Recruiters

Abby Brandes

“I love helping people figure out what they want to do with their lives. You never know where life will take you and if you don’t like one direction, don’t be afraid to try something else and see where that path will lead you.”

After high school in Barrie, Ontario, Abby attended university for Business Communications. She then went on to take Automotive Marketing at Georgian College before beginning her career as an Events Coordinator working in the automotive industry. From there she worked as a Liaison Officer for Georgian.

Abby joined Conestoga in 2009 as a Trades and Apprenticeships Liaison specialist. She now travels between the Guelph, Waterloo and Doon campuses.  What she loves the most about her job is the constant variety it offers. Working at three campuses gives her the chance to know a little bit about everything while meeting and working with many different people. Part of her job involves working with the Career Centre and Second Career program. Here she helps adults find a new direction in their lives by finding them the education they need to retrain for a new career path. Seeing some of these people in the hallways of Conestoga after joining a program is what she finds the most satisfying about this part of her job.

Abby also loves to travel in her spare time.  After graduation from university she spent 5 months in Australia and 2 months in New Zealand.  She’s also lived in Canmore, Alberta after college and hopes to continue traveling all around the world.

FYI. Conestoga has many articulation agreements with a universities in Australia.

Jan Stroh

"“Organizing something like Orientation gives me a lot of satisfaction. Working with many different groups of people to make the event a success and allowing students a chance to get comfortable in a new setting is very rewarding."

Jan came to Conestoga in 1998 after spending 16 years working with teens and adults and helping them plan their lives and education. A university grad, Jan took the Social Development Studies program and also received her Adult Education Certificate. She began her career at the Lutherwood Youth Employment Center. There she eventually became their Community Developer and spent a lot of time working with unemployed adults and marketing the center’s services around the community.

Once at Conestoga she began as a Job Developer with Job Connect and two years later moved into her role as a Recruiter. Never a fan of a 9-5 schedule, Jan believes this job is the perfect fit for her, with the varying schedules and tasks it offers.

Jan says “What I’m most proud of is the time I spent working with a girl who had dropped out of high school and was having trouble holding a job.  She eventually was able to not only hold a steady job, but also graduate from the Electrical Engineering program at Conestoga and get a full-time job at a software company in Waterloo. It’s being able to help people like this and seeing the light in their eyes go on when they see the options ahead, of them that make me look forward to coming to work each day.”

Jason Humphrey

“Follow your passion. You’ll find that school work will be a lot easier and more enjoyable.”

Jason graduated high school in North Bay, Ontario before attending university for Agricultural Economics. After that he attended Canadore College for Business Administration - Marketing and found that he thrived in the applied learning and hands-on atmosphere that college offered.  During his time at Canadore, Jason was able to participate in a two month co-op placement in Germany. Not only did he get to travel Europe, but also got paid to do it!

Upon graduation, Jason married and took his first job at Eagle’s Flight in Guelph, where he worked in the marketing department for roughly 12 years. In 2009 he joined the Conestoga team as a full-time Liaison Officer promoting their degree and post-graduate programs.

He has already seen the importance his position can have in shaping the education of future college students. What he enjoys most is being able to talk with students about their different interests and helping them find their passion. From there he can show them the many pathways available and how Conestoga can be a fit for them.

Jason now has two children, enjoys coaching his son’s baseball team and plans to one day complete his degree requirements and pursue a Masters in a leadership program.

Jason says “Look into the many benefits of bridging into degree and articulation programs and strongly consider College as a viable option for obtaining your degree.”

Leisa Cronsberry

“What I enjoy most about my job is the feeling that I have the ability to help change lives and educate people. I love seeing people in Conestoga’s hallways that I’ve spoken to in the past, who were once unsure about pursuing post-secondary education.”

Leisa is an Advertising graduate and has also taken several courses/program at the college over the years.  A lifelong learner, Leisa still has plans to keep taking more courses at Conestoga in the future.

She has had the opportunity to work in many areas at the College including time at the Info Centre which gave her the chance to work closely with other recruiters, customers and many different kinds of people around the college.

Now 10 years into her position as a Recruiter, she loves the variety of the job and how it’s so student and customer service focused. One of her proudest accomplishments was heading up the creation of the Girl’s Conference. This annual event is geared towards encouraging young girls to take engineering and technology programs through their participation in 15 unique workshops.

Leisa says “I think it’s very important to get a post-secondary education in order to be successful and obtain a good career. To anyone thinking about a post-secondary education I would tell them to come to college and engage in the experience as a whole. This can be done by getting involved with everything college has to offer such as clubs, sports, student life and the many campus events.”

Roxane Shawana

“I love sharing stories and telling people things they may not have known about the College and I always look forward to pointing out the many services that are available to students at Conestoga.”

Roxane came to Conestoga to study Business Administration – Accounting. Later she worked in several customer service related jobs, as well as doing a lot of finance and administrative work for various native organizations around Kitchener. She joined Conestoga in 2009 in her initial position working in the Learning Commons. Roxane is Ojibway and comes from the Wikiwemikong reserve on Manitoulan Island. This, as well as her time in the Learning Commons, helped lead to her current position as Part-Time Aboriginal Services Recruitment and Liaison Officer.

With this position comes the launch of the school’s brand new Aboriginal Services office. You will find her there getting the program off the ground. Opened in March 2010, Roxane says it was great to be an original member of the team and to be able to use her ideas in the implementation of its goals and strategies. One of the main focuses of this service is to try and grow the aboriginal community on campus by specifically recruiting aboriginals and building an active and engaged aboriginal community at Conestoga.

Roxane says “I’ve been thrilled to hear all the positive feedback people have given about this service and I look forward to further promoting it in classrooms, career fairs, college nights, etc.”

Vicki Noels-Cornish

"Recruiters are some of the first faces potential students see when considering Conestoga. They need to be friendly and approachable which is one of the reasons I love my job. I’m a big ball of energy which makes this job a perfect fit."

What Vicki finds so energizing about her job is being able to meet and help so many people. If you see Vicki at an event like College Fair, Open House, during a tour or anywhere in the community, be sure to ask her about the many options there are for post-secondary education. Whether you decide to come to Conestoga or not, Vicki just enjoys seeing students and parents come away happy and satisfied after their time with her.

Vicki attended University for her BA of Specialized Honours in Drama before also completing Teacher’s College as well. She then attended Conestoga to take the Career Development Practitioner program. She has also taken courses in human resources, esthetics and also in acting, which is something she has a passion for in her spare time.

Vicki began her career teaching grade one, before joining Conestoga as a Career Counsellor. She then made a presentation about facilitating a career and motivating employees, which impressed her supervisor, who said she had a unique energy, creativity and stage presence. This lead to Vicki working as a Co-op Employment Officer for a few months, before eventually finding herself in her current role in March of 2005.

Vicki says “Have big dreams and goals because without them you can never make your dreams come true.”