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Mandeep Barn
Mandeep Barn, UT Commerce student currently at SFU
Gaining relevant work experience and what life after school will look like were the motivators for Mandeep Barn, a University Transfer Commerce student, to join Co-operative (Co-op) Education.
Mandeep was asked to interview at BC Hydro in their Engineering Division a few days before Christmas 2008. BC Hydro had sent the Co-op department a late posting for a Co-op student to assist in the Generation Contract department. Mandeep was skeptical about his chances, but Team Co-op encouraged him to attend the meeting highlighting the fact that most Co-op students had been placed for their January start date. To everyone's delight, Mandeep was offered the four month position which was the beginning of two Co-op terms with the crown corporation.
Mandeep mentioned he has learned in areas the classroom cannot teach. For example, he discovered how a large corporation functions plus the office politics associated with it. In addition Mandeep was exposed to the technical skills needed to operate a variety of software applications in his department. He also had the opportunity to speak with professionals about their jobs and discovered career concentrations he had not considered before. Mandeep found the entire placement invaluable. Working for BC Hydro had not crossed Mandeep's mind before, but now he believes they could be a potential employer once he finishes his degree at SFU.
Even though Mandeep would be completing his degree sooner without the Co-op experience, he is now more confident with his career choice and has networking contacts to call on when he is close to graduation. The advice Mandeep gives to fellow students, "Don't be discouraged if you don't get a placement on your first attempt (this was the third job I applied for over the span of 2 semesters)." Plus, "Co-op's definitely worth it. The overall experience and skills you learn about life, careers, etc. and the technical and more specific stuff are by far worth graduating later for."
