Project Control Officer (Business Technology Management, BBTM)

Aminah Syed, RBC

By: Parima Shelat, Career Centre Assistant

Aminah Syed is a 2021 graduate of the Business Technology Management program on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus. During her 4 years, she underwent two unique co-op roles. First as a Business Analyst at RBC and the second as a Project Manager at RBC. Upon graduation, she began her career at Sun Life Financial as an Associate Business Systems Analyst. While she liked the company, she was not entirely satisfied with the role and wanted to move into something in project management, as she really enjoyed that during her second co-op term. A message she wanted to share was, “don’t ever be afraid to step out of your comfort zone because there’s always a chance to do bigger and better things.” She took the risk to leave her role at Sun Life Financial and start a new journey as a Project Control Officer at RBC in which she is able to unleash her creative side and explore new things every day.

As a Project Control Officer at RBC, Aminah is responsible for completing multiple projects in partnership with other departments such as finance and marketing. Her typical week consists of two work-from-home days and three in-office days in which she works on her assigned projects, attends daily meetings and takes part in networking with other banks. To get an idea of what her role entails, she shared her current three projects and expressed how much she appreciates the fact that each new project is so different and allows for lots of learning. Her first project is a financial one in which she gathers data about other departments' budgets and cash flows in order to compile a cohesive invoice for the company. Her second project is building a website for the project management department to allow better communication between them and their clients. Her final project is to gather updates from different departments and create presentations for meetings alongside other team members. The key takeaway from the variety of projects is that she develops so many new skills, discovered hobbies through her work and has flexibility in her daily tasks. To get to where she is today, she is forever grateful to the Career Centre at Laurier and the support she received with her resumé and cover letters through the co-op program. She continues to use the Career Centre and wants everyone to know that if they are ever in need of career support, they will have the opportunity to come back at any point even after graduating because “once a Golden Hawk, always a Golden Hawk!”

Moving on from her professional life, she really encourages getting involved outside of academics and work to create memories. She has found her involvement in clubs/associations during her university career was greatly beneficial in establishing a work-life balance upon graduation. Wilfrid Laurier University has many opportunities to get involved, and she strongly encourages students to be engaged in extracurriculars. She was personally a part of the Students’ Union, the BTMSA and SKIP, an organization outside of university in which she worked to facilitate programs/trips for little kids. In these roles she planned events and organized tasks from beginning to end, which built the foundations of her career in project management. With her experience, it is evident that there is so much you learn from getting involved, and it can guide the path to your future career goals.