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Where skill development meets opportunity

A woman wearing a green blazer and jeans leaning against a ledge on the second floor of an atrium

Posted:Ā April 2, 2024

By:Ā Mark Campbell

Ceilidh Bray (MASCā€™22) was excited. She had just completed the GradPD certificate, which offers graduate students at 9 1Ćā·Ń°ęĻĀ professional development opportunities to help launch their careers, when she received an invite from Colliers to interview for a job. She aced that interview and has been promoted twice since joining the company.

ā€œItā€™s been steady improvement and progress for me here,ā€ says Bray, senior associate, infrastructure advisory. ā€œIn this role, Iā€™m using more of the skills that I learned in my engineering degree, which I am really happy about and GradPD helped make that possible.ā€

Bray is the first graduate of the GradPD certificate program. She heard about it during the COVID pandemic when few companies were hiring. She was struggling to land a job and was looking to gain a competitive edge. ā€œI wanted to be more prepared when I graduated because I thought the industry would be more settled by then,ā€ Bray says. ā€œThis program seemed like the perfect way to do that.ā€

The comprehensive program made all the difference for Bray, with workshops, experiential learning and reflection exercises across four pillarsā€”Ā communication, career intelligence, health & well-being and leadership. Overall, she found the leadership-related learning particularly beneficial.

ā€œI didn't have a lot of experience in industry, so it covered areas I was a little iffy on, such as business etiquette and projecting yourself,ā€ Bray says. ā€œI also learned tools like time management, goal setting and how to do job interviews, which gave me more confidence in myself.ā€

Thanks to GradPD, Bray is ready for whatever comes next. ā€œIt helped me better understand what I want in terms of goals and now I can look at the leadership roles I want to achieve on my career path,ā€ Bray says.

"In this role, I'm using more of the skills that I learned in my Engineering degree." - Ceilidh Bray (MASC'22)