An all-round win for students and employers alike. The mutual benefits of University of Toronto Scarborough’s Co-op job program.

Imagine having a pipeline to a broad employee pool of young, flexible energetic people. Of enquiring minds studying many academic disciplines and eager to supplement university learning with real-world experiences in the healthcare setting. 

These are resources healthcare administrators and researchers can tap into with student job recruitment through the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Arts and Science Co-op work program. 

The Co-op program goes beyond a traditional internship, in which students may work as paid or unpaid aides over the summer break. A Co-op employment program supports students in their second and above year of study in their chosen field in connecting with temporary employment opportunities to the mutual benefit of both. “Our program has been facilitating this process between employers and students coming up on 50 years,” said Siobhan Flanagan-Dell, an External Relations Officer in the Co-op Program. “We have students from more than 35 academic program streams.” 

These streams include, among others, life and social sciences, psychology, mental health and health policy, as well as computer science, mathematics, linguistics, philosophy, and literature. 

The Co-op Model

Facilitated by UTSC’s Co-op program, students after their first year complete two to three employment experiences throughout their degree. They can take flexible terms of 4, 8, 12, or 16 months starting in January, May, or September. They take paid positions in business, industry, social services, and healthcare before returning to their studies.

The recruiting process has sent students into many healthcare facilities, including Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, University Health Network (UHN), Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and Unity Health Toronto, as well as private-sector companies such as Sanofi Canada and STEMCELL Technologies.

In the healthcare setting, Co-op-facilitated hires have done everything from lab work to research study support, recruiting patients and administering tests, as well as scheduling, analyzing data, and assisting with reports and presentations. They’ve handled analytics and worked in software development. To all of these assignments, they’ve brought competence, rapid learning, flexibility, and up-to-date familiarity with current trends and methodologies. 

Filling the Gap

Testimony to this is the experience of Jed A. Meltzer, PhD, a neurorehabilitation scientist at the Rotman Research Institute – Baycrest Centre in Toronto. “I recruit in life sciences and psychology. The students I’ve hired have been highly motivated, organized, and skilled in the demanding technical challenges in our lab,” he said. “Many of them have done fairly sophisticated computer programming tasks for us, and some have learned to do this on the job despite not having much prior experience.”

Dr. Meltzer described how a UTSC Co-op student stepped into the breach when a full-time research assistant left to carry on a complex 18-month project on language learning in seniors. “The student mastered all the complex tasks required to keep the study going and excelled at training a third person to finish up some remaining tasks after she had finished. Co-op students are a great choice for general support in a research lab, especially for filling in gaps between hiring more long-term personnel,” he said.

Real-World Learning

It’s a classic win-win scenario: the students get much-needed practical experience and income and, as an added benefit, an opportunity to refine their career goals.

For some, a co-op work term reinforces their commitment to their chosen field. “For others, the real-world exposure may open up new interests and trigger a change in career direction,” Ms. Flanagan-Dell said. 

A case in point is Joshua Jacob, a molecular biology and technology co-op student placed at Sanofi Canada, where he learned a great deal about the pharmaceutical industry, particularly the vaccine development process. “My exposure to the industry left me excited to go back to school to relate what I learned at Sanofi to my studies,” Mr. Jacob said. “It has given me a wider perspective on my own career journey. I now appreciate being under pressure and pushed by my colleagues to be accurate and detail-orientated in completing deliverables.” He is now considering postgraduate studies with a focus on vaccine process/method and biotechnology.

Either way, employers get high-quality support and a link to a pool of potential full-time staff already knowledgable about their particular workplace operations and culture. In an era when retaining trained staff can be an issue for employers, some students will continue to work part-time after returning to school and some bring their experience back to you in a full-time position after graduation.

The recruitment process also serves students as a dress rehearsal for the fine art of successfully seeking permanent positions after graduation, Ms. Flanagan-Dell said. “We maintain a job posting board and streamline the application process, but students must do the work of applying and putting their best foot forward
themselves.”

No matter their academic specialty, these students have transferrable skills that can support staff capacity in the hospital setting,” she said. “They’re eager to take on as much as they can and they bring enthusiasm and fresh perspectives to it. ” 

Financial Support

Employers who hire UTSC Co-op program students may be eligible for tax credits or hiring grants/subsidies. UTSC can advise employers on these opportunities and connect them with funding organizations. For funding information visit: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/hire-coop/funding-resources-co-op-employers

Further details on hiring a UTSC Co-op program student can be found at: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/hire-coop/how-hire-our-students 

By Diana Swift