E-Spirit Business Plan Competition

What is E-Spirit?
It's a national Aboriginal youth business plan competition sponsored by BDC for Aboriginal youth in grades 10 to 12. Each year over 500 Aboriginal students across Canada participate. Since 2001, E-Spirit has introduced over 5,000 students to entrepreneurship. BDC contributes over $300,000 per year to the competition.

How do students compete?
Teams complete a business plan using modules provided on the E-Spirit website.  To qualify for the 3-day gala event, each team needs to:

·         Submit a complete business plan

·         Submit a video promoting their business idea

·         Give an oral presentation in front of their peers and judges

·         Set up a trade booth promoting their idea

The goals of BDC's eSpirit competition are to help youth:

·         Create their own opportunities

·         Set goals and objectives

·         Establish a framework for a better future

E-Spirit is Internet-based.
Because technology has no geographic boundaries, it offers a whole new way of doing business. The opportunities are tremendous! Students use the eSpirit website to get:

·         Online learning modules

·         Mentoring

·         A business-plan template

What's in it for students?
E-Spirit provides participants with valuable skills for today's marketplace. Students:

·         Gain an awareness of self-employment opportunities

·         Learn business, management and leadership skills

·         Increase their employability skills

·         Get an awareness of ebusiness models and technologies

·         learn the importance of teamwork

·         improve their communication skills

E-Spirit National Aboriginal Youth

Business Plan Competition

October 15, 2012 – February 18, 2013

On-Line Team Registration:
September 04 to October 05, 2012

How to write a Killer Resume that lands an Interview!

Professional resume writing is easier said than done. Many resume preparation services claim that their professional resumes won more interviews. When professional resume writers craft a resume, they know they only have 15 seconds to catch the hiring manager’s attention.

Your resume is like a product brochure of yourself. Selling yourself to your prospect employer is your main goal.

Whether you like it or not, you must accept the fact that you are represented by your resume. No matter how hard you try, no matter how you look or dress, Employers will still be looking at your resume first. Remember, first impressions last. Competition is tight that’s why you have approximately 15 seconds to make your resume noticeable and stand out from the rest. So before you throw out your great speech, build a good resume and make it look good. Here is our 10 basic things you should do in writing your own resume:

Basic rule of writing your resume: Be Brief. The more you write, the longer your professional resume gets, especially if you have running quite long years of career experience. “Brief” can no longer be achieved. To resolve this, start by making a plain long version of your resume. Write everything that you can think of which can help you not forget anything that describes your career. Start by listing categories such as Personal Information down to the Work Experiences, Relevant Skills, Honors and Awards, Trainings and Character References. Don’t worry about formatting your curriculum vitae, we’ll come to that later on. Add another category if you prefer, as long as it adds value to your professional resume. Then fill out every category to complete your list.

The next step in your professional resume writing is to trim down your long listed draft resume. Trimming down your long list is a bit difficult. You want to include everything that you have listed, but that’s impossible! Let go of the irrelevant facts about you. Include only the most important details. Anything that is out-dated should go. Delete those work experiences that has nothing to do with the desired position you’re applying for. So get rid of your five month service on the neighborhood fast food chain if you’re applying for the supervisory position of huge IT Company. After you have trimmed down your resume, you can now format it to make it look good. There’s no standard format for a professional resume for as long as it’s neat, organized and concise.

Be Concise and Neat.

It is easier to read your resume if it is organized. In writing a resume, it is important to be concise with every sentence you have written. HR folks are not fond of spending twenty minutes in reading your professional resume. Your prospect employer has a limited time reading everything you’ve written. Piece of advice, just cut the crap off and get to the point immediately. If you want to include something in your curriculum vitae, write it but make sure that you polish your sentences. It is easier to read a professional resume that is concise and neat.

Customize.

CV writing will not be complete if you don’t cross to the customization of your personal brochure. Most people prefer to apply one template for all the job application they attend to. Do not settle with only one format for your resume. The same template will not work for all companies. Maintain at least two different executive resume formats. Each one will highlight different types of work, skills, and experiences that you have gathered from the past. Customize your resume depending on the needs of the position you’re applying for. Resume development is hard if you have no idea on how to do it, but for starters, you can just copy a specific format from the internet.

·         Avoid the Clichés.

·         Avoid phrases that are heavily used and profanely abused. This will elevate your resume among the others. Avoid the phrases such as:

·         Responsible for

·         Experienced in

·         Excellent written communication skills

·         Team Player

·         Good Leadership Skills

·         Detail-oriented

·         Successful

·         Meticulous to details

Most professional resume writing services uses this approach to satisfy their customer’s needs and it is proven to be more effective. To level yourself higher, at least come up with an interesting and attention-grabbing phrase like what professional resume writers do, something that can position you at the middle of the stage. Employers love applicants that jump out of the box. Be more creative. Instead of saying “Successful” or “Good leadership skills”, why not incorporate the phrase to your previous work such as “Successfully spearheaded a team to transition the production department from regular to contractual employees.”

Specify the value of your accomplishments.

The best way to handle your accomplishments from your current position is to highlight them in your professional resume by specifying the financial impact, whether cost reduction or raising revenue to the company. Resume with quantifiable accomplishment has a higher value than those without. An accomplishment written like “Decreased the annual production cost by 40%” is more appealing than “develop a production cost savings”. Bear in mind that Employers want to know what you can do for them, how you have contributed in your previous position or company and how you are going to be an asset for them. Employers love catching big fishes, that’s the reality.

Keywords, Keywords and More Keywords.

In professional resume writing, instead of using cliché words, we suggest that you use keywords that can grab the attention of the HR folks. Consider highlighting good job related keywords in resume so it’s easy for them when they scan your resume. Don’t just put any keyword, match them to the job requirement to be more attractive. If they’re looking for a candidate that have an extensive experience on a specific computer software and by chance you’re proficient with it, then you have the right to put it in your resume.

The “MMMM DD, YYYY” Format

As much as you want to hide the fact that you’ve been job-hopping from quite some time now, you can’t. They will notice it while looking at your professional resume. Companies hate job-hoppers and they are bad for business. If you’re guilty with this crime, you have to do some significant modifications in your resume. Rather than highlighting the dates, divert their attention by putting the years of your employment terms.

Stick to one.

A professional resume is advisable to keep it very short, brief and straightforward. Many claims that a resume can be as short as a one page resume. But what if you have enough experience and credentials to really showcase your career, knock yourself out and add another page. But if not and you just want to write irrelevant stuffs, believe me, stick to a one-paged resume. Rule of thumb: Restrict it to two pages maximum.

Print out and proofread.

Experts say that it is easier to proofread a document when it is printed. True. Start your proofreading by running a wrong spelling and grammar check. Take your time with it, you don’t have to rush. You have one shot to make a first impression and you don’t want to mess it. When proofreading your resume, mark all your changes before you go back to your computer. Another proofreading technique is to start from the bottom of the page upward. If you’re still in doubt, get someone to review your work. You may get used on reading your resume that’s why you almost memorize every single word written there. Unfortunately, common errors occur when you reach that state.

Sources:http://www.bendaggers.com/how-to-write-a-killer-resume-that-lands-an-interview/

Best Practices in Blogging- How Can You Become a Better Blogger?

1. Use a catchy title. Make the title unique, consider using questions and lists.
2. Use interesting visuals. Include an image or video in your blog. This will get people’s attention and help them better understand the content of your blog.
3. Include links. Links add depth and credibility to your articles.
4. Use bullets, italics, and bold font. This makes for an easier read. Using bold font allows the reader to quickly scan your post.
5. Let your personality come through. This is what makes your blog unique.
6. Make blogs short, otherwise your reader might take one look at your post and bolt. If you choose to make your blog post long, consider breaking your blog into parts or use bold font to highlight the main points of the blog.
7. Reference your articles. If you use other people’s work, include a reference or link to their article.
8. Be interesting and have fun.
9. Encourage comments. Engage your reader and develop a relationship with them. This can be as simple as ending your post with a question.
10. Be bold. This might take the form of being outrageous or controversial.
11. Post tags. This will help your readers find you.
12. Respond to comments as soon as possible. Treat your reader like a friend. If your friend calls you and leaves a message, do you wait days to respond?
13. Make your blog post easy to share. This may include adding widgets such as Tweet, Reddit, Delicious, Stumble Upon, etc.
14. Post frequently. This helps keep your blog fresh and entices search engines to index you more often.
15. Promote your blog. This involves posting your posts to bookmarking sites, such as Stumble Upon and Delicious. Use Facebook and Twitter or other virtual communities such as LinkedIn and Craigslist.

Sources:

http://lauraleewalker.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/top-15-blogging-best-practices-2/

Membertou Gathering- Candy Palmater

The first gathering was held at the Membertou Trade and Convention Center in January where comedian, MC and keynote speaker, Candy Palmater joined the students.  Palmater is a Canadian comedian, international speaker and the educator of Indigenous perceptions. She is active in Native and gay rights, and is now the creator and writer of her own national TV show for APTN, The Candy Show.

Candy had the students’ total attention as she spoke about her journey to finish school, play varsity sports and to stand as her class Valedictorian in Law School and how she had to be a crab who crawled out of the bucket. She spoke of how "friends" might be happy with you when you are one of the crabs-doing what they are doing and sharing the same dreams, but when you aspire for more some of the "friends" or even as Candy suggests family members may not be very supportive of seeing the crabs crawl out of their bucket. Her speech was very inspiring, entertaining and gave the crowd a few laughs along the way.

Candy giving her speech on the 2nd day of the gathering

Some of the students looking very interested in Candy's speech

Candy speaking to the group at dinner on day 1 of the gathering

Millbrook Gathering - Wab Kinew

The final gathering for the Mentorship Program was held on June 1st and 2nd at the Glooscap Heritage Center in Millbrook First Nation. The highlight of the gathering was, without a doubt, the musical performance and keynote speech by Wab Kinew, who is a TV journalist for CBC Winnipeg by day, and a hip hop artist by night. Wab Kinew is a one-of-a-kind musical talent, becoming one of the artists to watch for from the Western Provinces. He is a hip-hop artist and CBC radio producer/host based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wab exemplifies what it means to be multicultural in Canada today, holding both a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and training in the traditional Medicine ways of his Anishinaabe people.
At the gathering Wab gave the students a moving speech about his experiences and success up to this point. He talked about the community he comes from and the teachings he has acquired. He also shared with the group some of his language and talked about how “the future is now!” In addition, he talked about how important your public image is and to post via social media with the mindset that anyone, including future employers, may be watching.  

 Wab Kinew giving his speech to the students  

The students and Mentors including Wab Kinew at the Glooscap Heritage Center 

Wab Kinew performing his music for the students

Business Related Careers in Aboriginal Governance

Hi guys, here are some of the business careers related to Aboriginal Governance/Band Management on reserves that you can do with a business degree.

Band Manager

• Responsible for management delivery, and management of all band programs

• Manage financial operations

• Manage and supervise band staff

• Coordinate community development activities

• Band council support and administration

Average Salary: $61,000

Economic Development Officer (EDO)

• Help improve and manage the economic situation of the community

• Finds ways to create jobs and increase capital in the community

• Assist with the establishment of businesses to help create the environment in which the local economy and the community will flourish.

• Assist in the creation of mutually beneficial business relationships with outside companies and other business

Average Salary: $58,000/yr

Band Finance Officer/Band Accountant

• Manage the band's finances

• Keep payroll records and assist in the preparation of financial reports

• Prepare community budgets and allocate funds for various services

Average Salary: $60,000

Education Department Manager

• Oversee the band's education department and make executive decisions

• Oversee the funding of various education programs offered through the community (i.e. University Sponsorship, Primary School Funding, ect...)

Average Salary: $54,000

10 Tips to Success in University

Hello Everyone! Here are some basic tips to success in university that can surely pay off.

1. Go to Class! - While seemingly simplistic and fairly straight forward, attending classes in university is extremely important. This is especially true in classes where you may have to cover one or more chapters per class (it happens, trust me) and where missing one class can easily put you behind. In my experience, some professors also take down attendance and make notes as to who's participating in class for participatory marks. While only around 5% of your overall mark is usually for participation, this can easily mean the difference between getting an A to getting a B. Also of note, some professors may bring up key points from the chapters and may go over things not in the textbook that could appear on tests and exams. Profs may also highlight key points to read or skip/exclude in the next chapter, as well as, any revisions to the textbook.


2. Study! Study! Study! - Another simple and straightforward one, but nonetheless still crucial to success in university. Pay attention the points in #1 regarding what profs want you to cover in the textbooks, they can make a difference and save you a lot of time. Backed by psychological evidence, studying the material prior to class only reinforces the ideas and knowledge that the professor wants you to understand. Also, reviewing the material before hand allows you to find any information you are having trouble understanding and allows you to prepare questions for the professor which they would gladly answer.


3. Take Notes - Taking notes is extremely useful when having to review and look up facts quickly and efficiently. Make sure to take clear, clean notes that are easy for you to read and understand. Remember, it's easier to look back on notes for crucial points mentioned by profs, then searching through an entire textbook.


4. Hand in Assignments and Papers on Time - Handing in your assignments on time in university is extremely important. Late assignments are typically receive late penalties (I've seen as high as 50%) or may not even be accepted at all, which could have a huge impact on your final grade. HARDLY ANY profs allow late assignments without penalties unless with good excuse.


5. Avoid Plagiarism and Improper Citation - Academic dishonesty can quickly get you kicked out of university and will follow you where ever you go to study. Academic dishonesty can not only cause you to be banned from a university for a set number of years, but also appears on your transcripts, affecting your registration in other universities. Make sure to properly cite your sources and put quotes where needed. NEVER take any information from somebody else and claim it as your own. Also try and stay away from using Wikipedia and Google, keep your sources academic and use the services at the university library.


6. Get to Know Your Professor - Getting to know your professor can be extremely useful. Not only can they be more willing to help you out and provide you with extra information that can prove useful, but getting to know profs can help you down the road if you need help in something related to their fields. A lot of university professors also do research in addition to teaching and specialize in certain areas of their field, because of this some profs may put more emphasis on their areas of interest in the field (especially if it's a intro course with a broad topic coverage).


7. Manage Your Time Effectively - Time management is key in university. Those who don't effectively manage their own time usually find themselves rushing to complete assignments or cramming for tests. You should try and allot certain amounts of time for different activities so that you're studying is kept consistent. Also don't forget to allot time in order to have fun and relax (it's healthier for you this way).


8. Take Breaks While Studying - Studies suggest that taking breaks while studying allows the knowledge and information that you have been studying to have time to absorb into your brain and give it time to relax. Also you should keep in mind that studying for extensive periods of time can prove to be mentally exhausting, so taking breaks is not only good for understanding information, but good for you.


9. Get Proper Rest and Stay Healthy - Important to your university studies is to stay healthy and to make sure you get proper amounts of sleep and rest. Lack of sleep affects your ability to study, stay focused and retain information. Allowing yourself the time to rest gives your body the energy it needs to be able to go to class and study afterwards, but keep in mind everything in moderation. Your own physical health and well being is also extremely important. You must take care of yourself and eat properly, while getting the right amount of exercise. Take out a gym membership at your university and go there on a regular basis, it can also help a lot with the stress university students sometimes find themselves facing.


10. Don't Forget to Have Fun! - Just as important as everything else here, is to keep in mind that you should enjoy your time spent at university. This will be some of the best years of your life and you should take time to enjoy it. Take advantage of any interesting and fun activities at university or go on an exchange program and study in another country. One thing that I have heard in my time at university is that some university grads regret that they didn't take the time to enjoy their university years. After all, you want to look back on your time spent in university and say you enjoyed every minute of it right?




I hope all this information proves useful to you and helps you wherever your studies take you. Whether it be in Cape Breton, other parts of Canada, or abroad, always try your best and don't forget to have fun!