Posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2021
Algonquin College Celebrates its Top Co-op Performers with the 2021 Co-op Awards of Excellence
Every year the Co-op Department recognizes the hard work and dedication of employers and students with the Co-op Awards of Excellence. This year seven students and seven employers have been honoured with this recognition.
Celebrate the hard work of these students and the contribution of co-op employers by reading their stories.
Employers on an Exceptional Co-op Experience
A common collection of abilities seems to weave through these stories and offers insight into what makes a co-op student successful. Positive attitude, willingness to learn, and offering solutions were raised by most employers when nominating students.
“My experience with Algonquin’s coop program and our coop student Zayed has been nothing short of inspiring and educational in that Zayed came on board with a mindset, knowledge, and skill set which enabled him to commit to the training and tasks assigned to him with fervor and with very little direction and correction. This is both telling of Algonquin College’s curriculum and instructors, and its well-prepared students.” Explains Co-op student Zayed’s supervisor at Canada Revenue Agency.
Students on an Exceptional Co-op Work Term
Students raised again and again when nominating their employers that new learning opportunities, support, and feeling like a member of the team lead to very positive co-op work experiences.
Computer Programming student Mélanie, writes: “I was welcomed and integrated as part of the team by my manager and co-workers while everyone had the difficult task of adjusting to working remotely. Despite all of the changes to the work environment for my team, they made me feel welcomed and a valuable part of the team. My co-workers shared their knowledge and expertise.”
“Truly going into this co-op, I did not expect it to have such a profound impact on my future outcomes. Through Julie’s encouragement, communication style, management, and collaboration, I now have a career path that I am keen on exploring,” Galen Richardson, GIS student who nominated her supervisor at Natural Resources Canada, Julie Lovitt .
Through their co-op experiences, these students and employers are living the college mission by helping to transform hopes and dreams into lifelong success.
Congratulations to all nominees and recipients!
Posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021
Meet Olga, she is a co-op student currently working as a DevOps Consultant in the Azure Cloud Support Team at Innovapost.
“Finding a co-op job at Innovapost was like drawing a lucky ticket. From the very first day, I felt the support of the team and the support of the management. I always knew that I could ask for advice or ask for help from any member of my team, and they were always ready to chat with me and sharing their knowledge.” Says Olga of her employer.
One of the highlights for Olga was the time and attention managers offered to the team and to students. She was pleasantly surprised and she very much appreciated the General Manager of Business Transformation Deployment Samantha Rahim organizing a touchpoint with each student in her team to discuss prospects, to talk about opportunities, and what to pay attention to in the sector.
When asked about the benefits of Co-op, Olga has a lot to say: “The co-op program has been very beneficial to me, I got real experience, I gained new knowledge and I am grateful to Algonquin College and Innovapost for that. I believe that co-op programs are a great opportunity for every student to gain experience, to learn about corporate culture, gain new knowledge and learn to work with a team.”
Like many people, Olga has been working from home and managing the challenges that arise from this lifestyle change. When asked about the impact on her work-terms, she chooses to focus on the positive aspects of this, like how cutting out the commuting portion of her day allows for more family time.
Olga’s co-op experience has been a concrete step toward her career and an added value to her employer’s team. “Having a co-op student like Olga on our team, who is motivated and ambitious, has proven to be advantageous and encourages us to think outside the box.” Says Olga’s supervisor, Product Owner at Innovapost, Dominick Fournier.
Olga is returning to her academic studies in May for her last term and says that after two co-op work-terms she has a better idea of what she wants, the direction she will take, and feels confident in what she has already achieved.
Posted on Friday, March 19th, 2021
Christian is an Algonquin College Computer Programming student who is completing his second work-term as Co-op Career Leader at the Co-op Department. Christian is currently making a career transition from being a lawyer in his home country to computer programming, a lifelong interest of his. This is Christian’s unique perspective on his co-op experience and on transitioning to a new career.
On Being a Co-op Student Working for Cooperative Education
Christian identifies one of his greatest accomplishments during his time working in the Co-op Department as his leadership and creation of an automated reporting tool that reports student and employer performance and engagement on a program-by-program level. “We have been doing these reports for a while now, but with the growing number of programs, it had become a resource drain on our Co-op Student Advisors. Christian’s customized reporting tool has been a time-saver for the team,” said David Hall, Manager, Co-op Department.
Christian is also working on an interactive resume activity, putting his programming skills related to JavaScript, HTML, and CSS into practice. “We love everything Christian brings to our team”, explains Hall. “He is dedicated, caring, insightful, positive, and has strong technical and professional skills.” As Co-op Career Leader Christian also helps students with their resumes and cover letters, he leads orientation sessions and helps students prepare for interviews.
“Starting as an international student, I have met other students in similar circumstances. However, it was in my co-op placement that I met so many other students in almost the same situation I was in. It was an eye-opening experience, I could see other students struggling in areas I had and I could advise them, give them words of encouragement and share my personal experience.” According to Christian, the best part of his job is being an active part in a student’s success. So many students are waiting for the opportunity to prove themselves.
“Co-op is a fantastic opportunity to take the first steps towards a new career.”
Christian graduated in 2003 with a Law degree from the University Center of United Metropolitan Faculties, in São Paulo, and practiced law in Brazil until 2019. Computer programming has always been a subject of great personal interest to him, and as his desire to live abroad grew stronger, so did his motivation to explore his interest professionally. “Changing careers is not easy. So, I’ve chosen something that I previously had an interest in; software development. This is something I can practice anywhere in the world,” explains Christian. He began his computer programming studies at Algonquin College in September 2019.
Advice on the Co-op Process
“Ask for help when you need it. Getting all the information earlier in the process will ease the stress involved in searching for jobs,” explains Christian. This piece of advice comes from Christian’s own experience in the earlier stages of the co-op process. The Co-op student advisors are there to help the students in every step of the process. So many resources are available such as workshops, orientation sessions and much more.
“Apply, apply, apply and pay close attention to dates.” Christian recommends students keep an open mind when searching for jobs while also focusing on the areas where they excel rather than worry about where they might fall short.
“My Co-op placement has provided me with the confidence I needed to take on more senior roles in my new career, while also allowing me to demonstrate to my employer how much I can contribute and turn myself into a significant company asset.”
Christian will be graduating this spring with the skills and the confidence he needs to begin his second career. Congratulations Christian and thank you for your many contributions.
Posted on Friday, August 14th, 2020
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has contributed to Algonquin College Cooperative Education in significant ways, which includes a commitment to hiring co-op students. One particularly noteworthy example within the CRA is the unique partnership established in 2015 between the CRA’s Business Intelligence, Research and Analytics Division (BIRAD) and Algonquin’s Business Intelligence Systems Infrastructure (BISI) program. Since its inception, this partnership has shown great value to both the Agency and Algonquin College students. The nature of this agreement took on an all new meaning this summer in the midst of the pandemic.
Going back in time, the terms of the agreement between BIRAD and the BISI program include student recruitment, innovative exploratory case studies, and upgraded training/accreditation opportunities for BIRAD employees. This agreement was further enhanced over the years, building on a culture of mutual trust and respect, collaboration, shared ownership and mutually agreed upon working arrangements. It is one of the cornerstones of BIRAD’s Human Resources Strategy. It provides an unparalleled opportunity for BIRAD to build and renew its capacity and meet the growing needs for a technically skilled workforce in advanced applied predictive analytics. Since 2016, BIRAD has coordinated the hiring of approximately 35 co-op students, for the Collections and Verification Branch from the BISI program; most graduates now work at the CRA full-time.
“Business and Artificial intelligence is a key component and driving force for the future. The BISI program is one of the best fits to meet our current needs,” says Hala Ibrahim, Director, BIRAD.
Co-op hires have been instrumental in bringing fresh, creative and innovative ideas that have helped optimize our existing business processes. In addition, the students bring with them a level of maturity that allows them to be successful in a public service environment. Being a one year specialization program, many of the students have practical real world experience in BI or related fields. These skills, enhanced by an intense BISI curriculum create the perfect conditions for the graduates to succeed.
“Upon joining BIRAD, BISI students are put through rigorous internal training and follow a development plan customized for them. This helps them learn about CRA processes, and exposes them to different areas of BI related workloads. The students have found professional success and have thrived in a CRA environment. With an incredibly high “bridge-in” rate, many BISI alumni have been promoted within our Division, or found success in other areas within the CRA,” says Dinaz Forbes – Coordinator, BISI-BIRAD partnership.
Throughout this long-standing partnership, BIRAD has developed and implemented a well thought out and effective process for hiring co-op students. The process starts with an orientation session to the new students, which includes presenting an overview of the Agency, BIRAD, the partnership, and a brief description of the work done in the hiring sections. Previous co-op students, who are full-time BIRAD employees are taken along to share their work experience, and offer tips to the new class on the management of their course load. Once the positions are posted on HireAC, BIRAD ensures that every student who applies is interviewed.
“We share interview questions with students ahead of time. We want to make them as comfortable as possible at the interviews so they can fully showcase themselves. The interview process lasts up to three full days, depending on the number of applicants. It’s a great opportunity for students to get experience in being interviewed. The BISI program instructor and the Stakeholder Relations Lead for Cooperative Education are given detailed feedback on the overall interview experience.” says Forbes.
The strong BIRAD-BISI collaboration enabled BIRAD to support the growth in the Business Intelligence/Applied Analytics sector stemming from the pandemic. Significant emergency packages were rolled out by the government to support Canadians in these unprecedented times. This context enabled BIRAD to honour their offers of employment made to seven students in early December. They all joined on the scheduled date of May 4, 2020.
Furthermore, when other BISI co-op students lost their prospective co-op assignments with various private and public sector employers because of the lockdown, BIRAD, in a concerted effort with BISI, was able to place three additional students, as BI service needs continued to grow and more expert resources were needed. This spoke volumes to the depth of the relationship and a mutual commitment in supporting each other for the common good. Other positive benefits emerged as a result of this situation. The solicitation of interest across the CRA’s BI community to fulfill both the organization’s resource needs and BISI co-op students’ employment needs helped raise awareness of the BISI program across the Agency for the future.
As the BIRAD-BISI partnership continues beyond the academic year, representatives from BIRAD participate with other employers from the public and private sector, as members on the “BISI Program Advisory Committee” meetings. BIRAD’s participation in the advisory committee benefits the college by utilizing industry knowledge to contribute to the BISI curriculum while providing an opportunity for students to gain quality work-integrated learning opportunities through class projects and co-op.
Every year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) honours the achievements of its employees whose work and behaviour best exemplify the mission, vision, and values, through the CRA Awards of Excellence. A few years ago, the “Algonquin College and BIRAD Collaboration” was the recipient of this award in the Partnership category. This underscored the initiative taken in recognizing the growing demand for skilled labour in advanced applied analytics and providing a solution from within the Agency, to recruit and onboard young, promising students through the partnership.
In 2018, BIRAD and the Learning Technologies Division in CRA won the inaugural Outstanding Contribution to Algonquin College Cooperative Education Award.
The BISI-BIRAD partnership has proved to be incredibly powerful and impactful. Best practices from this relationship have been expanded within the Agency to the benefit of other areas, with a focus on the business intelligence community. BIRAD has demonstrated its sustained commitment through hard times, and is committed to continue building on this relationship and taking it to the next level in the years to come.
Business Intelligence System Infrastructure students complete their co-op work term in the summer and fall terms. Connect with us to hire an Algonquin College co-op student today.
Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2020
Big Rig Brewery was founded in 2012 as a small batch brewery and restaurant. In the last eight years, they have significantly expanded across Ontario and now produce over 30,000 litres of beer per year. Their growth in the marketplace has resulted in the build-up of their brew house lab in Ottawa. This expansion resulted in the need for qualified employees with introductory lab skills and the ability to keep up in a fast-paced production environment.
The brewing process at Big Rig Brewery is more than just hops and yeast. Their beer is brewed in a historic style but with modern processes and quality controls to monitor yeast health and cell counts. As Big Rig looked to fill positions in their brewing team they found there was a talent gap. “Many of the skills we are looking for can be found in basic lab techniques and unfortunately there are not many qualified Brewery Technicians”, says Philip Kochanke, Director of Quality Management and Packaging at Big Rig.
“We had hired Electrical Engineering Technician co-op students in the past for our processing line and through this process; we learned that Algonquin College also has a great Biotechnology co-op program”. In the summer of 2019, Big Rig decided to hire two Biotechnology co-op students, “These students brought a formal lab background and experience to their job which helped us to manage everyday brewery operations while our team focused on improving our Standard Operating Procedures as we continued to expand”, Kochanke said.
“Algonquin’s Biotechnology students really helped us. They were able to apply basic biotechnology principals to their role in the lab which included taking and processing samples in a specific way and helping to implement quality control measures.”
Funding opportunities helped in the hiring process. “There are really great financial incentives to hire a co-op student. We were able to hire two full-time co-op students due to the funding that we received from Biotalent Canada. The application process was simple and the staff at Biotalent were extremely helpful in the process.”
When asked about the future of talent in the Brewing Industry, Kochanke said “There is definitely a need for Biotechnology students and graduates in our industry; they can work in roles such as Lab Technician, Yeast Management Technician, and Packaging Line Technician. The skills they learn in their program can help breweries by applying scientific methods to troubleshoot and maintain process management in a production and food-processing environment.”
Kochanke added, “Our experience hiring co-op students has been great, it has been a real pleasure working with everyone from Algonquin and we hope to hire more co-op students in the future.”
If you are interested in hiring a Biotechnology Advanced Co-op student, please contact the Cooperative Education Department at Algonquin College by phone at 613-727-4723 Ext 7623, by email at coopandcareer@algonquincollege.com or by visiting our employer request for information form.
Images provided by Big Rig Brewery.