Alumni Spotlight: Tim Klassen, BA’94 (English), BEd’96

Tim Klassen graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in English. Prior to R2 Solutions Inc., Klassen worked as a technical writer and with Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS) in a variety of roles. His roles with SIS included training team lead and usability and design for custom projects. As a managing Partner with R2 Solutions Inc., Klassen focuses on the client-facing part of their business: business development, account management, as well as recruiting and their HR practice. Klassen is a member of the Faculty of Arts Alumni Advisory Council.

What is your favourite University of Calgary memory?

Obviously meeting my wife Marie in Romantic Literature class - and the subsequent Spirit of the West-fueled reels in the Den - tops the list. Academically, my year-long Shakespeare class really stands out in my memory as a place where I came to appreciate the power of rhetoric. The material is so rich and the tone of the class was very free. Anything we could think of was fair game for discussion and everyone’s opinion counted. It felt like a book club with close friends – lots of tentative questions and playful banter – all presided over by a professor who was two-parts Wise Man and one-part Trickster.

What was your favourite campus hang out spot?

That’s tough. The aforementioned Den and Max’s Lounge hold wonderful memories of great times, but I also made several life-long friends at the Climbing Wall. To be honest though, I spent many hours on the 12th floor of the library with 2 low-slung padded chairs pulled together into a make-shift bed. I’d read and nap between classes in one of the windowed corners overlooking the campus with a view of the mountains or the city.

If you could give one piece of advice to a student completing the same degree that you did, what would it be?

Pursue what you love but think critically about the skills you’re developing as you study. Also, be honest with yourself about why you’re making the investment in a degree. For me, I loved English Literature and academically it was all I was good at, so I wasn’t studying to get a job – I was studying what I loved. When I graduated though, to make my way in the world I had a choice: teach, or to figure out how to apply the skills I’d developed to the world of business. I chose the second and to do that, I learned to reframe the skills I’d developed to be of value in a business setting.

How has your career evolved?

I began my career as a technical writer. My job was to synthesize highly technical information from industry experts and reproduce it in a form that was consumable by a much broader audience – not unlike what a teacher does every day. I then had a series of what I call “evangelical” roles within that company. As the company grew and changed, I would work between teams to solicit feedback, seek buy-in, and play a role in defining the evolving culture. I planned and hosted offsite conferences, emceed town halls, and created a satirical corporate newsletter, all in and around various software support roles. I eventually moved into the Training group, then Health & Safety, and eventually to Business Development which has been the foundation of my career ever since.

What is the best thing about your job?

The nature of what our company does and the industry we cater to means that most of my days are spent working with very analytical minds. I bring a very different perspective and skill set to all those interactions. The best part of my job is when those varied perspectives blend and come up with something innovative and cool.

How did your arts degree help you get to where you are now/your current career?

The common thread to my career evolution for nearly 20 years has been the mindful application of rhetoric – written and spoken – to influence decision-making. A less Machiavellian-sounding description of that process might be “bringing people to consensus through clear communication and discourse”.   My Arts degrees taught me to listen carefully, think critically, and communicate effectively.