Ted Rogers School wins two 2020 TalentEgg National Recruitment Excellence Awards

The Ted Rogers School of Management was recognized for innovation and pushing boundaries by picking up two honours at this year’s TalentEgg National Recruitment Excellence Awards – one for Business Career Hub’s Bootcamps and one for Career Consultant Ibiyemi Balogun.

The TalentEgg National Recruitment Excellence Awards (external link, opens in new window)  provide an opportunity for employers, accredited universities and colleges, career centres, career educators and coaches to be recognized within the industry and among their peers.

“The BCH is thrilled to be recognized by TalentEgg for the innovative and impactful work being done to support Ted Rogers School students and alumni,” says Graham Sogawa, Executive Director, BCH.  “We are proud to have Ibiyemi recognized for her efforts and accomplishments”.

“The Hub is grateful for the continued support of our students, alumni, staff and faculty partners,” adds Sogawa. “We share this recognition with Dr. Allen Goss, Associate Dean, Students, who pushes the department to continue to grow and innovate.”

The TalentEgg Special Award for Innovation by a Career Centre recognizes career centres that have taken an innovative approach to career education on their campuses. This year it was awarded to Ted Rogers School’s Bootcamps, operated by the BCH.

Bootcamps provide students and alumni with free, fast and timely access to training on platforms coveted by industry. The project started with a focus on enhancing Excel skills and quickly evolved into several unique offerings, including Tableau, Power BI, Python and R. In addition to bridging gaps between curriculum and industry needs, Bootcamps provide employment opportunities for students, who work as facilitators and share their expertise with peers.  

In 2018, the first year of operation, Bootcamps surpassed all targets, having attracted record crowds with weekend courses filling to capacity. More than 5,000 students attended Bootcamps, with an additional 175 alumni and 74 graduate students taking advantage of the programs. In the 2019-2020 academic year, Bootcamps engaged more than 10,000 participants with the support of 52 student facilitators.

With growing concerns about COVID-19, the BCH began planning for the online delivery of Bootcamps in early February. Thanks to this preparation, after Ryerson University announced on Friday, March 13, 2020 that all in-person events were cancelled, Bootcamps were up and running online on Monday, March 16, 2020.  

The success of Bootcamps has helped countless students to secure summer internships, co-op placements and graduate opportunities. One of the unexpected success stories for Bootcamps was the graduate outcomes of student facilitators. Last year, 98% of the student facilitators secured graduate opportunities or summer employment with top firms.

This was not the first time the BCH received the Talent Egg Award for Innovation by a Career Centre. In 2017, it won this award for its Top 200 program – a unique leadership development program for emerging leaders from all of Ted Rogers School’s programs and departments.

In addition to this honour, BCH Career Consultant Ibiyemi Balogun won the TalentEgg Career Coach/Educator of the Year (Individual) Award. This award recognizes excellence and innovation in the area of career coaching and education.

"I am so fortunate to work with a great student population at Ryerson, within a phenomenal team at the Business Career Hub that fosters innovation and creativity,” says Balogun. “Providing our students with top notch career services is our number one priority and we wouldn't have it any other way."

Balogun has launched several innovative programs that have empowered students with coveted technical skills. This past year, Balogun engaged employers and students to identify gaps between curriculum and industry needs. Building a partnership with Slalom Consulting, she discovered an opportunity for their team to educate students on Salesforce, a leading industry platform. This partnership enabled the creation of a new Salesforce Bootcamp.

Following this success, Balogun led the design and launch of a three-day Cyber Security Prep program that focused on career development and combined the expertise of 40 external partners across 28 companies. More than 200 students attended the first Cyber Security Prep Bootcamp, which ended with a case competition where winning students landed roles at Deloitte.

Balogun also led a Tech Month initiative which involved on and off-campus activities, including teams from Blackberry, Deloitte, Google, KPMG and Microsoft; an approach that had never been done before. The opportunity for students and employers to build relationships in their early years enabled students to gain stronger industry knowledge, expand their network and land new roles.

The TalentEgg awards were presented virtually at the 9th annual TalentEgg Recruitment Excellence Awards and Conference on July 8, 2020.