Meet Kristine Mendoza, another long-time CMPP instructor, who we will be profiling this month. Our students have said she’s “amazing, accommodating and understanding . . . a great asset to [our] team” and they “really enjoyed her feedback, knowledge and energy” within the course.
Q1: What drew you to instructing within the Career Management Professional Program (CMPP)?
At some point it is my mother – who is a teacher, who influenced me to become an educator. However, in time I believe I am called to be one. Educating others is a vocation and it gives a sense of fulfillment as I can assist in someone’s progress in life. Being a teacher also shares an opportunity for me to connect and build relationships with my students. It gives a sense of value way beyond other comforts such as income or material possessions could offer. I am, and will always be, passionate about learning, teaching, and engaging the learning community.
When I migrated to Canada, I took the CMPP courses and realized I missed being a teacher and a facilitator halfway through. I had a strong desire to join the world of online teaching to create a positive and welcoming atmosphere for the students. I knew I had so much to offer to the institution by being a compassionate and intuitive instructor and by ensuring that students don’t only learn the resource materials but most importantly learn from the practical examples shared by peers during course discussions.
As an immigrant myself, I wanted to help Career Practitioners provide a holistic approach to career counseling or coaching so they could in turn provide better client service and experience to newcomers and other client types.
Q2: What tips or strategies would you share with our students for succeeding in the program?
I hope they will find fun in learning. Enjoying the journey and taking the whole experience as a form of enlightening and interactive process rather than mere task completion would be less demanding. Understanding the course requirements and complying with those requirements could yield successful outcomes. I encourage students to be open with instructors when confronted with course related challenges so that instructors could help them strategize and manage the course load better.
Q3: What emerging trends, tools, and/or perspectives would you like to draw our students’ attention to?
It is learning career theories that I found most interesting for students to gain and acquire knowledge of. Having built or developed solid theoretical foundation could help CMPP students explore creative ways of developing and structuring counseling or coaching techniques and strategies. Integrating those theories learned into practice is valuable in shaping their professional identity as Career Practitioner
Q4: What are some of your recent accomplishments our students should be aware of?
A few years ago, I explored Human Resources related opportunities because of my growing desire to deepen my understanding of recruiting methodologies and processes in Canada. I thought that by doing this, I’d be able to substantiate my knowledge and skills as a Career Practitioner as well as a CMPP Instructor. Learning how big companies, such as the Oil and Gas industry, search their talents as well as understanding the system they use for selecting the best people would be great addition to my career portfolio. Luckily, I was given an opportunity at the Human Resources Department of Imperial Oil to support the recruitment team in developing strategies pertaining to candidates’ interviews, pre-screening, and the likes. It’s a huge portfolio and I’m proud of all the successes our team has accomplished so far in terms of hiring the right fit candidates all across Canada. I’m so proud helping shape the organization’s future through its best asset – the manpower.