Top Tips for Settling Into University

Starting university will be one of the major changes in your life. You’ll suddenly be surrounded by new people in a new environment. To feel at home, you need to find ways to settle in.

Get to Know the Area

Familiarize yourself with what’s around by taking a walk or drive. Use the chance to explore as well as to note where key places are — like the supermarket, cafés, bars, and bus stops. This will prevent frustration when you actually need to find those places.

Visit Campus

Take a visit to campus before the semester begins to learn the layout of the buildings. This will avoid you feeling lost when you arrive. Find out where your classes will take place as well as where key places like the library are.

Find Off Campus Student Housing

Whereas living on campus does help you meet new people, it can make adjusting to your new life even more difficult. For instance, you need to learn to live in close quarters with a roommate and share facilities with a large number of other students. Living off campus will make the transition to university easier, as you can create your own space to call home.

Bring Some Personal Items

You should bring mainly just the essentials when you move; however, you will still need a few personal items to be comfortable. Think of ways to make your space comfortable after a long day of classes. For instance, a favourite cushion, framed photos, and posters for the wall can remind you of friends and family and help you feel like yourself.

Join Events

Find out about events organized by your university, the students, and the wider community. This will introduce you to people early on and show you opportunities to purse your hobbies and passions.

Create a Routine

Decide on a routine and make sure you stick to it. Plan things like what time you’ll wake up and go to bed on weekdays, how many hours you want to spend studying, and when you want to socialize. Make sure that you also schedule time just to relax.

Probably the most important item on this list is finding ideal housing. One of the best types of off campus housing is a bachelor apartment in Ottawa. Students can benefit from housing like 1Eleven, a community of bachelor apartments just for students. This is perfect for having your own space, never feeling lonely, and being near to campus.

Skills Your Future Employer Will Be Looking For – Start Brushing Up Now!

University is all about preparing for the future, especially a future job. And preparing for a future job means acquiring knowledge and developing skills that employers will be looking for. Although career preparation and development matters greatly, there are some fundamental skills every college student will need to be successful employees. These fundamental skills include:

•         Good Communication
•         Strong Leadership
•         Demonstrated Self-Discipline
•         Ability to Work Well with Others
•         Proper Organization

Good Communication Skills

Good communication skills are important in many areas of life, especially in a work environment. They can help ensure you get along with your boss and colleagues, report and solve problems efficiently, relay information clearly and accurately and build strong client relationships. Since strong communication must be demonstrated verbally and in writing, many university courses incorporate curriculum that helps build these skills. Most courses include oral presentations and essay writing, designed to help students become better at public speaking, writing and arguing. This can provide an advantage in résumé writing and job interviews, ensuring you leave impressions that can help secure employment. However, to become an even stronger, more confident communicator, engage in extracurricular activities that allow you to demonstrate your skills, such as blogging, debate club, etc.

Strong Leadership Skills

Not everyone can be a leader, but employers are more impressed by employees with strong leadership skills. Strong leaders, or individuals with the ability to become strong leaders, are assets to an organization. To demonstrate strong leadership, you must:

Show initiative

•         Display superior understanding of technical concepts
•         Demonstrate excellent problem-solving skills
•         Have good relationships with colleagues and clients
•         Be willing to take on additional duties and responsibilities
•         Show progression in your role
•         Utilize your skills effectively and efficiently
•         Demonstrate the ability to lead and work well with others, as well as take the lead when needed

Remember, leadership skills can give you the advantage in the interview process and work environment and make you a more desirable employee to future employers.

Demonstrated Self-Discipline

Most employers provide support on projects; create milestones and deadlines and present work guidelines to employees. But they also expect their employees to be self-starters with the discipline to perform duties and complete tasks in an efficient manner. So, to be a successful employee, you will need to manage your work and time well. While this is easy to demonstrate in a work environment, showing this skill during an interview is as simple as providing past examples. For instance, you could explain to your future employer how you used self-discipline to balance work, classes and study time while attending university.

Ability to Work Well with Others

Strong teamwork is one of the most sought-after traits in employees. Thus, it should be a trait you spend a lot of time working on. You don’t have to be a people person, but you should get along with any team members, colleagues from different departments and supervisors. To show your teamwork skill during an interview or on an application, provide examples of successful group projects or other activities you participated in during university. This is important, as college essentially prepares you for group activities.

In fact, these years provide you with extensive experience working with others, especially in your living environment. Maintaining a dorm room or apartment requires teamwork. Team experience gained from living with roommates in residence halls or any student housing Ottawa has to offer can easily transfer to a work environment.

Proper Organization

Disorganized employees are generally less productive, less efficient and less desirable. Proper organization can help you manage your work well, keep track of documents and other important items, maintain high productivity and meet deadlines. This is another skill that’s easy to demonstrate at work, but you must provide examples during the interview process. However, your potential employers may find hints of your organization skills in how you present yourself. For example, a well-organized résumé can serve as the first clue to your organization skills.

Speaking of getting organized, don't forget to secure your place at 1Eleven for the fall – contact us today!