Maria Poonawala

Name: Maria Poonawala
Graduated: June 2016
Role: Technology Consultant at EY

Maria went through the New Graduate recruitment process in Fall of 2015, during her final year at TRSM, and through that process she secured a role with EY, as a Technology Consultant in the Technology Advisory Practice. She started working immediately after completing her studies in May of 2016, and has worked on several projects in her first year in the role. Maria’s first project sent her to Waterloo for 3 months for an ERP Transformation, working in a very large team of 30+ people. Next, Maria was back in the Toronto area working with a Telecommunications company on a Data Analytics project in a Project Coordinator role.  Maria’s upcoming project is in the emerging technologies sector, as she will be working on a Robotics project.

In her own words, Maria was a “Frequent User” of Business Career Hub services. She consistently took advantage of the services offered and she continued to find the support from the Hub staff very helpful.  Some of the services Maria used included: Resume and Cover Letter Building, LinkedIn Advising to help build her Personal Brand, and Information and Recruitment Sessions.

In the first 2 weeks of her final year, Maria was attending 3-4 of the Hub organized Recruitment Sessions in her area of interest (Consulting). In fact, as a student leader (President of the Ryerson Consulting Initiative – now Ryerson Consulting Association) she partnered with the Hub to not only organize, but also promote some of those sessions as well. Maria’s current role was a direct result of the Recruitment Session that EY hosted on campus at TRSM. After going through the process she was provided an offer in November.

Maria found the support on the resumes and cover letters. The meetings allowed her to learn how best to position herself for each individual opportunity and organization. As a student who knew where she wanted to start her career, she found the sessions where she could learn how best to make sure that happened the most beneficial.

Maria advises students to get an early start! She says that one of the best ways to do this is to get involved on campus, develop and show Leadership capability and build a leadership profile. She also says to look for internships early. Her internship, which she completed with Cisco Systems after her 3rd year, allowed her to demonstrate experience and understanding of Technology and systems. This was extremely beneficial to her application processes as she was able to land a technology role even though she did not have a strong technology-focused academic background.

Maria also suggests growing and leveraging your network. One of her major supporters was a TRSM Alumni who she had met through a student group in first year. They now work together at EY! Connecting with new people, especially Alumni can be very beneficial.  Another suggestion is to work at a startup, Maria says that getting that kind of experience can be very valuable and makes you look more desirable to any potential employer.