Co-op

cson

Bitchfest so beware.

Story = Applied for a foreign co-op placement and sent off the relevant emails/attachments nigh on a month ago. Have heard....... zero back. Not even a confirmation/receipt of application letter. I'm a little pissed off to be honest, now I know it's a difficult nigh on impossible job to be finding placements for students in the current economic climate but just to send a simple email to give the slightest indication of where I stand - too much to ask?

Btw, definite feeling of being absolutely fooked for co-op in any case.

bluerain

I remember back when I did Co-Op, it took a lonnggg time for the foreign ones to get sorted out. And also beware you don't end up cleaning in a hotel or something which happened someone I know. The pay is usually a pittance but if you're doing it for the experience of living abroad and learning the language then do it. Saying that, although I'm not sure what the situation is with Co-Op placements and the Recession, I know for sure that my Co-op in Ireland was crucial in getting work after graduation while I'm not too sure whether the foreign ones would be as relevant...but thats just my opinion. Anyway I'm getting off the point....just keep on to them for a reply and be persistent.

5uspect

Get on the blower and call them and ask.

cson

The oul blower is a tad expensive from US & A so I'll get the Mammy to do it. Not too optimistic for co-op this year though.

5uspect

Yeah, you see that isn't going to give any company much confidence in you.

wonderingabout

im going into second year & have coop in second sem.. im really worried i wont get placed or will b unpaid =(..

Also id like to stay in limk.. its goin to be impossible to get a place relevant to my course (psychology)..

Does anyone have any experience to share or advice that mite help me?

5uspect

TBH going away somewhere different would be much, much better for your CV.

cson

5uspect wrote: »

Yeah, you see that isn't going to give any company much confidence in you.

spideog7

I applied to about 30 or 40 graduate jobs and I can count on two hands the number of replies I got back. I didn't even get negative replies just no reply. :mad:

In this recession with all the people that are looking for work, how these HR people keep their jobs is a mystery to me, not replying to emails in a timely manner is the height of unprofessionalism and quite honestly put me right off some of the companies. One or two actually gave me personal replies and the difference it made for my opinion of them was immense.

Personally I'd rather they say "F**k off we're full" than say nothing at all.

5uspect

I work in UL as a postdoc. We take on interns every summer and give them lots of interesting things to do, they do experiments as part of actual research etc. We also have a spin off company in town where they take on co-op students who get to do all sorts of cool stuff also. Some of them now even have jobs there.

If you send your mammy to call about a job for you we'll just laugh at you. If you call us, visit us, knock our door door down, somehow make an effort to contact us and grab our attention we'll be much more impressed.

cson

Ah, I mean't asking her to call the overseas co-op office to see what the story is.

I can assure you, after a month spent job hunting in the US I'm getting tuned into what it takes to make a person stand out.

5uspect

Ah that's different. Don't solely rely on the co-op office either.

Burning Eclipse

5uspect wrote: »

Ah that's different. Don't solely rely on the co-op office either.

I know I didn't. I'm a graduate (going back in Sept. for a Masters), but when it came to co-op time for me I took the initiative. The co-op office was sending my classmates and I on ridiculous interviews for positions that would offer nothing. So I found my own placement. Easier than you might think OP, and it shows you're serious about things to prospective employers. Nothing is 'easy' now with regard to employment, but go looking, you could be surprised at what you find!

cson

I've emailed and snailmailed quite a few companies but all I've gotten back is the generic We're sorry but we have a recruitment freeze.

5uspect

What area are you in again?

brophya2007

5uspect wrote: »

I work in UL as a postdoc. We take on interns every summer and give them lots of interesting things to do, they do experiments as part of actual research etc. We also have a spin off company in town where they take on co-op students who get to do all sorts of cool stuff also. Some of them now even have jobs there.

If you send your mammy to call about a job for you we'll just laugh at you. If you call us, visit us, knock our door door down, somehow make an effort to contact us and grab our attention we'll be much more impressed.

Hi 5uspect,

Do you take on Engineers (Aeronautical)?

5uspect

We do, but the summer internships are coming to an end. These take third year students so keep them in mind for the summer after your co-op.
http://www.stokes.ie/html/opportunities/documents/StokesSummerScholarships09_001.pdf

If you're interested in co-op it would be with our spin-off which is biomedical and not aero.

They usually take on several students every year. If you're a good student and are interested in the work I'm sure they'll give you a chance even if you're not bio-medical as TBH the courses are much the same.

DJCR

cson wrote: »

Bitchfest so beware.

Story = Applied for a foreign co-op placement and sent off the relevant emails/attachments nigh on a month ago. Have heard....... zero back. Not even a confirmation/receipt of application letter. I'm a little pissed off to be honest, now I know it's a difficult nigh on impossible job to be finding placements for students in the current economic climate but just to send a simple email to give the slightest indication of where I stand - too much to ask?

Btw, definite feeling of being absolutely fooked for co-op in any case.

bluerain wrote: »

I remember back when I did Co-Op, it took a lonnggg time for the foreign ones to get sorted out. And also beware you don't end up cleaning in a hotel or something which happened someone I know. The pay is usually a pittance but if you're doing it for the experience of living abroad and learning the language then do it. Saying that, although I'm not sure what the situation is with Co-Op placements and the Recession, I know for sure that my Co-op in Ireland was crucial in getting work after graduation while I'm not too sure whether the foreign ones would be as relevant...but thats just my opinion. Anyway I'm getting off the point....just keep on to them for a reply and be persistent.

Ok, feel I can pitch in here:

I was on foreign co op in Paris a year ago.

It took ages to sort out (and that was before Europe was smashed by the economic depression)!

Anyhow...

Pay = ****e.... I was a stagiere which is what the french call interns and they pay them nothing (I was payed €450 a month).

However Europe covers pretty much everything and I ended up getting €6000 in funding (flights + accomodation + transport.... thats what they amounted to for the 8 months).

However , I needed a part time job.... or so I thought (stlil hadent recieved any funding after a month and with 400 for the next one i was pretty .... well not ok).

So i got a PT job and had a ball, i'm back in Paris at the moment working full time in the Pub I worked in before (no company would take anyone on for three months of the summer).

So as for going on co op abroad, for me it was definately stressful at the start and became easier.... did wonders for my French and as you can see from the fact I got a job way quicker in France than i could in Ireland .... valuable contacts are made!

Defo worth it...

Message : Hang in there but keep calling the co op office .... I must have called them 10 times in a week before I got an interview.

Stressfull but Worth it!

cson

Right, got an interview for a company in Cashel. Now I know beggers can't be choosers and all that jazz but I swear to **** I don't know if I can handle 8 months in Cashel on my own. With a US Multinational that will have zero relevance to my CV bar the fact I'll be working in their finance dept. Sketchy relationship to accounting.

I don't know what answers I hope to get here. Maybe a cop the **** on and get on with it :pac:

But... with almost everyone I know in my class getting their coop in a relevant and reputable companys - PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton... hell even AIB though the reputable is highly questionable there.

To anyone in Business/Law & Accounting/doing their coop in 3rd year: Work like mad to get your QCA up to at least 2.1 or better in 2nd year. Otherwise your coop will be severely restricted. Rightly or wrongly to even get an interview will be based entirely on your academic achievements and not anything else.

Jesus I really am highly pissed off right now. I can think of 2 positives from going to Cashel (I'm being exceptionally arrogant in thinking I'll get it in the first place but I've been told in Ireland and the US that I interview excellently) one being I'd actually have a coop and two being it'd be paid.

Forgive me for my bitching but its something I need to get out of my system. Right now FML.

cson

And I know regardless of where I go I'll be photocopying and making coffee but I'd rather if I did that in somewhere like PwC and not some US Pharmaceutical company in ****ing Cashel.

Cashel. :eek:

For. ****. Sake.

rororoyourboat

I feel your pain man.

I spent eight months alone in Ennis!!

skeleton_boy

cson wrote: »

To anyone in Business/Law & Accounting/doing their coop in 3rd year: Work like mad to get your QCA up to at least 2.1 or better in 2nd year. Otherwise your coop will be severely restricted. Rightly or wrongly to even get an interview will be based entirely on your academic achievements and not anything else.

Will definitely be taking note of this!

CeNedra

This is an interesting read to say the least. I work in a US multinational in Tipperary. We hire co-op's and I've taken on a few over the years. We have worked the ass off the co-op's we get in the company, all are considered for LT position if they do well and all are reviewed by snr mgt team to either bring back on another placement with consideration for going on to being hired full time on postgraduate program.

This link is really underestimating what work is done out there by co-op's. Engineers do real engineering work, business students do real work in either finance or supply chain depts...... it depends on capability of student, there is loads of work there.

The attitude I see towards multinationals in Tipp on this thread would turn me off hiring in UL... there are many options out there with other colleges.

Open your eyes man. So many people forget that jobs in the sticks can lead to placements else where. For eg I did my 2nd co-op in a company in Cork. Ended up working in Europe and in the hq in California before moving back to Tipperary. I could have moved back to the US with my current company. It is about what the company is, not where they are positioned. Many opportunities out there.

If the company in Cashel you are talking about is a J&J company, then you'd be very lucky to get in. Their reputation is fantastic, they have brilliant work t's and c's and they have sites all over the world that a talented employee could develop and transfer to. Your attitude would want to up a notch though or you wouldn't make it anyway.

cson

Look, with the greatest respect I'm studying Accountancy and wish to qualify in that profession hence working with any of the Big 4 or Grant Thornton or BDO would be what I want, getting my foot in the door so to speak. The job I'm being interviewed for may well be an excellent experience but in my eyes its for a Business undergrad.

Relocating to Cashel on my own would be a headache in itself too and is a large part of my unhappiness. The attitude expressed in this thread is my own and is no way reflective of the student body in UL so don't let that put you off working with UL for their coop programme. I'd also like to say that coop benefits both the employer and the student. In blunt terms the student gets experience and the employer gets a more than likely skilled worker on the cheap.

As regards my attitude wanting to "notch up"; my attitude is perfectly in tune with who I am. I have certain goals in life and I'm not doing something I don't want to. My life and I'm not being half assed about it. I'd appreciate it if you could retract that.

sceptre

CeNedra wrote: »

The attitude I see towards multinationals in Tipp on this thread would turn me off hiring in UL...

You'd be turned off hiring from a group of 10,000 people based on one guy a bit annoyed that he has to move to Cashel?

Generalise much? Being blunt, I don't defend my chosen college (or anything else) when they don't deserve to be defended but equally I don't hold back on calling things silly either. And that's silly. Obviously your hiring methodologies are your own affair but I hope they're based on better than that.

CeNedra

Well, I did my undergrad and post grad at UL so I can't really hang a whole college over one post on boards now can I!! But it did come across like that I have to admit.

What I'm trying to do is get the poster to think a bit broader. The big accounting firms work with industry so much, they really value industry experience eg exposure to SAP in industry would be of benefit to an accountant. A co-op in industry would not harm any aspirations for accountancy long term, it could really help it actually.

Also, when I started college all I wanted to be was an accountant, that was because I hadn't a clue what other jobs were out there. As soon as I got out there on co-op, I did first in IFSC in banking and 2nd in a US multinational, I completely changed my mind. This is my personal experience obviously. But in retrospect I really think college is a time to learn and find out what is out there and how it can help aspirations long term rather than moaning that things aren't exactly working out. Think a bit different.

By the way, Cashel is actually a pretty nice town from the little I know of it.

Best of luck, but open the auld minds and you'd never know where it could lead you .....