Employer Responsibilities

Creating a Successful Co-op Experience for your Student

Below are some steps to create a successful work experience for the newest member of your team, as well as an outline of the requirements your student will be responsible for during their co-op work term.

1. Ensure the student has a supervisor with who they can speak regularly

Every co-op student must identify “learning objectives” for their work term. They will be approaching you early in the semester to meet and discuss expectations. Please help the student be realistic about the scope and nature of work coming their way.

2. Provide a quick orientation

Co-op students, just like any new employee, need time to understand the office culture, norms, and expectations. Providing a short orientation allows the student to understand what will be expected regarding punctuality, work hours, performance standards, dress code, communication, smartphone etiquette, confidentiality, organizational structure, and background on their assigned work.

3. Evaluate your student

During each co-op work term, we ask co-op employers to provide feedback on our co-op student’s progress. We strongly encourage employers to discuss each of these evaluations with the student directly.

Employer Check-in and Check-out

You will receive an email with a unique link to submit a short survey midway through and at the end of your student’s work term to evaluate the progress of your co-op student. Each survey will take approximately 1-2 minutes to complete.

Employer Assessment

Toward the end of the co-op work term, the student will ask you to review their Self Assessment and Reflective Paper. The student will also be responsible for providing a template for their Employer Assessment that should be completed by their supervisor. This evaluation of your co-op student will take 10-15 minutes to complete. Completion of the Employer Assessment is required for the student to receive academic credit. Once the Employer Assessment is complete please return this to the student, and the student will submit this together with their Self-Assessment and Reflective Paper to their faculty.

4. Work-term consultation

At any time, you or your student may request a meeting with a Co-op representative to touch base on their work term, review the content from the progress evaluation, and/or review any issues or questions you may have.

5. Staying in touch

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about your student or work term, please let us know, we are happy to help make this co-op work term as productive as possible.