CareerFair

What is it about my first Co-Op experience?

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What is it about my first Co-Op experience?

If you are in your second year or at the end of your year 1, you are probably already eligible to join your first Co-Op. The first thing you need to do is to find out if you are eligible to join Co-Op by referring to your Co-Op supervisor in your own faculty. Please remember to adhere to the deadlines for your course selection and if you are unsure, always refer to your Co-Op supervisor or any of the CECS staff.

Many of you would have been told your first Co-Op experience would provide general exposure and you may not work in fields related to your studies. The sentence that says ‘This job is not related to my studies’ can be consider rather inappropriate now simply because the working world is changing and needs to have people with skills beyond what are expected from their own field. In addition to that, Co-Op or rather your career is not about fitting into certain occupational titles or areas but rather it is a journey of learning and expanding your areas of interest. Learning more skills and having broader work experience will enrich your area of interests and your career experience.

The key to approach your first Co-Op experience is to be open-minded. Take every opportunity you can to learn from the Co-Op experience because you won’t know how these experiences may actually help you in the future. You’ll be surprise if you go with an open-mind and a curiosity to learn. You may end up gaining valuable knowledge that you can share or practice in your future career or even in your next year of study.

Do not take this experience just to fulfill your first Co-Op requirement and complain over it by saying that you can’t learn anything. There is only one issue, which is “I don’t want to learn anything from here”.

Learning from your Co-Op experience is not about what the employers can teach you but it is about what YOU want to learn from the employer. Even coffee making is an art!

Ultimately learning is not about the environment you are in or the job you are engaged at, but it is all about YOU. If you have a learning attitude, everyday is learning new things for you. If you do not have a humble learning attitude, even the most fitted job given to you will mean nothing.

Having a good attitude and being open-minded will take you a long way in your career. We hope that you too will be interested to learn all you can from your first Co-Op experience and conquer your first Co-Op with an excellent attitude and open-mind.