My alarm goes off at 8:00am bright and early. It was a weekend why would my alarm be set? As I am a teenager who loves their sleep I was not too happy about the loud Shawn Mendes song blasting through my room startling me awake. The first thing I did was check my phone to see if there was anything on it explaining why my alarm could have possibly been set. My eyes flash towards a notification popping up at the top of my phone screen saying “Job Shadow”. Instantly my mind clued into why I was awoken. I jumped out of bed with high hopes that today would be good. And so my crazy day had begun. 
At 10:00 am sharp I had arrived outside of the big beautiful glass building in downtown Vancouver where I would be spending my day. It looked super intimidating and all of a sudden I felt out of place. Approaching the huge doors to the building hesitantly I saw my Aunt sitting there waiting for my arrival. She is the Director of Finance at the second biggest Law firm in the world, DLA Piper. She greeted me with a smile and told me I had nothing to worry about and how everyone in her section of the firm was very welcoming. We made our way up the elevator and then through some hallways making sure to say hello to everyone we passed. Finally, we had entered the world of Finance, or really it was just a bunch of small cubicles and computers.
Nerves had filled my stomach seeing all the people and I was a bit anxious to be meeting them all. Luckily for me everyone was quite welcoming and greeted me with a handshake and introduction. I think I shook more hands that day then I have in my whole life. It was much less intimidating being inside of the building than the outside. I quickly felt a lot more comfortable being in the office after seeing and hearing about how everyone spent their days.
After the round of introductions we headed into my Aunt’s offIce which was quite nice. It made sense for her office to be all decorated since she loved interior design. I sat in a chair opposite her at her desk and looked out the window behind her. The view from her office was amazing, you could see all of downtown from here. I went on to ask her some interview questions about her job and education. Hearing her talk about how she managed to get into this position and why she wanted to be where she was was amazing to hear. I learnt that to be in the position of Director of Finance you would have had to work your way up to there after many years of working. She had been working with the company, DLA Piper, for almost 20 years already and she didn’t go to much schooling for it. 
Some other things I learned while spending time with many of her colleagues were that you don’t need a great education to work at this job, some people started working here as soon as they finished high school. Although for the higher positioned jobs like Lawyer you definitely would need at least 7 years of post secondary schooling.
My aunt went to 4 years of post secondary school to get an undergraduate degree, but wishes that she had stayed in school longer because then there could have been more opportunities and possibilities for her. Her typical working hours as a Director of Finance is 9:00am to 6:00pm. Some skills needed to work this job are an understanding of math skills and people skills. As long as I have good marks in math and english I would be able to one day work at this job. Although she says it is better to take some classes that differ you from others as well because people are starting to want applicants who have some extra talent or skill. Lisa, my aunt, says that the best thing about working as a Director of Finance is that she can walk to work, the people in her building are friendly, and that it is always changing. Some occupations related to be a Director of Finance are an Accountant and Business owner.
Also she told me some things about some of the other jobs in this building like media designers, IT crew, and even lawyers. All of these jobs and roles people worked at helped build up the company DLA Piper. Throughout the day she let me talk to some other people in the building so I could learn about some of the other jobs there are. The first person I talked to was a man named Kerry Sheppard. He was once a lawyer but now works as a Director of Student Programs. When we were talking I asked him some questions about what I would need to be a lawyer because that is what I hope to be one day. He told me about the post secondary classes I would need to take and what I would need to achieve in high school to move on to be a lawyer. Also, to hear him talk about the different types of lawyers was very interesting. Going into the day I had wanted to be a criminal lawyer, but coming out of the interview with Kerry he had managed to change my mind and I now am interesting in possibly family or financial law.
Once we were finished talking, Kerry brought me to listen in on a meeting my Aunt was in with Andrea Lee, Manager of Financial Reporting, Carrie Anne Hinder, Supervisor of Financial Reporting, and Charlie Sham, Financial Projects Manager. It was interesting to see the way they took down information. For me being in the PLP program at school and doing most of my work on iPads, it was interesting to see them do everything with pen and paper. Even the computers in their offices were an old version and very rarely used. When I was sitting in the meeting listening in I found it hard to understand what they were talking about because of all the business and financial lingo they used. It made me feel like they were speaking a different language, although it was a good experience to listen and experience something of this format.
After attending the meeting my Uncle came to the office and took my Aunt and I out for our lunch break. Even the place we went to eat downtown was professional. It was pretty busy there and full of people in nice suits and dresses. I guessed this was a pretty popular place for business people to come for their lunch breaks. 
Next on the agenda I went and talked to a very kind and humble women named Megan McAllister. Her position at DLA Piper is the Director of Human Resources. She talked about how she had always enjoyed talking to people and helping them with their problems as well as the legal aspect in life. This job was perfect for her and she talked about how she had worked through many different jobs prior to this that she really didn’t enjoy that much. It made me realize that there really is a job out there for everyone.
Next I went and talked to a very professional looking women named Julie Stratton. Her job was the Manager of Marketing and Business Development. Everyone at this firm had very professional sounding titles.
After talking to Julie for a little bit she took me to talk to someone who’s job she believed would be more interesting to someone my age. I met with Nancy To who was the Digital Design Coordinator. Her job was to create the companies social media, websites, and power point presentations as well as design for any logos and merchandise for the company. It was interesting to hear about how she spent her days working because I myself love to be creative and design things. Talking to her really opened up my eyes to different jobs that I could have never even thought of that incorporate both my love for law and design. 
Finally, the last person I talked to was a very respected lady named Susan Kihara. Her job was the Director of Facilities and Services. She talked to me about how she had been working with DLA Piper since she was 16. That means she started working here when she was still in high school. Hearing her stories about how she worked her way from the paper room girl to her respected title now was amazing. Surprisingly, it was her last week on the job before she retried. It is crazy to think she has worked with the same company all her life and has loved almost every minute of it.
Overall, the day was an inspiring and engaging experience. I met many hardworking, dedicated professionals that shared valuable information that will help guide me in my future career choices. This really opened up my mind to see how many possible options I have for a career and that I shouldn’t have to worry about finding a job that suits my interests because there is a job out there for almost everything.