Working at Bell

I will never forget my first co-op work term I completed as part of my public relations degree at Mount Saint Vincent University.

I was hired on at Bell Canada in Calgary, Alberta in the summer of 2005. I was ecstatic about the opportunity for a number of reasons. The job gave me a chance to gain valuable hands-on experience in the field at a well-recognized corporation in Canada. I got a chance to visit Western Canada for the first time in my life. I was able to soak up the Stampede experience in Calgary.

I worked at Bell as an Internal Communications Coordinator. I’m not going to lie, I was very nervous about my first work experience. When I got there, the person I was replacing was just finishing up her work term. Many people in the department raved about her work. I remember my boss telling me that I had “big shoes to fill”. Thanks, as if I wasn’t sweating bullets already. Put a gun to my head why don’t you. I was determined to accept this as a challenge and not let her comments faze me.

I quickly realized that my work term wasn’t going to be so bad after all. My boss ended up being one of the most understanding, caring and unselfish people I’ve ever met. She challenged me at work everyday and was always available to answer any questions I had. Believe me, knowing very little about the public relations field, I had a lot of questions.

I earned her confidence very early on in my time there and as a result, she gave me added responsibility. I got to coordinate a major event for Bell called the “Sneak-A-Peek” event for the Calgary Stampede and it was exclusively for Bell employees. In Calgary alone, we had an employee base of over 1000 people. This was a big event that came at a very important time. Employee morale was very low. We needed to show employees that they were valued members of the corporation, but also give them a chance to kickback, relax and have some fun!

As part of the event, we had employees take the C-Train to the Stampede grounds after work the night prior to the official kickoff of Stampede. Bell had a huge pavilion on the grounds as part of their sponsorship deal with the Stampede. In the pavilion, we had a Bell store, where people could purchase Bell products. There was also an interactive area, where people could play around with ringtones on their cell phones and even get their picture taken on a horse with one of Bell’s camera phones! But the main attraction to the pavilion was definitely the Xtreme biking show that Bell put on every hour on the hour during Stampede week. Some of the stunts these riders did were crazy.

After the Xtreme biking show, we invited all employees to a local bar for some food, drinks and dancing. Let me tell you, if I didn’t know a lot of employees before that night, I knew most of them afterwards. I was everybody’s best friend at the bar because I was the guy holding all the drink tickets. It was an amazing experience and from the feedback we received, the event was deemed a huge success.

I remember getting on the elevator for work the next day. Usually, people aren’t very chatty that early in the morning, but this day was different. Employees that I hardly knew were thanking me for putting on a great event. Some employees even emailed me pictures that were taken at the bar. This was satisfaction in itself for me. I think for one night anyways, employees were able to forget about their stressful work lives and feel proud of working for Bell.

My first work term was truly a memorable experience – one that I will never forget. I remember going out to lunch with my boss prior to finishing up my work term there. She told me that she was very pleased with my work. Not only did I surpass her expectations of me, but her expectations of the previous co-op student. I was surprised by her comments, but I knew then that my hard work had paid off.