Canadian Career Guide

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20 Ag & F ood CAreer guide
they approach project work. What
are tips and tools they utilize to be
productive? How can you adapt those
for your personal use?
Ask questions! Employers don’t
expect you to know everything or how to
do everything. By asking questions you
gain insight into how to most effectively
ask for help and input, which is a way to
heighten your productivity for the future.
Once you complete a project, give a
rundown of how you tackled the project
to those you are sharing the outcomes
with. Listen for feedback through this
process. You’ll hear things like, “I hadn’t
thought about doing it that way,” or “Did
you consider doing it this way?” You
might also hear “You should have done
this.” Don’t let that squash your spirit.
Hopefully, you run into the later
scenario less than the earlier, more
positive scenarios.
Ask for more to do. In our experience
at , summer students
complete projects much faster than we
typically expect. If this is the case for you,
and you’ve done a thorough job and not
just rushed through, ask if there is
something else you can help with. Your
employer may not have something right
that minute, but they’ll find it impressive
and find more to give you in the future.
While summer experiences provide a
great opportunity for productivity
experience and growth, you can apply
this mindset to many other places to
help you sharpen those skills, such as
school projects, part-time work,
academics, and lifelong learning. If you
put in the effort and strive to be a highly
productive person doors in many
aspects of your life will open.
DEMONSTRATING PRODUCTIVITY
As we’ve mentioned, productivity is
big for employers and they’ll go to
extraordinary lengths to try to assess
your productivity and work ethic in an
interview. Questions that typically are
used to gain this insight go something
like: “Tell me about a time when you had
a big project. What steps did you follow
to accomplish the objective? What was
the outcome?” Those behavioural-based
questions that ask you to reflect on a
situation and walk the person through
the process ending with the outcome
really can shed light.
Remember from above, that part
about a cliff notes rundown—that is
the practice for answering these types
of questions. An important part of
nailing these types of questions is to be
thorough but concise in your response.
Don’t be too short that you don’t provide
enough detail. Don’t be too long that
you include a bunch of unimportant
details. Knowing the question
assesses productivity and work ethic,
as you practice for this type of question,
think like the interviewer. What is it
about this experience that I’m sharing
with them that will help them
understand my level of work ethic,
productivity and problem-solving?
In your resume you can also
demonstrate productivity. Use
measurables to quantify your work. How
many projects did you complete? How
many marketing campaigns did you run?
The more you can put a quantity on
things, the more you make it easy for the
reader to understand your output.
Your productivity IQ is less about IQ
and more about your mindset. You get to
control how an employer sees your
productivity level. It will be measured in
the effort that you put forward!
There are lots of exceptional career
opportunities and career success for
employees that put productivity
excellence at the top of their list! AG
productivity
TIPS
Here are some productivity tips from the
pros at !
PRIORITIZE: What’s due first?
Urgent? Ask your supervisor for
help prioritizing if needed.
DON’T WAIT until the last day
before a project is due—it’s not
like cramming for a test the night
before.
Find ways to MOTIVATE yourself
through the mundane tasks.
TAKE NOTES during meetings—
real pen and paper, handwritten
notes!
MAKE LISTS.
Utilize ONLINE CALENDAR
SYSTEMS, like Outlook. Setup
reminders for project due dates
and follow-ups.
CLEAN your workspace—this can
jumpstart your productivity. You’ll
feel less distracted and more
focused on getting work done.
BLOCK TIMES for specific proj-
ects or tasks and stick to those
commitments. Set a timer if
needed.
A good PLAYLIST always helps!
Work on BIG PROJECTS that take
focus when you are naturally at
your best!
LEARN from those around you –
talk to people to gain insight and
ideas.
PAUSE TO MEASURE progress,
re-evaluate, realign to the goal.
Set your PHONE ON DND (put
the cell phone down) when you
need to hunker down and focus.
Force yourself to TAKE BREAKS
throughout the day to clear your
head.