Cooperative Education & Internship Program Guidelines

On your cooperative education or internship assignment, you need to learn the most you can about the company culture, your supervisor’s style, your position, your skills, your field, and the future. It means learning how to learn, developing professional skills, working effectively with your supervisor and your team, observing leadership styles, learning to write and communicate successfully, applying academic concepts, and creating a ‘network’ of professionals to impact your academic and career development. It means learning some of the ways the most effective co-op or intern has been successful.

Attend a Professional Orientation Session

The Professional Orientation Session is required for all first time co-ops and interns to help you prepare to learn and work successfully as a para-professional on your co-op or internship assignment. At the session you will hear what former co-ops have learned, get tips on co-op protocol, and ideas on using observation and journal entries to improve written communication and leadership skills. You will see examples of Employer Evaluations and Student Assessment of Learning Questionnaires.

• College vs. ‘The Real World’
• Guidelines for a Successful Co-op or Internship
• Learning on the Job
• Learning about Leadership on the Job
• Written Communication on the Job
• Completing the Assignment

 

A look at College vs. ‘The Real World’

COLLEGE	‘THE REAL WORLD’
Frequent, quick, and concrete feedback (grades, etc.)	Infrequent and less precise feedback
Highly structured curriculum with lots of direction	Highly structured environment and tasks with few directions
Few significant changes	Frequent and unexpected change
Flexible schedule	Structured schedule
Frequent breaks and time off	Limited time off
Personal control over time, classes	Responding to others
Intellectual challenge	Organizational/People challenge
Choose your performance level (‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’)	‘A’ work required all the time
Focus is on personal development	Focus is on getting results
Create and explore knowledge	Get results with your knowledge
Individual effort	Team effort‘
Right’ answers	Few ‘right’ answers
Independence of ideas and thought	Do it the company way
Professors	Bosses
Less initiative	Lots of initiative

 

Guidelines for a Successful Co-op or Internship

General Guidelines for Success

• Read orientation materials carefully
• Set goals/priorities; be prepared; meet all deadlines
• Ask questions when unsure; take notes
• Observe formality of names and titles
• Dress appropriately
• Be tactful and diplomatic
• Be there every day, on time

Be a Team Player

• Do not compete with co-workers
• Do routine jobs without complaining
• Show initiative
• Develop work relationships slowly after you know office politics
• Always inform your supervisor of your whereabouts

Observe Supervisor’s Priorities About

• Neatness of work area
• Confidentiality of materials
• Coming early or staying late
• Lunch hour routine
• Telephone etiquette
• Asking for time off; a co-op or internship is a “no-cut” class
• Time management

Observe Supervisor’s Management Style

• Do they prefer written or oral reports?
• Do they supervise closely or from afar?
• Do they provide immediate responses to questions or problems or do they prefer to think about them?

Feedback and Reviews

• Ask if you receive no feedback after the first month on the job
• Accept criticism without being defensive
• Do not interpret performance reviews as personal criticism
• Remember people want you to succeed.

 

Learning on the Job

Unlike classes, a co-op or internship is a non-directed learning environment. Your supervisor will guide you in learning certain aspects of your position. However, there is much more to be learned if you take the initiative. In general, interns report that they:

• Gain practical experience while applying classroom learning at a work site
• Enhance professional skills
• Experience professional and person growth

Examples of Learning Outcomes

• Learn specifics related to your major, such as testing theories or principles learned in class in realistic job settings, or learning to use appropriate procedures and equipment
• Refine professional skills learned in class through their practical application or acquire specific professional job skills not taught in your college classes
• Improve interpersonal skills, such as working effectively with others, acting professionally, problem solving, networking, teamwork, communicating more effectively, relating well with supervisors, and professional meeting behavior
• Learn about the organization. What is the organizational chart of your employer? What are the effective and ineffective methods of communicating, decision-making, and supervision? What are the internal and external forces impacting the organization’s performance as well as the behavior of the people in the organization?
• Learn about your field of expertise, including trends in the field and the ‘pros and cons’ of those trends? What is ‘state of the art’ in the field and who are the leaders? Why are they on the leading edge? What are the employment trends and opportunities?
• Learn about resources available to keep up with the new developments in your field

How You Can Learn

• Learn and gain experience by doing your work
• Attend meetings, listen to discussion, and observe people’s behavior and concerns.
• Listen and watch people in informal meetings in their office, at lunch, social functions, etc.
• Learn on your own either at work or after work by reading organizational information and articles, ‘trade journals, or utilize your employer’s training materials. Seek your supervisor’s input regarding policies relating to this type of activity.
• Conduct informational interviews with professionals in your organization, as their workloads permit.
• Meet with your supervisor, faculty and/or co-op staff to discuss and reflect on your observations and experiences.

 

Learning About Leadership on the Job

A co-op or internship provides you with many opportunities to learn about leading so that once your full-time work career begins, you will be ready to be a leader and influence individuals, teams, and groups to accomplish a specific goal. Although there are many definitions of leadership and many styles of leading, it all comes down to influencing someone to do something. Your co-op or internship will give you a great opportunity to watch leadership in action, and maybe even opportunities for you to provide leadership.

Principles of Leadership

• Job titles may convey authority or power, or their lack, but the title does not guarantee that its holder will be a good leader.
• There are many ways of trying to influence someone to accomplish a goal, and none of the ways are always effective, work equally well for every leader, or work for every follower.
• Everyone at work is involved in leading, that is, influencing others (including their bosses) to achieve a goal.

Observe Leadership in your Work Group

• Keep a journal, noting incidents where someone’s attempt to influence others to accomplish the group’s goals was very effective or ineffective.
• Describe the situation facing the group and write down what happened
• Write down your ideas about how the situation could have been handled more effectively and what you learned from it
• Later on, when you are facing similar situations, draw on your observations and plan your own handling of the problem.

Responsibilities of Effective Leaders

• Provide structure, set goals, keep track of time or resources, solve technical problems, set priorities; in general, plan, organize and monitor the work to be done
• Focus on the human element by providing consideration, showing care and concern for people’s feelings, solving people problems, keeping morale up, asking for ideas; in general, motivating others about the work to be done.
• Provide lots of structure AND communication

What kind of leader are you going to become?

Your assignment will open your eyes to the world of work. With your keen observation and analysis of the leadership incidents recorded in your journal, you will be in a better position to become successful when you are called on to provide leadership, to influence an individual, team or group to accomplish a specific goal.  

Written Communications on the Job

Understanding How to Write Effectively

During your assignment, you will see many forms of communication, some more effective than others. Understanding how to write effectively is valuable skills that will help you share information and ideas with your supervisors, co-workers and team members in a way that will benefit all people involved.

Methods of Communication in the Work World

• Information is distributed primarily through written documents, such as memos, proposals and progress reports
• Electronic tools, such as email, are also used, but notice that important documents are presented as a hard copy.

Characteristics of Good Writing

• Good writing is clear and concise.
• Both format and content help the reader understand the information and the course of action to be taken.
• Write for your intended audience and know the purpose of the document - to inform and/or persuade.

Observe the Flow of Information in Your Work Environment

• Are meeting minutes and agenda converted to reports?
• Does your group leader communicate with team members via memos?
• Have you been asked to prepare a progress report on the status of a project?
• Does the company publish a newsletter for employees?
• As you read documents, notice how the information is “packaged”.

Effective Written Communication Follows These Guidelines

• An effective document provides an informational update and a call for action, i.e., you should be reading a briefing of how things stand and instructions or suggestions for future activities.
• It is immediately apparent where the document originated, the intended audience, and when it was written. Providing a date helps organize the information within a time frame.
• The main topic or purpose is clearly stated, either through a subject line, headings, or topic sentence. Do not use extraneous words or details.
• The format of the document breaks the text into manageable, easy to read sections. If headings are used, then each section is formatted in a consistent manner, e.g. headings not bold in one section, italics in another.
• If the document concerns a plan for future action, it is stated specifically, without relying on generalities or vague phrases. For example, “We need to improve our customer service” is the general goal. A list of suggestions or instructions that state how the goal can be accomplished helps the reader understand exactly what needs to be done.

Helpful Writing Hints

• Writing takes practice to do well. In your co-op or internship, you will be in a position to read a variety of documents and you will start to notice the ineffective forms along with the productive and functional documents.
• With your supervisor’s permission, you might take notes on particularly effective documents for your own future reference.
• A good tool to invest in is a writer’s handbook, which will provide you with a handy reference for everything from grammar to style to practical writing tips.
• Communicating effectively on paper is one of the keys to accomplishing your goals in the work world.

 

Completing the Assignment

• Complete your Student Assessment form sent to your employer. Return it to the Cooperative Education & Internship Program.
• Encourage your supervisor to complete the Employer Evaluation of Student form and return it to the Cooperative Education & Internship Program.
• Update your resume before you leave. Let your supervisor look it over and make suggestions on how you can include your work accomplishments/results.
• Collect the business cards of people who might consider hiring you in the future.
• Tell your advisor or faculty members about your co-op or internship assignment.
  Share examples of your co-op or internship experiences in your classes.

VISIT the Co-op & Internship Office at the Career Center, 315 Saddlemire @ Conklin North and pick up a copy of your employer’s evaluation. It makes an excellent reference piece.

CONTACT the Co-op & Internship Program office (419-372-2451) to volunteer to share your experience with other students and groups. Reflecting and presenting are marketable skills to hone.