HelloInfo is committed to providing learning opportunities for students and others looking to enter the workforce. For the fall school term (September – December) we had a co-op student join our team. We enjoyed having Rachael on our team and appreciate her contributions to HelloInfo! We wish her all the best in her future studies and hope we have inspired her to consider strategic research as a future career.
Some thoughts from Rachael on her experience at HelloInfo:
My name is Rachael MacIntosh-Douglas and I started a co-op term with HelloInfo in September 2021. I was hired on as a research assistant.
I am currently in the second year of my Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree at Western University. In 2020, I graduated from The University of Waterloo with a Bachelors of Global Business and Digital Arts (GBDA). In GBDA, we studied user experience design, business, computer science, and graphic design. During my time at the University of Waterloo, I also completed a minor in English Literature. I chose to pursue a MLIS degree because I saw it as an opportunity to focus the skills, knowledge, and experience I had learned throughout my undergrad into a specific field while also building further on that foundation.
Rachael’s reasons for applying to HelloInfo:
I decided to apply to HelloInfo for my second co-op term because I was interested in gaining insight into a new side of Library and Information Science. Through volunteering and past co-ops, I had a fairly strong understanding of public and government libraries but was less knowledgeable about how an LIS degree could be used in the private sector. In addition, as my background is business, I thought that working with a private company would be a good way to use my existing skills while learning new ones.
Not only did the position promise a new perspective on library science, but also on business. Although I had heard about competitive intelligence and corporate research before, I was curious as to how the business foundations I had learned about, such as marketing and product design, could be aided by high-quality research. I was also impressed by the years of experience held by the founders of HelloInfo and was interested in learning from them.
Rachael’s experience at HelloInfo:
My time at HelloInfo has been really valuable to gain new insights into the ways LIS and business interact. For example, seeing how HelloInfo uses research to answer client questions and make recommendations has allowed me to better understand how businesses make these big decisions. In addition, it has been beneficial to see how research functions in the real world. I have conducted many research assignments for a variety of classes, but the process and final product is very different when that research is meant to be communicated to and used by a client. For example, a client may prefer get information quickly from a PowerPoint instead of having to read through a report.
HelloInfo has also given me the opportunity to work on a wide range of research assignments. Working on projects ranging from company to market research has really helped me flex my research skills as different goals require different tactics. I think that this position has helped me become a better researcher as it has forced me to flex the muscles needed to answer difficult and complex questions.
Thank you again Rachael!
If you or someone you know are interested in becoming a co-op student with HelloInfo reach out to us here. For more insights on HelloInfo please visit our blog, Spotlight.
