Students

Pivotal recruits both MBA Interns and Co-op Students throughout the year. We recruit from local, Vancouver universities as well as schools across Canada. Contact your local placement office to see if Pivotal will be interviewing with your campus!

Application & Hiring Process

All candidates are asked to apply through their respective placement offices at the universities. Please do not apply directly to us. Short listed candidates will be contacted by the universities and interviews will be set up.

The interviews will be about 30-45 minutes and are conducted by HR and/or the hiring manager. If necessary, second interviews will be set up.

If the students are in the Vancouver area, the meetings will be at the Pivotal building (downtown Vancouver), otherwise our representatives will conduct phone interviews and/or visit the universities.

Co-op Students @ Pivotal

Our Research & Development, Technical Support, and Marketing teams have extensive experience working with co-op students. Students have played an integral part in our growth and success, from coding software to creating marketing collateral to coordinating education services since Pivotal's inception.

Co-op Positions

We have preference for students in their third or fourth year of university who have some prior work experience. Following are some examples of positions we hire co-op students to fulfill.

  • Software Engineer
  • Technical Writer
  • Front Line Specialist
  • Account Development Specialist

Benefits to Co-op Life @ Pivotal

  • Mature development process
  • Working brand
  • Great team atmosphere
  • Dynamic & challenging work
  • Creative people
  • Experience with leading edge technology with industry leader
  • Flexible, relaxed work environment
  • Really good people
  • Heart of Yaletown
  • State of the art facilities (on site gym, family room, etc)
  • Full team member
  • Exposure to many aspects of development
  • Lots of stuff to learn

Co-op Schedule

We hire co-op students 3 months prior to the beginning of the work term. Co-op students will join us for four or eight-month work terms and many join us permanently once they complete their degree.

We post our co-op opportunities at local universities and we encourage students from these programs to apply through their campus co-op representatives.

MBA Interns @ Pivotal

MBA Opportunities

Our Research & Development team hires MBA students for Product Management, Product Marketing Management, and Program Management positions. MBA Interns have made a great impact on our business and we want to continue the tradition.

MBA Positions

We recruit MBA students for 3 or 6 month internships, depending on the MBA program requirements. Candidates must have an undergraduate degree coupled with 3-5 years of work experience. We are looking for highly motivated, smart individuals who can contribute and grow within our team.

  • Product Management
  • Product Marketing Management
  • Program Management

Benefits to MBA Life @ Pivotal

  • Learning from experienced product/product marketing managers
  • Experience with leading edge technology with an industry leader
  • Mature development process
  • Great team atmosphere
  • Dynamic & challenging work
  • Flexible, relaxed work environment
  • Really good people
  • Heart of Yaletown
  • State of the art facilities (on site gym, family room, etc)

MBA Schedule

We hire MBA students 1-2 months prior to the beginning of the internship. MBA students will join us for three-month work terms and many join us permanently once they complete their program.

We post our MBA opportunities at Simon Fraser University and University of BC and we encourage students from these programs to apply through their campus MBA representatives.

Typical Student Job Descriptions

Software Engineer (Co-op Student)

Pivotal looks for exceptional students with highly-developed problem solving skills who are not afraid to tackle the multiple learning curves of C++, ATL, COM, DHTML, SQL, Windows 95/NT/2000 and Pivotal eRelationship. Students work with a small group of talented software engineers and are involved in all phases of development - design, implementation, testing. Engineers must speak and write about their ideas and concerns. They must also be able to work independently to push forward their part of the project whatever the obstacles.

Technical Writer (Co-op Student)

Technical Writers are responsible for working with the documentation team to research, create, edit, and maintain employee-facing and customer-facing documentation. This includes:

  • Compiling and maintaining internal style guides and style sheets (terminology and usage).
  • Creating, editing and updating departmental process documents.
  • Editing and proofreading technical documentation.
  • Researching authoring tools.
  • Preparing source files for localization.
  • Developing user documentation for Pivotal product suites.
  • Writing and illustrating reference manuals.
  • Liaising with other internal departments (Software Development, Quality Assurance).

Strong written and verbal communication skills are required along with a great technical aptitude. Students must be attentive to detail and a quick and enthusiastic learner. They have a strong interest in technical writing and can work in both team and individual settings. Familiarity with multi-tiered structure relational database applications is required as well as the ability and confidence to take responsibility for projects.

Front Line Specialist (Co-op Student)

This position is the first point of contact for customers reporting problems relating to the performance of their system.

Responsibilities include:

  • Answering, documenting and responding to incoming calls, faxes or emails from customers, partners and employees requesting Technical Support
  • Processing/administering requests re: Customer Hub access
  • Providing regular reporting on support requests
  • Updating and tracking revisions
  • Conducting customer satisfaction surveys

Students must have experience in a customer service or technical support role, and exposure to a technical work environment will provide a basic technical knowledge. Strong computer skills with Microsoft Office applications are backed with an ability to work productively in a dynamic deadline-driven environment, independently and as part of a team.

Account Development Specialist (Co-op Student)

As a key member of the telebusiness team, students will use proven communication skills, professional sales and marketing training, and database skills to help generate and close on leads.

This position requires a strong communicator who is comfortable in an aggressive, fast-paced telephone-based and e-based marketing organization. The student's marketing training helps to create leads through outbound one-to-one email-based communications and cold calling. Students draw on their sales training to use proven techniques to move prospects along the sales funnel.

Students must be comfortable with the basics of lead generation and lead qualification. This position works in a team and works hard towards a common goal. Above all, students are detail-oriented individuals who works well in a structured, quota-driven environment.

Product Management (MBA Internship)

We want passionate, high-energy, techno-savvy MBA interns to join our Product Management to group. This position will work in conjunction with a Product Manager. This is a great opportunity to put your learning into practice. You will learn how an idea, a concept, an idle comment, an observation turns it into a product that wins in the market place.

During the 3 month internship, you will work in the following areas:

  • Product research and product definition, this involves working internal and external stakeholders and business units.
  • Conduct thorough competitive analysis and work on the development of our go to market strategy.
  • Work towards becoming the expert on CRM market dynamics, and know the competitors better than they know themselves.
  • Create thorough, concise product definition and requirements collateral that can assist Sales and Product Marketing teams.

Your combination of business savvy, deep analysis capability, breadth of experience and teamwork will set you apart. You are motivated by the creative process, but you thrive at making the hard trade offs to maximize market success.

Product Marketing Intern (MBA Internship)

We want passionate, high-energy, tech-savvy MBA interns to join our Product Marketing group. This is a great opportunity to put your learning into practice. You will learn how to apply your knowledge to real world products, and create positioning that resonates with markets in order to maximize market share.

During the 3 month internship, you will work in conjunction with Product Marketing, acting as the interface between Product Managers and Marketing to help facilitate the go-to-market process:

  • Develop an understanding of the CRM market and help identify new opportunities
  • Create product and market alerts to keep the go-to-market team informed
  • Aid in assessing the competition and compiling competitive analyses
  • Create product collateral, including presentations, white papers, brochures, statements of direction, datasheets, online demos, and more

You have a natural affinity for marketing and a passion for technology. You're just as comfortable assessing market opportunity as assessing the competitors' products, and can clearly articulate both, in person and in writing.

Program Management Intern (MBA Internship)

At Pivotal, Program Managers for business applications are critical players in the product life cycle. During the 3 month internship, you will work in conjunction with Program Management, becoming the functional expert, and co-owning the Functional Specifications, the User Interface Design, and the entire user experience.

  • Partner closely with Product Managers to ensure that their product vision is realized in the Functional Specifications and in the software.
  • Quickly grasp the business drivers and technical opportunities and constraints, and own the details.
  • Make clear, quick, and informed decisions based on an in depth knowledge of the user requirements
  • Write detailed functional requirements for business applications features including user interface design with use cases

You have a degree that combines Computer Science with Business. You have a strong understanding of the CRM market space and industry business processes. Your ability to work closely with product managers, quality assurance engineers, developers, and product release engineers will separate you from the competition. You have excellent verbal and written communication skills and project management skills and are passionate about designing and delivering features or modules in business applications.