You co-op kids get the best of both worlds: an enriched education and work experience (even a paycheque). But the path you've chosen isn't easy. It will take longer than an undergraduate program, and those years may be turbulent as you move from placement to placement. It's an up and down road, but don't worry: we've got some insider advice on how to get the most out of a co-op placement.

As Phil Allan finishes his final term as a co-op student at the University of Waterloo and reflects on his experience, he found that variety was the spice of his academic life. “I liked the fact that each work term was only four months. I could work at four or five different jobs and find one I liked. Also, it let me have a unique résumé, rather than having either all student retail jobs or, at best, one internship without any variety.”

Be prepared.

To help cram as much experience in as you can, arrive at your placement prepared from day one, advises Olaf Naese, communications specialist for Cooperative Education and Career Services at the University of Waterloo. “When you're only at a workplace for four months, the learning curve has to be very fast. Come into the co-op with experience under your belt.” Students who go into the co-op without so much as a summer job or volunteer position on their résumé have a harder time getting jobs, he says.

Talk to your supervisor before you start your placement to find out if there's any special training you can take beforehand. That way, you can get right into the good stuff on the first day of your job.

If you don't know where to start, just ask, encourages Norah McRae, president of the Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (CAFCE). “A big mistake students make is not taking advantage of the resources available to them. Every school has a really dedicated staff who are there to help students make sense of what their plans are and how they'd like to connect their studies with their career prospects.”

Stock up on those soft skills.

Once you're working, keep in mind that your experience is about soft skills too, not just industry know-how. “The most valuable thing I took away was probably the confidence that came from being thrown into so many previously intimidating situations,” shares Allan. “It was also good to see that real world professionals are really just winging it along with everyone else.”

Rob McMillan, another Waterloo co-op student, values the intangibles he's gleaned from his work terms so far – especially the networking opportunities. “People want to help out people who they know, so make more friends. And make sure the higher-ups like you.”

Go into a co-op with a good idea of what you want out of it, and keep your eyes on that prize. “Students should set objectives before they even get to their placement,” emphasizes Naese. “They should have something in mind as to what they want to accomplish.”

Flexibility is key.

But at the same time, you must stay flexible. “Students come with a dream job in their mind, and that dream job may never happen during undergrad,” Naese reveals. “Or there could be a perfect opportunity for you but it's across the province. If that's where the job is, you should embrace the opportunity. Things may not be the way you think they're going to be. Be willing to move around if that's what it takes.”

McRae adds, “In my experience, students often learn the most where there's a big challenge for them, personally and professionally – not because there's something horrible going on in that work term, but because it's just not what they wanted, or they thought they were going to like it and really hated it.”

Staying open-minded enough to learn about yourself has all kinds of benefits. “Without my co-op, I would never have realized that the people who I work with and the work environment would determine whether I like a job, even more than the job itself,” says Allan. “The jobs I liked the most were completely unrelated to my degree. But even though the jobs themselves didn't interest me, I was working with really laid back, fun people, living with tons of students in a brand new city.”

That's just the kind of adventure you co-op kids like, right?