Virtual Career Day

Taphy Lai, Operations Manager, Canadian Ecosystem Institute

Taphy Lai is the operations manager at Canadian Ecosystem Institute, Title Sponsor for Kwantlen University's career day. She has lived in China for many years before she moved to Canada and found synergy with CEI’s purpose in being the bridge of Chinese-Canadian businesses. As the operations manager at CEI, Taphy will share her own experience as a young professional as well as perspectives on what makes for a strong resume and interview skills.

Olenka Stepanova, Human Resources Manager, BE Power Equipment

Olenka was born in Kazakhstan where she spent the first 12 years of her life. Her family immigrated to Ontario looking for better future opportunities and a safer environment for the children to be raised in. After completing high school in a gifted program, Olenka got a scholarship at the University of Ottawa. In 2004, realizing that she could not handle the harsh Ottawa climate and deciding to pursue a business degree instead, Olenka transferred to Simon Fraser University. She completed her BBA with a concentration in Marketing and Human Resources. During university, Olenka worked with an agency to help with part-time/casual placements to get her foot in the door with prospective employers. Luckily, the market was doing quite well in 2008 and she found a full-time entry-level human resources job before she even wrote her final exam. Throughout the next 10 years, Olenka worked in both union and non-union environments, mostly in the manufacturing industry and progressed through the ranks. Just like many others, Olenka has lost her employment in early 2020s due to COVID19 and was unemployed for close to 6 months. She used that time to work on personal development goals. Today, Olenka works at BE Power Equipment, a family-owned rapidly growing progressive business specializing in power equipment such as pressure washers, lawnmowers and power generators. She has been a member of BC CPHR for over 10 years now.

Katrina McGuire, Talent Acquisition Specialist, BCAA

Katrina is a high energy, powerful communicator who is passionate about working with people. She has over 5.5 years of recruitment experience in both agency and internal settings, with a demonstrated record of success in full-cycle recruitment, recruitment strategy, client consultation, candidate sourcing, interview management and contract negotiation. Her favourite part about recruitment is matching great candidates with great companies that they can have a successful career in.

Kajal Ram, Recruiter, Translink

• Recruiter with TransLink since March 2019
• KPU Alumni, BBA HR - co-op option
• I enjoy connecting with people and travelling to new places!