Stacy Aikman went to university straight out of high school, with no clear concept of what career she wanted to pursue. She majored in sociology while also holding down two retail jobs. Both jobs evolved into permanent work after Stacy graduated with her bachelor of arts degree, and she coasted through the next five years working those two jobs.
But when both of those employers went out of business within months of each other, Stacy found herself unemployed and without a career focus. At that point she did some hard thinking: "After some soul-searching and research, I decided human resources was the career path that best aligned with my skills, my interests and my degree."
Once she knew what she wanted to do, Stacy was eager to move forward: "I chose the SIAST Business Human Resources diploma program for two reasons. First, the large number of HR-specific courses in the curriculum and, second, access to co-operative education and the opportunity it offers to gain career-related work experience."
With that diploma in hand and a few career moves later, Stacy currently is supervisor of human resources for Bombardier Aerospace Military Aviation Training Division, located at 15 Wing Moose Jaw base. She sees benefits to both her university and her SIAST learning.
Stacy describes the benefits she sees in her "combined" - both university and SIAST - post-secondary education: "My university education provided me with a solid educational foundation, and it taught me how to think. It forced me to apply myself to learning and provided networking opportunities I still benefit from today. The skills I learned were extremely transferable to life and work. My SIAST education was specific to the career path I had chosen. My experiences in learning and in skill practice at SIAST often occurred in groups, in a comparatively less competitive and more collaborative environment. And the SIAST program provided the knowledge and skills I needed to break into my chosen career quickly."
Stacy sums up her degree-diploma background this way: "My BA prepared me for life; SIAST prepared me for work."
Stacy Aikman
U of S Bachelor of Arts
SIAST Business Human Resources diploma
Back to Choices for fall 2011
