CHALLENGE - University of Waterloo

MAKING the BEST of the
WORK TERM BLUES
Inside sCo-op
AS CO-OP STUDENTS, we’re encouraged to experiment with our work terms. Sometimes we take a job in a field
we’ve never tried before. Sometimes we take a job and discover it’s not quite what we thought it’d be, based on the
job description. Sometimes we take a job, the unforeseeable happens, and we’re left to cope in a less-than-pleasant
situation.
That last circumstance happened to 3B electrical engineering student, Alex Hogeveen-Rutter. He’d taken a particular
co-op job largely because he had such immediate chemistry with his would-be supervisor. Then, at the end of the
first week of the work term, that supervisor quit.
“My first instinct,” Alex recalls, “was to find a new job. My immediate supervisor was gone and I was now reporting to
that supervisor’s boss – a person who was never in town. I was crushed.” But he didn’t quit. Instead, Alex “warmed to
the challenge” and became his own boss.
A Paradox in Learning
“The fundamental lesson is that sometimes it’s the
least favourable situations that make you learn and
grow the most,” Alex says, looking back on that
term. Initially, he was disappointed and worried – he
was an engineering co-op now left to work in a company
with no senior engineer to supervisor him. Occasionally,
his other colleagues would throw work his
way, but for the most part that entailed tedious jobs
that needed completion rather than work intended
to facilitate his learning.
So Alex became more proactive. “Asking questions,
identifying problems, brainstorming or sharing solutions
with others,” these were the actions he took
in search of meaningful work. “I hoped that once
I’d demonstrated my knowledge and presented
some suggestions, I’d be assigned as the one to fix
the problem.” Being inquisitive was vital for Alex:
“I found it was most useful to ask questions, especially
of those employees whose concerns are often
overlooked. I even learned how to do some of the
other employees’ jobs, and that type of hands-on
work was especially interesting to me, given my very
academic background.”
Although Alex admits the work term was not his
most fulfilling in terms of developing skills specific
to his field, he knows that he’s grown from it. Operating
without direct supervision forced him to
become more independent. Seeking out valuable
projects made him more resourceful. Interacting
with a variety of people from different educational
and experiential backgrounds helped him become
more broadminded. His experience demonstrates
that building your technical skill set isn’t the only asset
of co-op. From all work terms, even those we’re
less than enthused about, we can learn soft skills
that will apply in all facets of life.
Transferable skills aside, the simple experience of
being a professional, of working in an office or a
manufacturing plant, is a learning process in and of
itself. “That’s the biggest distinction when I go to
visit my family in Manitoba,” Alex explains. “I see my
high school friends and I see the difference in outlook,
the difference in lifestyle and the difference in
maturity. That’s all a result of my work terms.”
Reflecting on Experiences
Alex is also a writer for Iron Warrior,
the Engineering paper
Although ‘critical
thinking’ and
‘active reflection’
are phrases
co-ops tend to
groan about,
soundbytes all
too often associated
with writing
the dreaded Work
Report, Alex has a
more laissez-faire
approach to reflective
exercises.
“It’s not like a diary where I just force myself to reflect
on each day. It’s just a conscious habit – if something
really sparks my interest, or, conversely, if something
makes me think “that was really annoying” it’s instinctual
for me to write it down.” Starting from his second work
term, Alex has kept a tally of his learning experiences, a
free-form list documenting positive and negative actions
and outcomes. “I’ll just have an open GoogleDoc and
input things as they happen, or shortly after. Say, for example
I could write ‘I really appreciate the way my boss
said this to me. Make sure, when you’re a boss, to do
things like that’. Or ‘so and so did this today and it blew
up in his face. Don’t do that’.” In this way, Alex builds up
a list of lessons that will aid him in future endeavours.
Comparing his lists from previous terms caused Alex to
realise that his most recent “waste” of a work term was
not a waste at all, but was rather one of his most enriching
work terms in co-op.
5