Many jobs require teamwork between multiple people. Getting along and collaborating with others is essential in many academic and professional environments. It ensures that everyone can contribute and work together on collaborative tasks. However, it is also essential to know how to deal with difficult co-workers and manage uncomfortable dynamics. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of team-building exercises, how to implement activities, and how to deal with difficult co-workers.  What are team-building exercises? Team-building exercises are, in a nutshell, any activity that is not directly related to a workplace’s goals but is helpful in strengthening the connection between coworkers. Often, the activities resemble things people would do…

With the rise of online job boards and virtual applications, it may appear that job hunting is getting easier. After all, applicants no longer have to walk around and hand out resumes in person to make a good first impression. However, job hunting is as difficult as ever. This is partially due to higher levels of competition. A data report shows that while only 59 per cent of young Canadians obtained some post-secondary qualification in 2000, that number has risen to 73 per cent as of 2019. Looking for a job can be a daunting task, but a few simple tips can really help an application stand out. Brad Semotiuk…

What do you want to do when you grow up? Although a seemingly harmless question, it may be quite daunting as young adults contemplate their future goals. Even if one knows what their career path may be, this might not make the journey any less stressful, especially if one’s dream job is to be a freelancer. According to Indeed, freelance work is one of the most popular ways to make money in Canada, accounting for 15 per cent of the country’s workforce. However, an article from The Globe and Mail notes, “The number of self-employed workers has flatlined since 2021, and is down roughly seven per cent since the pandemic…

Health-care professions are being ignored, according to some professional advocates.  Frontline health-care providers such as doctors and nurses have been more visible for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though society is grateful for the service of these frontline workers, there are still some professions that remain unseen.  “Frontline providers are definitely heroes, and they’ve earned all the praise they’ve gotten and more,” says Julia Palmer, a 27-year-old medical laboratory assistant from Ottawa. “But there are so many roles in this field that more people should know exist as well.”  Medical laboratory science Palmer is in the medical laboratory science field. “We basically run tests to…

The Ontario Workplace Health Coalition (OWHC) is redefining the healthy workplace.  As per the World Health Organization, a safe workplace no longer merely means the absence of physical hazards and employee wellness “the absence of physical disease.”  According to OWHC, “valuing employee mental, physical and psychosocial well-being” helps keep organizations and businesses healthy. That makes them more profitable, which in turn helps “support a healthier Ontario.” However, for youth starting work, it may be unclear what a healthy workplace looks like. They may also be unsure how to contribute to their workplace, given their role’s limitations.  Roles, responsibilities and practices Gloria St-Denis has been Cornwall, Ont.’s, Medical Arts Pharmacy’s human…

Competition is prevalent in many industries. Young people need to understand this while not letting it delay the pursuit of careers that interest them. To better understand where the competition is, here are five of the most competitive fields in Ontario.  Marketing Marketing is a highly competitive industry. Present-day advertising strategies—like social media use, appeal to young people. This makes it a common field to study in university.  Stephanie Jeans, a Toronto marketing executive and team lead says, “I think younger people are more likely to create social media content or see their peers doing it, so they have more exposure to social media marketing, which allows them to become…

Throughout life, one is faced with a wide range of assignments. Some are done alone while others require a team. Working with others is something everyone has to do, whether it’s for school or work. But how can it be completed effectively? The answer is dependent on preference, since there are plenty of ways to collaborate. However, there are certain things everyone should strive to do or look for when working with others.  For starters, things like getting a second opinion on work can be a collaboration. Having a second set of eyes can be very efficient, even if it’s just to spot spelling mistakes. Overall, having someone look at…

Life challenges can have a massive effect on productivity, maintaining workflow and furthering one’s career. This is true whether they’re positive changes, such as starting a family, or negative changes, like a sudden illness or loss.  A lot of the time, people enjoy their careers and don’t want to sacrifice them when life becomes demanding. That’s why learning how to make it through these events by persevering can be helpful and inspiring.  Maureen Doody, a painter from Ottawa, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017—right in the middle of her thriving career. It completely caught her off guard and changed her life.  “I had so many emotions, thoughts and unknowns.…

“A lot of times people say the new generation is lazy, but I don’t think we’re lazy—we just have resources,” says Gaurav Chauhan, who works in technical sales and support for a marketing agency.  With an interest in computers, Chauhan pursued computer engineering in college. When COVID-19 hit, resulting in many jobs in the IT field becoming automated, he started to question his career choice and thought more about the jobs within his industry that will be in demand in the future.  “I think cybersecurity is something that catches my eye because I know that people are going to be using technology a lot and they’re going to be needing…

Psychotherapy is a safe and confidential space to work through difficult issues, behaviours or emotions you have been experiencing. Since therapy has shifted to accomodate a virtual, socially distant world, online services such as therapy apps, counselling phone lines and video call platforms have become more common. Transitioning online can feel strange with the lack of visual cues that comes with in person therapy. However, research has shown that virtual therapy can be just as beneficial. It can be convenient for individuals who cannot leave their home due to personal issues, have busy schedules or live far away. From speech jitters to processing trauma, online therapy can guide you in…

From a quaint dorm room in Oakville, Ont., 21-year-old Varshaa Raguraaman maintains the dream she has had since she was a young artist and visual storyteller in high school: one day getting to work for The Walt Disney Company.  “I combined all of my passions and I was like, ‘You know [who] does all of these things really well? Disney,’” she says. “That’s the goal, to work there at some point.” In the meantime, she has been keeping busy in her fourth and final year of studies as a film and television student at Sheridan College. Her schedule hasn’t allowed much time for her to return home, as she says…

There are several steps to determining a career path, including reflecting on your passions and learning what nurtures them. One common interest among people is music and it’s important to discuss all of the options available in this field.  Earning money in the music industry can be done through careers outside of being a performer. Many jobs in music require musical ability, yet other skills are just as critical. These include organizational, technical and administrative capabilities. If this piques your interest, here are some musical jobs to think about:  Music director Music directing involves overseeing and organizing music programs for places like churches, concert halls and other venues. Music directors…

The idea of a utopia has existed for a long time, but the word itself was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book Utopia (1516). The word comes from the Greek “ou-topos,” meaning “nowhere.”  Bart Testa, associate professor of cinema studies at the University of Toronto, says that a utopia is not a fiction or a design but something that is woven into one’s philosophy.   “We might say that we’ve had some optimistic views of the future of the prospects of humanity even in the 20th century,” he says.  On the other hand, Testa says that a dystopia or anti-utopia is showing what would be bad for humanity. “The…

The technological growth from the past few decades has had a significant impact on the skills and experience that job recruiters are looking for in students and new graduates.  A 2019 study on the rise of technology finds that new jobs from emerging industries will require applicants to have “learnability”—the ability to learn, unlearn or re-learn if necessary. The study says that these emerging industries are more likely to focus on soft skills, and that willingness to learn has become a higher demand than a specialized skill set.  Annur Pasha, a recent graduate of business administration from Humber College, has been looking for a job since May 2021. She says…

For as long as she can remember, Ryerson University student Natalie Watt has enjoyed dressing up and accessorizing her outfits. With that, she dreamt of starting her own jewelry line and now has finally put her dream into fruition. The COVID-19 lockdowns forced many small businesses to shift their stores online, where some struggled to gain the same traffic that their in-person stores had. Other small businesses were born out of the pandemic and have thrived exclusively online, such as Watt’s jewelry shop NTLE.CO.  In June 2020, Watt officially launched her online jewelry store, aiming to provide customers with “quality jewelry that won’t tarnish at affordable prices.” NTLE.CO specializes in…

Since the pandemic hit, there has been a sharp increase in virtual work. According to an article by PwC, 59 per cent of Canadian employees were working remotely as of July 2020. In addition, Ontario students went from enjoying extracurricular activities and exciting social lives to sitting for the majority of the day and staring at a bright screen. These students and virtual workers have had to learn how to work from their beds and crowded desks, all while sharing a space with roommates, talkative parents and barking dogs.  Regardless of the obstacles, many employees have gotten comfortable working from home with 64 per cent of remote workers saying they…

Pre-pandemic, Christiane Tarantino was busy. She was juggling grad school, working as a teaching assistant and holding down a part-time job as an administrative assistant at a community centre. Tarantino was commuting over an hour downtown six days a week and sometimes pulling 14-hour-long days. She was exhausted.  That’s why, last March when her university announced the transition to online classes and her supervisor informed her that she was being laid off, Tarantino was a little relieved. She thought of it as an unplanned break, one that would allow her to focus on finishing her master’s thesis and offering more support to her students. But then the pandemic continued. Tarantino’s…

In recent years, Canada has seen more young politicians emerging into councils, but it doesn’t come as much of a surprise. As we saw in the 2019 federal election, Justin Trudeau, Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh made up the youngest three major party leaders running for prime minister in Canada’s history. Sam Oosterhoff Sam Oosterhoff, the Progressive Conservative member of provincial parliament (MPP) for the Niagara West riding, was first elected at the age of 19, making him the youngest Ontario MPP to ever be elected. In an interview with Oosterhoff, he explained the difficulties he faced entering parliament at a young age and dealing with criticism. How did you…

As the COVID-19 pandemic changes the business landscape, networking opportunities for young professionals may be limited. For many, the only way to make an impression with a potential employer is with their resumes. This is no easy task. According to Glassdoor, for every job opening, an average of 250 resumes are submitted, and only four to six candidates are called for an interview. With the odds stacked against them, it’s essential for prospective hires to create a professional resume that stands out from the rest. These tips will cover ground beyond the basics, as there are countless templates online to format a resume. Instead, the focus will be on fine-tuning a…

For sports journalists, it’s almost a job requirement to care about history. Luka Doncic scored the most points in a playoff debut. History. Kyle Lowry is chasing all the Toronto Raptors’ franchise records. History. The Houston Rockets broke the NBA record for missed three-pointers again. History. People who work in sports media generally tend to love records, history and unprecedented events. It makes for a great story, an easy way to illustrate how important and rare a current event may be. As we all know, 2020 has been the year of the “unprecedented.” We’ve all heard and read that word more times than we can count, more times than we’d ever want to.…

(Affiliate disclosure: Bilal Qadar, founder of Hop Over, is affiliated with one of our contributors, Rameesha Qazi.) Bilal Qadar was searching for a solution when he began creating the app Hop Over. Qadar was looking for a social media platform that “puts its users at the center.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Qadar brought together a team to design a social media app that is “private, intuitive and intelligent.” As a recent graduate from the University of Toronto, Qadar has a degree in computer science and math. He currently works for an organization creating coding curriculums for underprivilged people. While working from home during the pandemic, Qadar was getting bored of sitting…

Joey Marasigan has been interested in photography since she was eight years old. She used to follow around her older sister, a film photographer. Marasigan started off using her sister’s cameras, making YouTube videos, and dancing. She got her first professional-style camera in 2018 and started filming dance videos, which turned out to be big projects. After these videos, she experimented with her camera a little more and realized it could do portraits, too — and quite well. Marasigan started photographing her friends around campus at the University of Waterloo, where she is currently pursuing the arts and business program. In 2019, Marasigan took the leap and started her own photography…

Billy Han wasn’t supposed to be Tik Tok famous.  In fact, for the majority of his life, the Tik Tok user with 400k+ followers was thinking of pursuing a career in business. “I decided to do business because I wasn’t sure what to do,” Han said, referring to the path he chose coming out of high school. “[Even] throughout university, that’s the program and life that I committed to, and throughout my co-op terms. It was all reinforcing me that this was the path I was going to take.” Though he’s always been a creative person, Han initially pictured his life like so: He would graduate from the accounting and financial…

Meet Onyeka Illoh. Illoh has worked in cyber security for nearly 10 years, most recently as a senior security governance specialist at Sun Life. Illoh helps with keeping cybersecurity up to date, as well as ensuring data is encrypted, everything is monitored and logged in order to keep a close eye and secure a company’s data. “We’re solving problems everyday, we provide guidance,” she said. “This is how other people are doing it, we’re not doing it, how do we get to that point so we’re not breached?” Illoh says that the field of cybersecurity requires people with diverse skills and requires different strengths. “I work with people with varied…

Artists use a lot of their time pulling inspiration from their surroundings, in order to create an accurate representation of modern-day life. But what happens when the surroundings of the world they’re so used to, suddenly shut down? How do artists cope with such a change? Youth Mind spoke to young artists based in Ontario and British Columbia to see what they had to say on the matter. “I like to pull my energy from the people around me, so not being able to go out has somewhat taken away from that,” said Katelyn Curtis, an independent artist. Curtis, who draws sketches and writes, says finding inspiration can be difficult when…