Before securing the acting position, I had been looking for full-time internship opportunities across various organizations. I was interested in the Government of Alberta in particular, specifically, in the ministry of infrastructure. I ultimately found the right fit within my current employer, the City of Edmonton. I had already been working as a Customer Service Representative at the City's recreation centres, handling front-desk operations and supporting daily facility workflows.

On April 3rd, 2026, I reached out to my Team Lead, who supervises my direct supervisors, to ask whether I could take on a different role for my placement. Then, on April 30th, the Front Counter Manager, who oversees front desk operations across all City recreation facilities, contacted me with an acting opportunity as a Workforce Coordinator. The timing was ideal for both sides: I was actively seeking a more advanced role, and they needed someone to step in because the person normally in that position was acting in another role. Everything aligned perfectly, allowing me to move into a position that matched my goals while supporting the team during a staffing gap. I began the acting assignment on May 5th, and it continued until July 24th.

 Brief Description of the Role 

The Workforce Coordinator (WFC) is a primarily administrative role that supports the Front Counter unit by acting as a central link between unit leadership and frontline CSRs. It focuses on maintain workforce stability and operational continuity across all the City's recreation facilities.

 Initial Goals

My goal going into the placement was to gain a practical understanding of hour our operations function from a wider perspective, and to be involved as fully as possible in the day-to-day workflow of the unit. After three years of studying business at Concordia, I wanted a role where I could actively apply the concepts I had learned - from organizational behavior and leadership to operations management and administrative processes. Stepping into the WFC position gave me the chance to experience what leadership looks like in a real-world environment, observe how decisions are made at the unit level, and understand how frontline and leadership teams work together to keep operations running smoothly.

 Core Responsibilities 

• Recruitment and Onboarding: Managing the full-cycle recruitment of CSRs, from posting and screening to coordinating and conducting interviews, handling references and facilitating onboarding.

• Operational Support: Providing administrative support to leadership, including project coordination, documentation management, ensuring policies and procedures are up to to date, and the organizational chart is current.

• Training and Development: Organizing training logistics, maintaining training standards, supporting CSR coaching and professional development.

• Workforce Logistics: Tracking budget vs. actual hours worked and ensuring staff have necessary system access.

• Communication: Serving as a primary point of contact for staffing needs and supporting the deliverance of updates on new policies or procedures to frontline staff.

 Project Portfolio 

I had the following projects attached to my work portfolio:

1. RAMS Historical Data Cleanup (the big one): A project focused on correcting historical account records with missing or incorrectly formatted postal code information to improve data accuracy and reporting.

2. Continuous P&P document review: Maintaining and updating unit documentation, including P&P files and a CSR resource Google Site.

3. Annual Operational Plan (staff safety): The Staff Safety Action Plan aims to enhance front-line safety by mitigating external risks and improving staff support.

4. Budget vs. Hours: An operational tracking task comparing budgeted resources against actual hours worked.

5. Google Drive Folder Structure: Reorganizing digital storage into a three-level hierarchy to align with retention schedules.

6. Wristband Callup: Coordinating the procurement and management of membership cards and wristbands.

7. Leadership Role Wikipedia: Centralizing role-based knowledge base. It involves creating a comprehensive document for every leadership role, which includes three distinct manuals: an orientation manual, a job manual, and a systems manual. The objective is to create a reliable, standardized knowledge base for leadership staff.