Networking Landed Me the Job

“I had no idea that me offering someone a soccer job would get me a lab job across Canada.”

Morgan Leon is a co-op student double majoring in Biology and Sustainability, and a member of the Dalhousie Women’s Soccer team. We spoke with Morgan and her supervisor, Shawn, about her co-op experience last winter. 

“I wanted to branch out and make a new area my home. I was talking with one of my teammates and she mentioned she was going to Vancouver for the summer. I said ‘Cool, can I join?!”, Morgan laughed. 

“I was lucky. Through networking I was able to land a job at UBC,” said Morgan. It all started when she was having a conversation with a lab assistant. “I was talking with her, and she mentioned that her daughter needed a coach for her soccer club, so I connected her with one of my teammates,” Morgan said, “When I was speaking with the teammate, she asked me if I was still trying to find a job on the West Coast. She said that her dad worked for a lab at UBC and put me in touch with him. It's funny, because everyone talks about networking, but to see it work firsthand was amazing.” 

At UBC, Morgan worked as a Research Assistant with supervisor Shawn Mansfield in a plant and microbiology lab under the faculty of forestry. “It was a pleasure watching Morgan grow throughout the work term – she easily mastered many advanced molecular skills that she only had the theoretical knowledge of prior to coming to the laboratory,” Shawn said. 

During her work term, Morgan worked with secondary cell walls in plants. “I never had lab experience before, I found it hard to volunteer because I was juggling work, school, and soccer”, she said, “The team was super helpful and understood that I had very little lab background. I’m excited to say I have a lot of different procedures and methods under my belt now!”

Before Morgan’s work term concluded, her lab had an exciting discovery.  “One of my coworkers was working with cellular synthesis; her goal was to come up with a new mutation of a plant. It was super exciting because the second to last week I was there, she started jumping up and down saying ‘We found it, we found it!’”, Morgan said, “It was very wholesome, and she was so happy that we found it before I left.”

Shawn spoke highly of Morgan and his experience with the co-op program. “I was extremely impressed with Morgan as a Co-op student, and I would certainly consider hiring another SITE Co-op student from Dalhousie”, said Shawn, “Moreover, I would have no hesitation in recommending the program to any potential employer. I was impressed with Morgan as a student and an individual.” 

Learn more about Science Co-op