This co-op program located in Mississauga, and has a very high reputation among immigrants, especially on those whom have never been working in Canada before. They have two locations, just check as below:
Malton-St. Gabriel
3750 Brandon Gate
Mississauga, On
L4T 3M8
Lakeshore-Brian J. Fleming
Dr. 870 Queen Street West
Mississauga, On
L5H 4G1
Their function is mostly to help job seekers in Canada, who hope to be offered a professional job in the near future. Because of the pretty long waiting list, it is not that easy to be enrolled in this program. Every applicant has to attain a certain level(approxiamate to ESL 5) to be eligible for that program. You may first make an appointment and take a test of your language level, have your resume prepared, and another $15 registration fee (if you quit that program before it starts, they'll refund the full amount).
I took my co-op program at last summer, and after waiting almost 2 months; you can tell how popular it is among newcomers. I went through 8 weeks in class and 10 weeks in a co-op company. Just from beginning, usually a native-speaker teacher, they call job instructor, will lead a class till the end. He/she instructs all the students in the class and it'll be him/her to coordinate your co-op company by using his/her significant skills. And you'll have another teacher who teaches you English in what they call an ESL (English as Second Language) class. That's imperative, if your language is not that good, how can you beat the competitors or communicate with your boss or your co-workers in the real world?
During class, I had my resume modified to Canadian standard, was taught a bunch of employable skills (most are soft skills; they suppose your hard skills are good enough. Soft skills includes cover letter, thank you letter, information interview, cold calling, how to leave a message, assessment of your professional job situation, potential employer leads, mock interview, employable etiquette, etc.), was introduced to the Canadian labor market, and was also informed about human psychology and relationship philosophy. On most things, the teacher assumes you have a solid concept about how the real Canadian labor market is alike. All those they teach are to comb your original threads and correct any of your misunderstanding and improve your personal skills. At last, almost most of the classmates have got co-op positions in real companies or relevant fields; besides some of them perhaps should wait for more time to fit in or even won't be accepted. It depends on individuals and multiple reasons. At here, I don't want to expand it.
To most of us, the most exciting results we want are in the co-op period. I can feel the anxious desire from other classmates, some eagerest one couldn't even wait to the end then quit the program. For the co-op companies, there are several types. One of those types is from your previous employer. For example, some students used to work in a very large corporations, which have lots of branches in the world; so they prefer working in those companies have branches in Canada to other related companies . The other of those types is the companies you seek from the real world which relates to your personal expertise; they call leads. Different teachers have different demands of leads; some may only order 2; some may order more. But no matter how many leads you got, the purpose is the same, to succeed in being accepted by a co-op company. Most students are this type. Another of those types is due to teacher's personal relationship from his/her database; for those who still cannot find co-op companies. Most of those instructors have been in this adult program for a long time, and most of them are from HR department or used to deal with people for almost all of their career history. So they are pretty familiar with the outside world, just as my instructor told us that some of those companies' head honchos are her best friends. Isn't it wonderful for you?
Every individual has his/her own comments about co-op experience; so my personal co-op period is differ from others, and I don't think it's useful for everyone else. I just want to narrate that during those 10 weeks, you should undergo several steps and you are meant to finish every steps' working logs. The instructor is gonna take those logs for their financial proof, and you may have them for your working experience evidence; of course you also could refresh your memory in the future. During those period, the instructor intends to meet every co-op student every 2 weeks and the meeting spot may not be held at school or some other places you guys prefer. Depending on the individuals' real working situation, the instructor will have at least 2 or more surveys on-site. He/she purposes to make clear what you are really doing in the company, what your boss/ co-worker's comments are about you, and clarifies whether the company intends to hire you before the end of co-op period. He/she will also have your co-op supervisor appraised both at the middle and the end of the co-op period; that's why you could be given much clearer impression about your working performance. Probably at last, you may know by yourself whether to be hired or not indeed. That's for certain; it's impossible for everyone to be hired finally. But you still deserve to have a reference (if is negative, then forget it); some ambitious students may have their references in hard copy and even signed by their bosses. I didn't do so until I was informed after I had already left the company. :(
At the last meeting, the instructor will hand out a graduation certificate to everyone who has successfully fulfilled the whole program. After a month, the school will mail everyone an assessment of your scores.
The so-called co-op program is like above. As for my personal feeling about getting a professional job in Canada is more relying on either your English or your strong field expertise; Without either of them, it's much more difficult to get a satisfy job. So ENGLISH and EXPERTISE are like two legs for walking on the road of the Canadian labor market; Don't ignore one of them, even if you are confident that you are capable to walk by either one of them, you still couldn't walk as fast as normal ones. Please do knuckle down on them, you'll never regret doing so.
