How did Brittany Rossler’s MA jumpstart her career?

Brittany Rossler came to UWaterloo for her master’s and ended up wondering if she should have done her undergrad here as well. Find out why UWaterloo won her over–as well as how her experience as a teaching assistant landed her an interview and a position! Thank you to Brittany for participating–JLH

JLH: What made you decide to pursue a master’s degree at UWaterloo?
BR: Although I’m from Montreal, my family lives in Cambridge (the third entity in the Kitchener-Cambridge -Waterloo region, although a lot of people leave it out!). Beyond my desire to pursue a master’s in general, I really wanted to live in the same province as my family for the first time since 2009. Waterloo is a well-recognized and well-respected university, so I decided to do some research into the graduate programs. I remember calling the university and finding everyone so helpful and kind throughout the application process that I sort of knew which school I would choose once I submitted my applications.

Turns out I love South Western Ontario, so I know I’ll be back soon — once I am able to successfully convince my Montrealer boyfriend.

JLH: Coming from elsewhere, how easy was it to meet people and become part of the department life?
BR: My undergrad university had a lot of students from Montreal, so everyone already had their own friends and life outside of the department. There was a lot of camaraderie missing there. That was not the case at Waterloo! I found everyone in the department/school/region to be super friendly and willing to have a good chat whenever. Everyone was open to meeting new people from “away,” because a lot of them were from away as well. I sort of regret not doing my undergrad at Waterloo, because there was such a strong sense of community in the program.

Also, one of my closest friends from high school is in her last year of Actuarial Sciences at Waterloo, so it was a really nice surprise to get to spend time with her and have her show me the ropes.

JLH: You were a teaching assistant in English 210F, Genres of Business Communication: what did that entail?
BR: I was a TA for the online version of 210F, which was interesting for me because I took a couple of online classes during my undergrad (general education courses), so it was cool to be on the other end of the web portal! I learned a lot about what not to do as a student and that long, meandering emails are not typically well received (something I was definitely guilty of as an undergrad). I think 210F is a really useful course and I use the knowledge I gained while TA-ing the course everyday at work!

JLH: Did your UW experience help with the job search?
BR: In many ways, yes! First, the Career Centre is an excellent resource. I encourage everyone reading this to take advantage of it. I’m generally pretty nervous in interviews and they gave me some excellent tips on how to prepare in such a way that would make me feel more comfortable during an actual interview. The mock interviews are really useful and I definitely appreciated the feedback and tips I received. Although I didn’t do a co-op term, I found that Waterloo had a very positive outlook on English majors’ career prospects, which was very motivating. This helped me focus on what skills we English majors have and how we can apply them outside of the academy.

I mentioned before that I use the knowledge I acquired while TA-ing 210F everyday and this is very true! I’m now working as a proposal writer for a global IT company, so all day everyday is business writing to people all over the world (proposals, emails, more emails, project management, teamwork, and editing sales/technical writing). When I’m not trying to persuade a client, I’m usually trying to persuade my teammates what we should/should not include in our proposals and WHY.

During the interview, I was super prepared (see my love letter to the Career Centre above) and felt very relaxed because of that. Despite all of the other things I have done in my life, I’d say about 90% of the interview was just talking about 210F (much to my surprise at the time). Now that I have the job, I realize why my interviewer was so interested:

1. writing effective emails is a seriously underappreciated skill (keep ’em short and sweet)
2. writing persuasively is really important in the business world
3. thoroughly reading and understanding client RFPs/RFIs/RFQs/RF(X)s is not only necessary to winning business, it’s also really important from a legal perspective
4. writing a lot under a very rigid timeline is a daunting and stressful task for most people

210F also made me realize that the skills we have are very applicable! I don’t know if I would even have applied to the job if I hadn’t TA-ed 210F because I didn’t meet any of their posted qualifications. I’m also “Master Editor of all things” (self-titled). I get a lot of calls from my coworkers asking if I’ll edit their emails before they send them to clients/superiors/etc., and as soon as my boss found out I had a master’s degree in English, I became editor of our team’s entire content library and final peer reviewer before bids are sent out.

JLH: Now that university is over, and no one is assigning you reading, what are you reading for fun?
BR: To be honest, I’m really all over the place–I’m like a kid in a candy shop. Here’s what I’m reading now and why:
–The Old Man and the Sea: the list is starting off good, eh? I’m reading this because I love Hemingway and I’ve never read one of his most popular works. Plus, I seem to have an affinity for American novels about the sea.
–Contracts: Cases and Commentary: let’s call this professional development or something. From my non-fiction shelf.
–On Writing Well: a funny book on professional writing. I don’t know if it’s meant to be funny, but it is. My boss sent these out to all of us on the proposal team.
–The Summons by John Grisham: I picked this up when I was out of town. It’s so easy to read, I love it!
–An Appeal from the Dalai Lama to the World

Photo: Hiking in Jacques Cartier National Park