PEY, BASc+MBA, Careers

The University of Toronto's Professional Experience Year (PEY) is your opportunity to turn classroom knowledge into valuable work experience. By taking part in the PEY program, you can gain meaningful work experience, clarify your career path, build industry contacts and make money. Lasting between 12- to 16-months, a PEY internship gives you more time and opportunity to gain all the advantages a work placement can offer, including an average salary of $39,000. To find out more, visit the PEY website.

Industrial Engineering PEY Profiles :

Name: Bahareh
PEY Placement: Project Leader, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

Activites: I enjoy being involved in extra-curricular activities since I meet people with similar interests and learn to manage my time more efficiently. Some activities include WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), Vice-Chair of the Indy Club during 2003, executive in the CSIE 2005 conference organization committee. I am also a continuous member of Royal Bank Capital Markets Student Advisory Council that informs students about careers in financial investments.

Daily Grind: I am working in the Topicals business unit at GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) as a project leader. GSK is a pharmaceutical company that formulates, manufactures and packages all types of drugs. As a project leader, I am involved with several on-going projects. These projects include managing and planning new product life-cycles and I am also responsible to ensure that commercial market dates are met for the clients. Other on-going projects includes line efficiency, facility layout as well as justifying new capital expenditures for my department. Choosing to participate in the PEY program
was one of my best decisions. This experience has not only given me the opportunity to interact with professionals it has also given me a realistic view of the work force and has reassured me of my skills and capabilities developed through out my past three years at school.

Comments: “I always knew I wanted to combine my strong mathematical and science skills with continuous interaction with all types of people in different industries and [industrial engineering] seemed to be the perfect match.”

Name: Gilbert
PEY Placement: Autoliv Electronics Canada Inc, Industrial Engineering Intern
Activities: 3rd yr indy club rep, intramural skule basketball, broomball, ultimate frisbee

Daily Grind: In the department of Material Planning and Logistics, I work with a team in launching a new material flow strategy for our plant. We used lean-manufacturing principles developed from the Toyota Production System including concepts such as kanban, kaizen and heijunka.

Comments: “A great experience,definitely do PEY, enjoy as much as you can, get involved.”

Jeffrey Skoll Combined BASc/MBA Program

The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto have recently established a program unequalled in Canada to provide a fast-track for gifted students to earn their Bachelor's degree in engineering, a professional experience year (PEY), a management internship (MEY), and an MBA in six years and eight months. All engineering students at the University of Toronto are eligible to apply for this program. Find out more about Skoll, the combined Engineering and MBA program at U of T.

Industrial Engineering Skoll Profiles:

Name: Denise
PEY Placement: Packaging Development Specialist, Kraft Canada
Year & Program: IND0T4 + PEY + Joint MBA/BASc Skoll Program
Hometown: Halifax, NS

Activities: Varsity Water Polo

Daily Grind: As a packaging development specialist, I am constantly applying project management skills to develop and design packaging for Kraft products. I thoroughly enjoy using my inter-personal skills and this job requires me to
communicate with engineers, material suppliers and project team members on a daily basis. My technical skills are used to analyze costs and find efficient, cost saving methods of producing packaging.

Name: Dennis
PEY Placement: The Hudson's Bay Company, Process Engineering Services
Year & Program: IND0T4 + PEY + Joint MBA/BASc Skoll Program

Activities: Canadian Society for Industrial Engineering (CSIE) - Director of Sponsorship, Elected Engineering Society Representative, Business Basics Program Instructor – Junior Achievement of Canada

Daily Grind: The Process Engineering Services (PES), is an internal consulting group within HBC. We deal with strategic projects and initiatives in all areas of the business from supply chain, merchandising, and logistics to store operations, information technology and finance. Nothing is typical about a day at PES and that's what keeps it exciting. Because we play a consulting role to the business (Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters banners) my department is always on the roll and that keeps things interesting and fresh. I'm working with key business executives from business intelligence, merchandising, store operations and loss prevention. My days usually consist of client/project sponsor meetings, work sessions, presentations and personal time to do all the work that needs to be done (data analysis, problem-solving, designing new processes etc.) Because all of our work is project-based, we work in a very team-oriented environment and I get to meet a large variety of people from all over the business. PES integrates the people with the processes and technology to make them more efficient and effective at what they do. I usually stay at work until 5 pm but sometimes, when work gets a little rough and there just aren't enough hours in the day, I put in a little extra overtime to make sure I meet my deliverables.

Comments: "Couple excellent people with interesting work that directly affects the bottom-line of the company and you've got a recipe for an excellent job. To wake up each day and look forward to going to work is something that is rare and should be valued. The people in PES are energetic, enthusiastic, extremely intelligent and motivated to make things better for the company and are not afraid of change."

Industrial Engineering Careers

University of Toronto's industrial engineering program prepares graduates for broad career opportunities. The program's focus on teamwork, collaboration and exposure to real world problems ensures that our graduates are up-to-date with the critical knowledge and skills in demand by today's employers. No wonder more and more companies are recruiting our industrial engineers: Nortel, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, National Grocers, Proctor & Gamble, Royal Bank, General Motors, HydroOne, Imperial Oil, Celestica, IBM and many others. A large proportion of graduates become business consultants for firms like CapGemini, Ernst & Young or Accenture. The starting salaries of U of T industrial engineering graduates are among the highest in the faculty. Many graduates pursue advanced academic studies at the masters or doctoral levels in engineering, business administration (MBA), medicine or law.

Industrial Engineering Alumni Profiles

Name: Gina
Hometown: Stratford, Ontario
Year graduated: 2005
PEY placement: Petro-Canada
Housing: Off-Campus (downtown)

Activities: Women's Outdoor Soccer, Women's Indoor Soccer, Women's Volleyball, Co-ed Volleyball (all intra murals for engineering), UofT Engineering Iron Dragons Dragonboat (manager, team member), INDYclub co-chair 2004-05, volunteer
math tutor, volunteer international student buddy.

Comments: "Industrial engineering is a great program for those who want a technical and a business/management background. Industrial engineering opens a lot of doors to different careers, and being apart of the PEY program, I was able
to see how versatile of a discipline it truly is."

Name: Julie-Anne
Hometown: Mississauga, Ontario
Year graduated: 2005
Housing: Commuted 1st year, 1st semester, currently living at New College Residence

Activities: Past VP Communications, Engineers Without Borders, Varsity Blues Figure Skating Team, S!OS, Marathoner, and SkuleNite Pit Band

Comments: "UT is a large school that offers many opportunities for a unique education for each student. The professors in UTMIE come from all backgrounds and are leaders in their respective fields. Aside from a top notch education, students have the privilege of taking advantage of the many extracurricular activities that UT has to offer. The city acts as a playground for students giving them the opportunity to have fun and take a break from their studies - and everything is within walking distance!"

Name: Jesse
Hometown: Born in Montréal, QC, spent a few years in Milwaukee WI (US) before university
Year graduated: 2005
PEY Placement: GE Consumer & Industrial
Housing: Woodsworth College year 1, Knox College years 2 & 3, Off-campus with friends for year 4

Activities: United Nations Society Conferences Director & Head Delegate, Varsity Christian Fellowship, Outreach Coordinator, Engineering Faculty Council Representative, Intramural Sports

Comments: "The breadth of the learning experience is ideal if you're really not sure where you want to be; Industrial Engineering gives you so many options for life after university."

Gosia, The Gap
Year Graduated: 2002

Fourth year thesis: My fourth year Thesis focused on the Reengineering of a Hospital Intranet Site to Improve Site Usability and Utility at Mount Sinai Hospital. I completed my thesis with a partner under the direct supervision of Professor David C. Sadleir. We conducted our entire study at Mount Sinai Hospital in the Web Services Department in order to help the hospital redesign it's corporate Intranet site to make it more useful and efficient for users.

Summer Job Experience & First Job: Upon completing my first year of university, I took on the position of a Project Coordinator at the Centre for Addition and Mental Health (CAMH). After working there for two summers, I advanced to a better position the following year at the Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre (SWCHSC), where I worked with a doctor in internal medicine to develop a business case for the hospital's Electronic Drug Prescription Process. Finally, after graduating, I took on the position of an analyst at the Project Management Office (PMO) at the Shared Information Management Services (SIMS) department at the University Health Network (UHN). Over the next four years, SIMS will be leading the transformation of health care by implementing an Information Management Strategy consisting of six major opportunities: migrating to an electronic patient chart, providing better support for clinical decision-making, facilitating integration with other external health care providers, supporting research strategies, implementing enterprise-wide resource management and migrating to an electronic administrative and financial environment.

Currently: Gosia recently accepted a position at the corporate offices of The Gap and will be starting this new position shortly.

Comments: "Like most students entering the faculty, I excelled in both Math and Science in high school. However, I opted to pursue an industrial engineering degree because I knew the program would enable me to further my study of these two areas, while giving me exposure to various other fields of study like information technology, healthcare, manufacturing and finance."

Name: Elizabeth
PEY Placement: Ministry of Transportation of Ontario

Year graduated: 2005

Engineering or Science?: It was difficult to decide between engineering and science. One major factor I considered was workload. I knew that the engineering class scheduled was more demanding and I did not have many electives. I knew that both programs would be challenging and each would open different career opportunities after graduation. I felt that
engineering would give me many career choices, since industrial engineering is so flexible. I would graduate with a professional degree and have the opportunity to become a PEO.

Housing: I ended up at New College for 2 years and I loved it.

Daily Grind: My day starts off with a 45 minute commute from my home in Brampton to my office in Toronto. I work on many projects in the Advanced Traffic Management Section, mainly on projects of construction and installation of Changeable Message Signs (CMS), under the supervision of a Senior Project Manager. I interact daily with consultants and contractors. About once a week, I do field investigations (along the highway), which I find fun because it is work outside the office and I get hands-on learning applications.

Comments: "Engineering is a demanding program. . . you should always try your best! Also try to have a balanced school and social life. . . join interest clubs or sports teams! School work should not be your whole life."

Curtis, Strategy & Operations Consultant for Deloitte & Touche

Hometown: Kenora, ON
Year Graduated: 2004, Skoll Program
Housing: New College for 1st year. I met many friends in and out of my program, and had lots of fun.

Activities: I played varsity hockey from 1997-1999. I participated in various intramural sports from 1999-present

PEY Placement: Celestica Inc. in the Corporate Supply Chain Management (SCM) Bid Management Department as a Procurement Cost Engineer. I learnt countless technical (database, programming, business, finance) & social (presentation, writing, communication, networking, how to present yourself in a professional environment) skills, and made many contacts.

Karen, medical student, University of Toronto
Year Graduated: 2001
Activities: Engineering Society first year chair, external vice-president, finance vice-president, and president.

After Graduation: Karen was accepted into medical school at the University of Toronto but deferred her admission in order to complete her degree and to gain some work experience as a management consultant. Karen began medical school at the University of Toronto in September 2002.

Engineering Job Description: Karen worked at McKinsey & Company, a leading management consulting firm, as a Business Analyst after completing her engineering degree. She has been involved in a variety of exciting, high profile projects. For example, Karen helped to created a company that is integrating information systems and infrastructure between several large health care institutions across the country. She wrote the business plan, performed the financial feasibility analysis and helped to create the organizational structure and pricing strategy.

Comments: "I actually started in mechanical engineering when I first came to U of T. At the time, I didn't know too much about industrial engineering and had not considered it. But when I realized I could get into the business side of things from industrial engineering, and the fact that it was much more people-oriented than the other engineering programs, it really attracted me. So I transferred in my second year."

Abdul, graduate student in Paris, France
Hometown: Beruit, Lebannon
Year Graduated: 2004

PEY Placement: Abdul worked as a Market Strategy Planner in the Market Intelligence Department of IBM's Toronto Lab. His main responsibilities included conducting secondary market research, interacting with industry analysts, and participating in the business decision making process in order to help define strategies for IBM and its software solutions.

Graduate school: I am going to the HEC School of Business in Paris to pursue a Masters in Strategic Management. My interest in business and strategy in particular grew stronger after working at IBM as a Market Strategy Planner and after I completed a summer course in International Business Strategy at the London School of Economics in London, England, following my PEY term.

Greg, Human Factors Graduate Student, Virginia
Year Graduated: 2002

Graduate School : "I finished my MS in industrial engineering human factors this past summer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and I have just began my PhD. My thesis investigated the effectiveness of multiple automotive collision avoidance systems. The results will assist car manufacturers design effective collision avoidance systems." Other industry experience includes working as user interface prime at Cognos, assisting in research at the University of Toronto Cognitive Engineering Lab, and working part time for Human Factors North. Greg also runs a promotions company out of Toronto, Canada, with three other UTMIE graduates.

Comments: "Technological advancements readily add to life's complexities when consideration for people is omitted from the systems' design.  The Human Factors research conducted within the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Department at the University of Toronto works to resolve this problem, making peoples' lives easier and safer."

Adriana, Analyst, Accenture
Year graduated: 2001, Information Systems Option
Hometown: Ottawa, Ontario
Living: St. Joseph's College (part of St. Mike's) for 2 years

Fourth year design project: Working under Prof. Sadleir, I examined the feasibility of the Wireless Web in the North American market, drawing on the experiences of the European and Japanese markets, where mobile phones are quite popular. I also went on to develop a mobile phone application which allowed U of T Engineering undergrad students to view course information on their mobile phones. This service was in place for the duration of the 2000-2001 school year. On September 5th, 2002, under the guidance of Prof. Sousa of ECE, I launched my application as a permanent service available to engineering undergrad students.

Summer Work Experience: I was offered an excellent summer placement in Germany, where I worked as a Web developer for Astrium (formerly DaimlerChrysler Aerospace).

Daily Grind: I currently work as an Analyst at Accenture. I've taken on a technical role, programming in Java, and working with Enterprise Application Integration tools. I would like to continue working either in this area or in Web development. My continued work with Web development is reflected through the mobile app that I have developed and continue maintain at U of T. In the future, I plan on expanding this service into a mobile network, tentatively known as "ECF Mobile." I am also helping Prof. Frances with a tutorial session on wireless application development using Java for of MIE354F. I hope to continue my affiliation with U of T, helping to give back what it gave to me."

Name: Ilan
Hometown: Toronto, ON (but born in South Africa and lived in Portugal between 1991 and 1994)

Year graduated: 2005

Housing: I lived at New College for my first three years, and then lived in an apartment relatively close to school my final year.
Activities: I was mainly involved in intramural sports, playing for New College's indoor and outdoor soccer teams, and acting as captain of the team for 2 out of the 4 years. In addition, I played competitive mens' league soccer throughout university. I was also a member of the Canadian Society for Industrial Engineers for all 4 years.

PEY: I completed my Professional Experience Year at Honeywell Mississauga's site, which is a part of the Aerospace division of Honeywell. I acted as Statistical Process Control Coordinator as a member of the Six Sigma department

Current employment: I will be working as an Investment Banking Analyst for BMO Nesbitt Burns. As an analyst, my main tasks will be helping put together prospectuses for initial public offerings (IPOs) or secondary offerings, completing company valuations either as part of an IPO or merger/acquisition, and assisting with client meetings and presentations.

Why study Industrial Engineering?: As compared to other engineering streams, in my opinion IE provides the greatest opportunity for exploring a vast number of career opportunities in a variety of fields.

Comments: “Other than dedicating yourself to school, always make sure to find time for sports, hobbies, and spending time with friends! It'll make your time at U of T all that much more meaningful and enjoyable .”

Erin, Patient Safety/Risk Management Specialist, Niagara Health System (NHS)
Year Graduated: 2004

Fourth Year Design Project: Working with Professor Greg Jamieson, Erin observed the City of Toronto elections of 2003 and analysed the voting system.

Daily Grind: My job is a new position, and is still developing. Some days I feel like the jack of all trades (and master of none)... I have been able to use everything from Human Factors to OR in my daily work. My projects include: Specimen Handling, which is mapping the process of where surgical specimens and bodies start and end in the hospital, & Encon, our incident reporting system. Every patient fall, medication error, treatment error gets reported via these forms. . . I have been given a number of opportunities in this role that I wouldn't have expected as a new grad. I have also been given the opportunity to attend leadership training. I was recently certified as a facilitator by DDI, and I will be facilitating workshops for managers this fall and winter.