News Article

Graduate makes connection at national conference


8/9/2005 11:58:24 AM


Amanda Day outside a Hudson Bay Company flagship store in Ottawa.

A College of the North Atlantic (CNA) graduate has landed a job at Canada’s largest and oldest department store retailer, preparing to become part of the company’s leaders of tomorrow.

Amanda Day, a Business Marketing student from CNA’s Prince Philip Drice campus, has recently landed a job with the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) at its headquarters in Ottawa.

Day is currently in the management trainee program with the company, an initiative which sees young employees from across the country gaining management experience in both classroom and store settings.

She is being taught the importance of leadership in retail and learning the operations of the various banners under HBC.

Day says she made the connection with HBC while attending a national Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) conference in Toronto this past March. She attended the conference as part of the college’s team, ACE Cabot.

While at the conference, Day says she introduced herself to a member of the HBC recruitment team.

“After that, everything just fell into place,” she says.

She says joining ACE Cabot was the smartest thing she had done while in school.

“ACE is a group that aspires to educate the world about economics and entrepreneurship,” she says. “It’s a team that presents you with opportunities and experiences you can’t get anywhere else.”

Day credits much of her success to the education she received at CNA.

“My CNA experience is what brought me to the level I needed to be to obtain my position,” she says. “When I left school, I went straight to work. I was amazed at how many things I could do based on my education. The instructors at the college are first-rate and I don’t think I would be here today if I had not had the support that I found there.”

Day has only been with HBC since June and says she is already learning so much.

“I’m amazed at the detail that goes into store objectives,” she says. “I am gaining experience in the human resources, marketing, and financial aspects of retail. By combining my experiences with the excellent foundation I received at CNA, I am able to see the bigger picture in the business world.”

Day looks forward to continuing with the company and working her way up through the corporate ladder. She says it’s one of the reasons she joined with HBC in the first place.

“One of my fellow trainees mentioned to me that he wanted to be president of the company someday,” she laughs. “I told him he would have to settle for vice-president because I had planned on being president.”




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For more information contact:

Stephen Lee
Communications Manager
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643.7929

Tanya Alexander
Public Information Officer
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643.7928