prior company work so that you understand how your seniors want something done. Always try to google or look for previous examples before you ask someone. That also goes hand in hand with not being afraid to ask questions if you really don’t know the answer, but try to be proactive on your own. 

​Lastly, I would say to build up your courage in the sense that you need to have more conviction and more confidence in your work. I always go into the workplace thinking there’s always something more I could do. I think the best way to build up some confidence and conviction, is to self review. Always take initiative to self review. Never let someone else catch a mistake that you could have caught yourself. I think if you’re detailed and can save some of your seniors the time of having to go through your work and catch mistakes that you were supposed to have fixed yourself, your seniors have less on their plates to worry about. If you can develop that type of confidence in the tasks that you’re given and the work that you generate, I think you’re well on your way to being a valued employee in the workplace.

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