Meet Carly! She is the VP of Operation and Finance at Feds and this week’s Campus Profile!
As VP of Operations and Finance, what exactly does your job entail?
So my job has 6 different areas, which are basically just different parts of the organization that report to myself and to the general manager, and those areas include the commercial services (The Bomber, International News, Campus Bubble, Feds Used Books, Turnkey, Fed Bus, and the dispensary at the pharmacy campus), the Feds marketing department, IT department, Feds accounting department, SLC management, the health and dental plan, and the UPASS. I manage the health and dental plan, and then I also work with our VP for education on contracts with the UPASS. I also deal with creating the budget for the organization, which comes in different parts as well. The first part of that budget is what comes from student fees and then the second part is the budget projection, which is for our commercial services and the revenues that they bring in (we’re a not for profit organization, so we always try to balance the revenue to be zero).
What made you want to run for the position?
I’ve always been really involved on campus, and I was looking for a way to be a student voice in the areas of my portfolio. Also just knowing that I could make a positive difference with something that I was really interested in, specifically with this portfolio.
What was the process like from campaigning to being elected?
It’s an election process that happens every February (so don’t forget to vote for this year’s elections on Feb 9 to 11!), and I think I decided that I was interested in running at the end of 2014. After that, I joined a team and then I was lucky enough to be elected. It was a pretty close campaign; I think it came down to about 50 votes. My first day was on May 1st and I’ll be done on April 30th.
The campaign itself was really stressful. You open yourself up to a lot of criticism when you go into the public and become a “politician”, so that was really interesting. It’s a lot of work when you’re a full-time student too. During the time of the campaign, I was donning at a residence and volunteering a little bit in the community. I also had surgery the week after the elections, so I always had to go to Toronto for appointments, but I do enjoy the job a lot though so it was worth it.
You mentioned joining a team as part of your campaign process, how did you get put in one? It actually doesn’t really matter whether you’re on a team or not, since each of the different positions are elected individually. If you do decide to join a team you have to find people through your own network that are also thinking of running and share the same views and goals as you. You don’t have to have a team by any means, but it just divides the amount of work from the campaign.
What has been the best part of your job so far?
I think the best part is seeing an idea that you have come to fruition. During my time as a don, The Bomber’s weekly events were 19+ only, and my first-year students would always ask me what there was to do on campus because they couldn’t go to any of the events (such as Open Mic Tuesday, Bomber Wednesday, or Trivia Thursday). After I started as VP, I campaigned on making the events open to all students, so we switched Open Mic Tuesday to “all ages” and it’s been going really well, our hosts have been great, and we’ve also seen our attendance increase. It’s good to know that every week there is something that first-years can go to. Some first-year students don’t know that, even though they’re not 19, they can still go into The Bomber during the day. Our marketing department worked on a whole campaign about The Bomber being “first-year friendly” so you can see the logo as you go in, and it says it’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so you can always go in there. We also did an “all ages trivia” event twice last term, and once so far this term, which was packed, and there were dons there with their floor.
What has been the hardest part of your job?
I think for me, it’s reading the comment section online and seeing the mean things that people post. For the amount of hours I put into this job, as well as the amount that the rest of the organization puts in, it’s hard to hear something like “all the Feds execs are useless”. What’s frustrating also is that, I’m happy and open to criticism and suggestions on how we can improve, but most of the places that I see these comments are on anonymous online sites. I have an email address, a phone extension, and an office, so I’m very reachable and open to suggestions, so definitely come and talk to me. We do “Feds On Tour”, where the execs go out and visit different locations on campus and talk to students, and we also an open house, where students can drop in. Online sites could be a great resource for feedback, but sometimes it’s hard to take it seriously when someone has a good idea but then calls you an idiot.
One example of a great suggestion had happened earlier in my term when a student approached me and suggested that we start selling SPC cards at our bookstore, as other universities were doing. It was a great idea, so I looked into it, and now you can buy them at our used bookstore and get a discount at The Bomber with it.
What do you like to do in your free time and how do you balance that with your job?
This job definitely takes up a big part of my life. My calendar is usually full with meetings on most days and if I’m meeting with students then that will normally happen in the evenings, so that can be challenging at times, and our student council meets on Sundays so there are weekend stuff as well. Compared to when you’re in school and doing extracurricular activities, I find that the difference between when you’re at work, and then when you’re not, is helpful for the number of things I’m doing even if the hours are the same or more. I think that working with students, various student activities, and doing things for work that are outside of normal business hours (like being at a Bomber Wednesday) are still fun, so I enjoy that and I enjoy doing this job a lot. What’s important is making sure that when I’m not at work, I take the time to do something else. I recently turned off the push notifications on my email and it made my life a lot easier. It’s very easy to be in this job and become overwhelmed with the amount of work you have to do and the time to do it all, and as a result you get really burnt out, so just take time to do other stuff or whatever.
Do you find that one term is busier than other terms?
Since our spring term is usually a lot busier than it is at other schools, I find the spring term and the winter term are equally as busy. Generally, the first and third month of every term is busy, since that’s when a lot of “beginning of term” events happen, and then “end of term” events that happen after. September is also very busy because there’s orientation week and the welcome week right after. As a previous Feds Orientation Council member, orientation is something I really enjoy doing, and it’s also an event that could always use as much help as possible, so that is always fun.
What are you going to take away from this experience and what advice do you have for women who want to be involved in leadership?
I think in general I’ve learned a lot about how areas of a business work. Before I started I didn’t have any idea about accounting, commercial services, insurance plans, or anything like that so I think there’s a lot of practical knowledge that I have learned and will be taking away with me. I don’t do a lot with managing people, but I’ve also learned a lot from watching our general manager.
I find that it’s important to take risks and voice your opinion because I wouldn’t be in this job if I didn’t do any of that. I studied biology and my job has nothing to do with my program. So deciding to run for this position was a very public thing and everyone would have known if I had lost. Taking risks are important because if you don’t, you won’t gain anything in return.
My advice for women looking to get involved in a leadership role would be to surround yourself with other strong women who share the same goals and values as you. I’m very fortunate to have a lot of people in my life who are like that.
This past Christmas, my best friend got me a book about women in leadership, and then also living with my roommate Nadia, who is very involved, along with other people, really helps because you get to see them be successful, and have the opportunity to share in that and learn from that. It doesn’t have to necessarily be other women who are in your workplace, but your own group of people with friends to rely on. It gets really depressing when you read all the articles and statistics about women making their way up in the workplace, but you have to try and be surrounded by good people. I think we as women, especially those in leadership roles, have a duty to recognize the biases that happen in the workplace and really look out for other women and help them.
You mentioned that you were in biology. Do you have any plans after your term as VP is over? Are you planning on going back to biology?I applied for grad school in genetic counseling so hopefully I will hear back from that soon! This experience has opened up a lot of opportunities for me in business and operations, so we’ll see what happens, but starting my masters is my goal.