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Originally Posted by bmwx1
Has anyone here done co-op and regretted it? Is it worth it? Is it possible to keep in touch with the co-op job? What I mean is have any one of you continued working for the company after you graduated?
I'm thinking really hard right now as to whether to do co-op or not. The workshops and the applications seem to take a lot of time. If you guys are wondering, I'm not planning to do grad school. So I don't know if co-op will be useful in my situation.
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My first co-op was an 8 month work term. I hated the first 4 months. Hated it. Regretted it. It was a small company, the office had less than 3 people including me. There were strict rules prohibiting any kind of internet surfing. My boss also sat 3 feet from my desk and had a direct view of my monitor. In addition, I received another internship offer (from a large international firm) in HK 2 weeks after I accepted the co-op and I almost thought of bailing. As the 8 month slowly crawled by, I started to take a different approach in regards to my job. Even though the position itself was rather structured and "dead-end", I started looking at ways to perfect the tasks I performed and reports I generated. I ended up liking my job a lot more because I became good at it and I even stayed with that company on a part-time basis for 1 semester after my work-term. During this part-time period, I found several areas where I could improve some of the business process. I discussed it with my boss and got the green light to test and implement changes. Little did I know it was this one initiative that landed me my next internship with a large public company that I am still at (1.5 years later, and graduated).
I believe there is a high percentage of co-op students who are offered FT positions upon graduating. Several of my coworker's first FT positions were all companies they had previously co-oped or interned for.
Do co-op. There won't be another chance (or unlikely) for you to gain such valuable experience and networking opportunities at reputable companies this early on in your career. Most of my close friends have multiple co-op work terms under their belt and one common thing we all noticed is that for co-op positions, employers are very willing to teach you and help you mould your career path. My boss's boss at my current company assigned work to this other intern and I based on our career interests and even connected us with various managers within the department to learn more. During one of my friend's first co-op positions, his manager once said something along the lines of "Stop working and ask questions. You're here to learn. If I wanted someone to work work work, I would've posted an entry level position". That same manager learned about my friend's career interests and even connected him with multiple professionals (not in the company) that are working in that field.
I have friends who graduated without doing co-op and are finding it extremely difficult to find a job. Even entry level positions prefer having a few years of experience. Place yourself in the shoes of the employer.... you have 2 resumes. Both are stellar students academically but one has worked a co-op work term. Even though the co-op position is unrelated to the job you are hiring for, would you prefer hiring someone who has professional experience or someone who doesn't? Most likely, the co-op student will also have good references and recommendations from the employer which would further set him or her apart from peers that have no experience.
I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this before... but one of my coworkers that I interned with (at my current company) has 2 pages of very legit work experience on her resume that she acquired prior to graduation. International experience. Large public company. Government position. This is all in additional to international case competitions, campus and student-club leadership positions. Oh, she was also working towards the designation for her field of work and had already passed the exam. This is the type of people you are competing with for entry level positions. She got a great FT offer right after the internship, no surprise there. Vancouver is a horrible market for entry-level positions. Regardless of the industry or field, there are minimal positions. A lack of experience only makes it harder for yourself.
Feel free to hit me up if you have any further questions.