Fleming College

Samantha Rivers, third-year Business Administration – Human Resources Management student, is building her resume this summer at the Municipality of Port Hope. As the Human Resources Summer Student for the small municipality, Samantha has a range of responsibilities that will help her gain real world experience in her field.

“Almost every class I have taken I can apply to some aspect of my job so far,” said Samantha. “Having the knowledge from the programs I’ve taken helped me through the interview and also through each task I get assigned.”

Samantha’s tasks include: scheduling and conducting interviews, reference check calls, managing online training for employees, research, rewriting policies and job descriptions, meeting minutes, organizing incoming resumes and employee files, reviewing collective agreements and more.

The Fleming College student is excited she is already making her mark at the Municipality of Port Hope. After noticing that the Human Resources Policy and Procedures Manual was long, tedious, and divided into separate topics that were repetitive, Samantha created one standard Code of Conduct Policy.

“I spent some time doing research on it and made up a breakdown of what it could potentially contain,” said Samantha. “From there I took it to my boss who took it to council and now I am responsible for creating this policy. It is an amazing thing knowing that my creation could be in a policy manual for years to come.”

Samantha is happy she decided to pursue this career path after waiting four years past high school to apply to college.

“There were so many choices that all lead to a different future,” said Samantha, who was unsure which college program to take. “When I decided to go into Business, I looked around at a range of colleges and I always came back to Fleming as one of my top choices. It was one of the colleges I had toured while I was in high school and the environment of the Open House really left a great mark on me.”

She took the common first year in the School of Business to be exposed to different business disciplines and then chose the three-year Business Administration program to see what she liked. After her third semester, Samantha made the decision to move into Human Resources Management.

“Now, having completed one 70-hour placement and going through the motions of my summer job, I am even more confident that this is the right field of study for me,” she added.

Samantha is also confident that Fleming College was the right choice.

“At first coming in, being out of high school for four years, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” she said. “But after my first couple classes, I really noticed the environment at the college was everyone from every walk of life gaining experience together. I have met some amazing people and developed forever friendships at the college. I couldn’t ask for better support and encouragement from my peers and my coordinators.”

Samantha recommends Fleming College to those interested in learning both theory and applied skills. “Being able to do the pen to paper work with reading and studying and then doing the hands-on projects and presentations where you get to apply what you learned is an amazing opportunity,” she said.

According to the Business Administration – Human Resources Management student, the Business Entrepreneurship Exercise is a great example of the hands-on learning Business students experience. In this exercise, students apply the basics of product sales and marketing to fundraise for the School of Business. “In first-year, that really gets you out of your shell and involved in the school, which I think is an amazing opportunity,” she said.

And for those currently attending Fleming College, Samantha highly recommends making use of the Peterborough Sport & Wellness Centre. “It is the perfect stress relief during a busy college schedule.”