Vancouver Q&A: Yuki Miao, career services and experiential learning specialist
Yuki Miao moved across Canada to take a job as a career services and experiential learning specialist on Northeastern’s Vancouver campus in September 2023.
She works as the co-op coordinator or adviser for students in the College of Professional Studies and the College of Arts, Media and Design, building relationships with prospective employers in the Vancouver area and helping students obtain co-op jobs in their areas of study and interest.
I was once a co-op student myself, at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where I studied business and psychology.
During my last two co-op terms, I worked as a communications coordinator for the university’s career center, working for Dinuka Gunaratne.
Fast forward a few years, after I graduated I got a full-time job working at Waterloo, which I’m sure my previous co-op experience helped me land.
Then I got a call on a random Friday afternoon from Dinuka, who by then was director of career development and experiential learning for Northeastern’s Vancouver campus.
He said he had a job open on his team and that I should apply for it if I was interested.
I remember going through all the interviews and feeling super nervous, as expected. I got a call a week or two later saying I got the job and Dinuka said, ‘It’s time to start packing to get over here.’
Being able to talk to our students every day — learn about where they came from and their previous experiences and help them achieve their goals.
One of my CPS students got a job offer for a part-time position at the company he was working for as a co-op student.
Recently he told me he’s in line for a full-time return offer because he’s about to graduate, and he’s just so, so excited.
He told me how much the co-op meant to him and that we’ve made a difference by helping him take advantage of that opportunity.
I think I knew pretty early on, right after declaring my major in psychology, that I wasn’t interested in getting my Ph.D. or going to medical school.
As much as I liked being in school most of the time, that was just too much school for me.
But psychiatry is a super interesting topic to me, and I like to devour books, videos and documentaries on the subject.
Maybe in another universe there’s a version of me still working in a university, but working in a lab doing research.
I can’t say I’m an outdoorsy person at all, even though Vancouver is famous for that.
I’ve been enjoying my city walks more than nature walks in Vancouver.
There are a lot of new cafes and bookstores and boutiques that are always popping up, which is super fun.
There are just so many good options. I love taking a book, going to a cafe for a latte and pastry and settling in for a couple of hours.
A lot of the cafes have patios, which I’m not used to because I’m from Toronto, where it gets cold and snowy. Even when it’s cold outside, the patios in Vancouver are heated so you can still sit outside. It’s nice.
I’ve been forcing myself to go to the gym. As a self-declared couch potato, I’m very proud of myself for doing it.
I work out at a boxing gym around the corner from where I live.
There’s loud music and you just punch and jab away to your heart’s content. You have the wraps, you have the gloves, everything.
Just don’t punch too hard when you first start out. I hurt one of my fingers a little bit because I punched the bag the wrong way. You have to land on your knuckle.