More than 2,700 applications poured in for the chance to spend a month job shadowing the Canadian CEO of a massive HR company, but it was a Brock University student who stood out from the crowd.

Olivia Poulin, a fourth-year Business Administration student in the Goodman School of Business, will spend the month of June working alongside Adecco Group Canada President Gilbert Boileau.

She is one of 47 other CEO for One Month participants appointed across the world, and will have the opportunity to gain mentorship from Boileau and the rest of Adecco Canada’s leadership team, gaining a unique insight into the organization’s operations. After gaining experience in human resources, management, finance, marketing and public speaking, Poulin will then take part in a worldwide selection process to become the global CEO for One Month, working alongside Adecco Group CEO Alain Dehaze later this year.

Adecco Group’s CEO for One Month is part of the company’s worldwide effort to help talent increase their employability and career prospects.

“We are exceptionally proud of Olivia,” said Goodman School of Business Dean Andrew Gaudes. “This is an excellent opportunity for additional preparation and development as she positions herself for a life of personal and professional fulfilment.”

Poulin, who is balancing her academics with running her own pet-care business, said she’s looking forward to the development that will come with a “once in a lifetime experience.”

“I’m so grateful for this opportunity to learn from and contribute to the amazing team at Adecco,” she said. “I hope to use and demonstrate skills I’ve been honing for years, as well as everything I will learn from Gilbert, to successfully compete for Canada at the Global CEO for One Month competition.”

This is the second major job-shadowing opportunity Poulin has had this year. In March, she spent the day working alongside Paypal Canada CEO Paul Parisi as part of the CEOx1Day program, which matched up 18 university students with Canadian CEOs.

“Olivia embodies exactly what we want for our students to do through experiential learning — have engaged hands-on experiences that bridge learning to practice, build skills and use those meaningful experiences to achieve individual aspirations,” said Cara Krezek, Director, Co-op, Career and Experiential Education at Brock University. “Olivia has been involved in experiential opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. She has combined traditional co-op experiences with an innovative approach learned through running her own business, as well as competitions and involvement in clubs and organizations.”

Boileau said Adecco is happy to offer students the chance to get “hands-on work experience to thrive in their careers and real-world training that cannot be gained in school.”

“We not only hope to offer Olivia a life-changing experience, but we also hope to gain insight from her perspective, as well,” he said.