Despite a difficult labour market and the need for remote work in many industries, employers stepped up and Dalhousie Rowe School of Business students persevered over the past year, proving that not even a pandemic can stop work-integrated learning.
Hiring a co-op or internship student not only enriches the learning experience of the student. It gives you an opportunity to bring new talent onto your team. "Our team enjoys coaching and mentoring curious, driven Dal business students and giving them real-world work experience that helps prepare them for their future careers,” says Sheeba Kochhar, Human Resources Manager at Proposify. “Many of our co-op students have contributed positively to our culture and our goals. It’s like we get a sneak peek and first dibs on fresh new talent – a win-win for the company and students! Our Summer 2021 co-op student, Nigel Bannister, easily integrated into Proposify’s Customer Success team. He also contributed ideas for new initiatives and worked on them with the Sales team."
Some companies have deeply integrated Dalhousie business co-op and internship recruitment into their culture and practices, but if you’ve never hired a student before, it’s never too late to try. “We first learned about the Dalhousie Commerce Co-op program last year and hired one student, Sam Willner, for the Fall 2020 work term to check it out,” says Joe Allen, Executive Director of BNI Maritimes Inc. “We were so pleased with what he brought to our organization that we hired two students, Nick Lawlor and Maia St. John, for the Winter 2021 term! These students were at the end of their first year, still early in their university learning, yet they were already able to offer us real value. We were impressed by the initiative and enthusiasm they demonstrated. They helped us by bringing their technical skills to our projects and by researching and learning new software and techniques.”
Dalhousie’s Management Career Services (MCS) team supports diverse organizations to recruit Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Management, and Corporate Residency MBA students and graduates by assisting with the process of obtaining work-term funding, providing full-service recruitment support, and offering guidance and advice to achieve specific recruitment goals.
For the 2020-21 academic year:
- 100% of 218 Commerce Co-op students secured co-op positions for Fall 2020
- 98.4% of 330 Commerce Co-op students (the largest cohort in the history of the program, all seeking their first co-op experience) secured co-op positions for Winter 2021
- 100% of 236 Commerce Co-op students secured co-op positions for Summer 2021
- 100% of 12 Management Internship students secured 8-month work terms
- 100% of 43 Corporate Residency MBA students secured 8-month work terms
Seeing students thrive in creating the foundation for a successful career is what our work-integrated learning programs are all about. “Work-integrated learning is mandatory in the Commerce Co-op and Corporate Residency MBA programs. I believe it is the primary reason that many students choose to study with us and the reason many diverse employers recruit our talented students," says Robert Wooden, Director of MCS.
To learn how your company can tap into Dalhousie’s business student talent pool, contact mcs@dal.ca or visit dal.ca/mcs.
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