MBiz

15 MBiz | june 2017 I.H. ASPER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS experiences have inspired her to strengthen her communications and leadership skills. The 2016 Employer of the Year was 24-7 Intouch Contact Centres, an innovative, rapidly growing company that provides customer service for many high-profile brands. Mahoney says three co-op students who nominated the company said they looked forward to going to work there every day. "They were exposed to an amazing range of professional opportunities, and all made significant contributions for which they felt appreciated." 24-7 Intouch vice-president of Marketing Morgan Stewart, a 2009 Asper School graduate, says company executives were honoured to receive the award. "It gives us recognition among new grads that we provide meaningful work to junior team members and have energetic people ready to motivate and mentor them," Stewart says. "It's important that we continue to grow our corporate headquarters here in Winnipeg, and by investing in the best of the best that the Asper School has to offer we're hopeful that they will choose us when they graduate." Recent 24-7 Intouch co-op student and graduate, Brittany Karam, has chosen to start her career with the company. 2015 Co-op Student of the Year Indigo Adam-Grant was among the students who nominated 24-7 Intouch. Her work there included researching potential clients' current customer service practices and writing detailed sales requests for proposals. "I did some major work for some major brands, which would mean a lot of money for the company if they did get them as a client," Adam-Grant says. A Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) student, Adam-Grant has completed three co-op placements. Her first co-op employer, PepsiCo Canada, hired her for an entry level management position that she'll take on when she graduates next spring. During her PepsiCo placement, she significantly increased incremental display space in stores and demonstrated the value of implementing a new sales practice. During her second co-op placement, at StandardAero, Adam-Grant and another co-op student built automatic Excel templates to update data reports, saving some full-time employees hours of time each week. "The co-op program has been by far the best decision I made in my degree," she says. "It allowed me to learn new skills, and the positions that I was put in were real positions that actually helped the companies I was working for." The only program in Manitoba accredited by CAFCE (the Canadian Association for Co- operative Education), the Asper Co-op is also one of the province's largest. Along with academics, Mahoney says students participate in professional development training to ensure they have all the tools they need to be successful, including business communications, professional etiquette, teamwork and problem-solving skills that employers value. "You can take advantage of that training process and not have to go through it yourself." ■ Top left: 2016 Student of the Year Jenny Peng. Above: 2015 Student of the Year Indigo Adam-Grant. Photos courtesy of the I.H. Asper School of Business Opposite page: 24-7 Intouch staff and students. Top from left: Director of Marketing Jaime Dzikowski, former co-op student and recent hire Brittany Karam. Middle from left: Charles Ventura, Shelly Plett, co-op student Indigo Adam-Grant, Bradford Gyselman. Bottom from left: current co-op student Paige Small, Celyna Yu. Photo by Darcy Finley

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