{"id":38718,"date":"2016-04-25T15:32:56","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T19:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=38718"},"modified":"2017-03-16T09:13:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T13:13:20","slug":"co-op-leads-from-campus-to-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/04\/co-op-leads-from-campus-to-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-op leads from campus to career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in China, Jing Wen Luo knew she wanted to attend university in North America.<\/span><\/p>\n

She also knew she wanted to go to a school that would help her gain employment experience.\u00a0Today she is working for Purolator, billed as Canada’s top courier company.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of schools did not provide co-op to international students but Brock was an exception,\u201d Luo says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I chose Brock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old, who graduated in 2014 from Brock University\u2019s Goodman School of Business, says the five work terms she did while studying at Brock opened up the world of work to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy resume was literally blank,\u201d she says, noting in China she was focused on her studies.<\/p>\n

Evidence shows that having a university education leads to more employment opportunities and higher paying jobs, according to the Council of Ontario Universities (COU).<\/p>\n

In its recent report University Works<\/em>, COU used Statistics Canada\u2019s Labour Force Survey (Ontarians 25 and older). It found university graduates have the highest employment rates among all post-secondary education levels \u2014 73.7 per cent for those with a bachelor\u2019s degree and 75 per cent for those with advanced degrees, compared to an employment rate of 72.4 per cent for college graduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollege and university grads are just as likely to get jobs, but on average university graduates make significantly more money,\u201d says the report\u2019s author Cecilia Brain, economist and senior policy analyst with COU.<\/p>\n

The University Works<\/em> report states that, on average, Ontario university graduates earn 58 per cent more than graduates of other Ontario post-secondary programs.<\/p>\n

The 2014-15 Graduate Employment Survey \u2014 conducted by CCI Research Inc. for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities \u2014 found the Brock University graduate employment rate six months after graduation was 91.1 per cent compared to 87.6 per cent in Ontario. Two years after graduation, Brock\u2019s grad employment rate continues to top the provincial average, at 94.6 per cent compared to 93.6 per cent.<\/p>\n

Luo said her first co-op term taught her what she didn\u2019t know about work and employment culture, and prepared her for her next work term \u2013 at Siemens Canada in Hamilton. She stayed in the role for two terms during a time of transition for the company, which was moving the plant to the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it was an opportunity, because a lot of people were leaving so the manager gave me a lot of responsibility,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Seeing how companies are run, the importance of efficiencies, and a supply chain in action changed the course of her life, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that placement, I decided to add another concentration to my degree \u2014 operations management.\u201d Finance was her other concentration.<\/p>\n

After Siemens, Luo spent two work terms at Hydro One.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opened my eyes to how different the company culture can be,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Luo says Brock gave her the tools she needed to be competitive in the job market following graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s dramatic. I don\u2019t know how I would have turned out without the co-ops. I grew so much from one work term to another. Co-ops really expedited the process of the development of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating, Luo turned down a job offer at Siemens for a role at Purolator, where they are doing a pilot project focused on developing young professionals. The job was tailored for her, after she spent the day with CEO Patrick Nangle. That was the result of winning CEO x1 Day, a highly competitive contest for university students.<\/p>\n

Hiring Brock co-op students full-time following graduation is not unusual for the Toronto accounting firm Collins Barrow, says Chief Operating Officer Rhonda Klosler.<\/p>\n

\"Collins

Collins Barrow Chief Operating Officer Rhonda Klosler<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe continue to recruit from Brock,\u201d says Klosler. \u201cWe are a very entrepreneurial organization and we find the students who go to Brock have a similar mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klosler knows the Brock culture well. She graduated with a Business Administration degree in 1993.<\/p>\n

She worked co-op for the accounting firm Smith Nixon, which eventually merged with Collins Barrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve essentially been with the same firm for my entire career and it\u2019s as a result of Brock\u2019s co-op program,\u201d she says. \u201cThe opportunities that are available to students in the co-op program are limitless and I\u2019m proof of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia Zhu, Associate Director of Co-op Programs at Brock, says the University has one of Ontario\u2019s most diverse offerings of courses that include a co-op component.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one of the leaders in providing co-op education,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Brock\u2019s commitment to co-op programs is about preparing students for the job market and helping them use the knowledge they learn in the classroom in the work world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way to gain hands-on experience and test drive opportunities,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Anna Lathrop, Vice Provost of Teaching and Learning, says experiential learning is one of Brock\u2019s defining pillars, and co-op is an important part of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel that we are preparing the 21st century learner,\u201d says Lathrop. \u201cThe co-op experience is designed to reinforce the theory in an employment setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year, Canadian employers take more than 1,000 Brock students into the workplace, and the co-op job placement rate is higher than 90 per cent.<\/p>\n

Zhu says students have to apply to take part in a co-op program while still in high school, and grade requirements are higher. As well, students are taught to get co-op work placements using traditional job search techniques, including resumes and cover letters, and interviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time they leave Brock, they will have life-long employment skills,\u201d Zhu says.<\/p>\n

\"Graph

Graph courtesy of Council of Ontario Universities<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Graph

Graph courtesy of Council of Ontario Universities<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luo said her first co-op term taught her what she didn\u2019t know about work and employment culture, and prepared her for her next work term \u2013 at Siemens Canada in Hamilton. She stayed in the role for two terms during a time of transition for the company, which was moving the plant to the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":38722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,39,3319,4052,1],"tags":[5050,120,5051,594,4056,4057],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38718"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38737,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38718\/revisions\/38737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}