This is an excerpt from an article written by Fatima Muni for Co-operative Education.
Before switching to Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op), Madison had done three co-op work terms.
Originally, she planned to continue with a regular co-op stream, but after suffering a concussion, was unable to continue the rest of her co-op terms. Because of this unexpected change, she decided to look further into E Co-op and give it a shot!
Both Madison and her partner were interested in woodworking. Taking their hobby and Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), they came up with聽, a business that specializes in handmade home decor products.
What kind of skills did you develop during your E Co-op term and how did they differ from skills developed during a traditional term?
鈥淚鈥檓 doing a double degree, and my second degree is in business. So, I think I went into the co-op term a little bit naive thinking that I knew everything I needed to know in business compared to my peers, who probably weren鈥檛. But, in our first week, we had ignition week, and we kind of were given a crash course in entrepreneurship and networking and everything. I actually learned a lot.
I don鈥檛 want to tell my business professors this, but that was the most efficient and the most learning that I鈥檝e done probably in my entire business undergrad. It was great to hear a variety of speakers and presentations about their experiences and skills that they鈥檝e applied in the real world and have helped them, as opposed to just theories and concepts in textbooks. They taught us a lot of real technical skills that could actually be applied in the business world, which was great!鈥
What are the differences between this experience and previous experiences?
鈥淚 was very lucky to have three really great co-op jobs prior to this,聽and I really enjoyed them, but this was definitely a very unique and fascinating experience. It was completely different than all of my standard co-op jobs. I really enjoyed the flexibility of what this E Co-op term provided. The ability to not only just decide on my own daily tasks, but to decide the entire direction that the term would go in was completely up to me.
In the past聽with my co-op jobs, I've shown up on the first day,聽and they kind of outline each month of the co-op term.聽They're gonna say, 鈥淥h, you work towards this project, and you'll be working on this project for your whole co-op term.鈥 But, with E Co-op, the first week we were given the tools and resources to make our own decisions, and then we were left on our own with support if we needed it. We were allowed to decide for ourselves where our time is best spent.
I really enjoyed all of the trust that our work supervisor, Wayne, instilled in all of us to be able to pursue聽our own ventures聽how we saw fit.鈥