Hello from Waterloo! We’re UWAFT, the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team. With over our 25 years of student competition, UWAFT has had thousands of members from a dozen disciplines at Waterloo.
During the final semester of Year 4, we saw a perfect opportunity to recruit top student talent with the help from one of our competition headline sponsors: General Motors (GM). GM’s sponsorship of EcoCAR has been monumental to the success of the UWAFT team. GM generously lets UWAFT use their testing tracks and facilities to improve our competition vehicle, a Chevrolet Blazer they donated to our team!
Bronson Patychuck, our GM mentor, helped organize a team of seven UWAFT and EcoCAR alums who now work at GM to tell their stories at our career event on March 22nd. The panel described how UWAFT and EcoCAR helped accelerate their careers, and the skills they developed in the competition that employers value.
We had a great time hearing from former team leads, project managers, and technicians. We had an amazing deep-dive into co-op at GM, answered audience questions about jobs in various departments, how to fit into a new culture, and even a greatest-hits of campus restaurants.
Bronson’s words summed up the value of UWAFT and EcoCAR, stating “One of the best things about student teams is you get to see and experience so much. I went through many swimlanes and the exposure you get to different sides of the competition and different disciplines is huge. From mechanical to electrical to leadership opportunities, It’s something you would never get if you weren’t involved in something like EcoCAR.”
Best of all, Ameer Ali, GM’s university recruiter was on the panel to run through how to best utilize UWAFT and EcoCAR on a resume. He gave all attendees some excellent tips for communicating effectively in a resume, and how to promote their EcoCAR skills to prospective employers.
This career event was a big success for our team and we’re hoping to host more in the future. Thanks to everyone who attended and to GM for hosting.
