Co-operative Education Program for Employers
Capable. Valuable. Adaptable.
Solve your recruitment needs with arts co-op students.
The Arts Co-op advantage
Co-op students alternate full-time paid work with study terms while earning their degrees. They bring energy, innovation and a desire to learn to the workplace.
Flexible
Need to hire for short-term projects or ongoing assignments? The flexibility of our program allows you to hire students for four, eight or 12-month work terms.
Dedicated
Students dedicate hours and energy to secure work terms. They appreciate the career opportunity and work hard to be outstanding employees.
Guided
Our coordinators work closely with you to ensure success. Our students participate in pre-employment training and must meet GPA, academic course requirements.
Diverse
Arts co-op students come from a variety of disciplines and can complete work terms in public, private, not-for-profit or government.
Arts student strengths
Co-op students are collaborative, creative problem solvers, ready to contribute to the workplace.
Recruit from a diverse group. Arts has nearly 40 undergraduate programs in a range of fields. Our students have strong multi-disciplinary perspectives, as well as specific areas of knowledge.
Students ready to go on work term are usually midway through their degrees. Some of our students also come with transferable skills from work and volunteer experiences.
After two years of post-secondary education, arts students have developed:
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Communication skills: effectively organize thoughts in both written and oral form
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Critical thinking: understand perspectives, ideas and connections to logically solve problems
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Research and analysis: review data, determine reliability of sources, understand relevance and synthesize key points
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Technical ability: papers, projects, labs and presentations require knowledge of many Microsoft Office applications. Some students have program specific skills such GIS and SPSS
Arts Co-op students are able to learn and adapt quickly and have been successful in multiple business areas such as:
- Internal/external communications
- Energy forecasting/analysis
- Corporate security and compliance
- Financial analysis
- Mapping/civic planning
- Project /records/data management
- Human resources
- Logistics and event planning
- Community engagement/development
- Research and report writing
- Political/economic analysis
- Legal/business administration
With more than two dozen areas of study to choose from, our students have a wide range of expertise. There's a great match for every employer. Some areas our students specialize in are:
- Anthropology
- Archaeology
- Canadian Studies
- Communications
- Development Studies
- Earth Sciences
- East Asian Studies
- Economics
- English
- Film Studies
- French, Italian and Spanish
- Geography
- Germanic and Slavic Studies
- History
- International Indigenous Studies
- International Relations
- Latin American Studies
- Law and Society
- Linguistics
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Religious Studies
- Sociology
- Urban Studies
- Visual Studies
- Women's Studies
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Recruitment cycle
Knowing the co-op program's recruitment cycle can help you plan when a co-op student would be a great addition to your organization. Please note that terms must align with UCalgary academic semesters.
Cycle One
Jobs advertised: Jan. - April
Interview dates: Feb - April
Work term begins: May
Cycle Two
Jobs advertised: May - Aug.
Interview dates: June - Aug.
Work term begins: Sept.
Cycle Three
Jobs advertised: Sept. - Dec.
Interview dates: Oct. - Dec.
Work term begins: Jan.
Employer responsibilites
Co-op students thrive with thoughtful employer engagement.
As an employer partner with the arts co-op program, we ask that you are committed to:
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Offer a minimum of 30-35 hours a week for a period of 12-16 weeks (or longer)
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Engage the student in productive, career-related work
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Supervise the student and provide ongoing performance feedback
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Participate in a worksite visit with a coordinator to assess the work term
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Complete an online assessment of the student’s performance