Co-Op Specialist - Appendix D/Temporary Assignment (June 2023 - June 2026)

Status: Appendix D/Temporary Assignment (June 2023 - June 2026)

Home Campus: Fennell

Hours: Monday to Friday; 35 hours a week

Pay Band: K

Pay Rate: $42.38

Posting Date: June 26th, 2023

Closing Date: July 3rd, 2023 at 7:00pm EST

We support and encourage the contributions of our diverse employees. We are committed to nurturing an equitable, diverse and inclusive (EDI) environment for everyone who learns and works at Mohawk College. We believe the rich diversity among our students and the communities we serve should be reflected within our workforce. As educators we believe it is important to act and show leadership in advancing the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion in our community.

Co-op Specialist

The incumbent is responsible for the facilitation and coordination of the co-operative education experience of both co-op students and employers within the Co-op Department. This position’s key mandate is to foster confidence in students to achieve both their co-op goals and career aspirations upon graduation.

Working closely with the academic departments, the position aligns the co-op work term experience with the students’ academic program to ensure the applied learning opportunity enhances and is directly relevant to the students’ classroom learning. Further, the incumbent is responsible for maintaining, developing, and coordinating the policies and procedures required to administer all the college’s co-operative education programs. Collaborating closely with the respective faculty departments, the position is responsible for developing and implementing employer outreach strategies, and engendering constructive relationships with business, industry, government, and non-governmental sectors of the economy in the promotion of the college’s work integrated learning platform.

The position has the principal role of preparing co-op students for their co-op work terms and graduate career pathway through both formal information sessions and personal meetings that address work term preparation and employment search strategies. Coupled with the emphasis on building relationships, the position is expected to investigate new trends and opportunities that are emerging in the field and provide expertise in undertaking the necessary monitoring and follow-up to achieve departmental success indicators.

Responsibilities

Duties include, but are not limited to:

Employer Engagement - Recognizing emerging employment trends and employer/student needs, researches and secures program related paid employment opportunities, within a competitive business and industrial labour market place. Through outreach, labour market analysis and promotional activities, initiates, organizes and coordinates the on-campus recruitment activities for co-op employers, students, and graduates.

• Develop and maintaining significant, productive relationships with representatives from all levels within business, industry, government, and educators in order to effect long term strategies that will meet future project requirements.
• Consult with employers to develop meaningful job descriptions to ensure an effective fit for both the student and employer.
• Engage in strategic networking initiatives through the analysis and investigation with current employer relationships, competing post secondary employer-based programs, faculty, advisory committees, professional trade associations and publications, and community organizations.
• Initiate and promotes Mohawk College Co-operative Education brand, services and programs to potential new employers, typically, but not limited to, the province of Ontario. Marketing strategies include: preliminary screening and qualifying, feature/benefit analysis, identifying and targeting specific employment markets, developing promotional materials, researching potential employers, developing leads, lunch and learn sessions, employer/student information panels and follow up through personal visits, and presentations to prospective employers.
• Liaise with new and established employers, determining employer/student needs, ensuring a maximum level of satisfaction with college programs and maintaining existing positions while anticipating, identifying and securing new employment opportunities for students and graduates.
• Develop and foster employer partnerships, collaborate, and support succession planning initiatives in an increasingly competitive economic climate.
• Performs a significant role in the design and launch of outreach and communication strategies relative to new and emerging initiatives that contribute to the attainment of the College’s strategic priorities, including Lunch & Learn events, industry conferences, college and community job fairs.

Student Preparation and Supports - Provides knowledge and expertise, direction and support to co-op students/graduates participating in Co-operative Education programs to ensure student success and co-operative education standards are achieved.

• Assists students in leveraging the knowledge and skills they have developed in their program of study to their best advantage in marketing themselves to employers.
• Prepares and presents formal presentations to co-op students and employers in relation to information on the College’s Co-op resources, and specifically on co-operative education policies and procedures, the utility of the College Career Portal on-line system, job search techniques (including resume writing, value clarification, interview techniques, professional correspondence, employability skills, and individual career exploration and planning), co-op work term recruitment resources, and employment standards (including Human Rights Code and privacy legislation), using a combination of MS PPT and eLearn systems.
• Applies sound investigational techniques designed to elicit accurate performance feedback relative to the work term experience by both employer and student.
• Monitors and follows up with students on work terms, normally by visiting their place of employment, but occasionally by telephone or through email for those students working at a significant distance from the College.
• Advises students on work term requirements, including the completion of the work term reports, submission deadlines, and the application of the Career Portal tool, through every stage of the process, from job postings and on-campus interviews, to employer offers and work-term confirmations. Reviews completeness of reports as per established guidelines, ensuring that both students and employers have thoroughly and accurately completed the work place documents, and recommends to the Director, Co-op and Experiential Learning, whether the report requirements have been met.
• Identifies and effectively resolves any current or potential issues or concerns by either the employer and/or student, and consults the Director, Co-op and Experiential Learning when required.
• Reviews established requirements that permits students who have an extensive career background to recognize this experience as part of their co-op work term requirements and prepares a recommendation for the review and approval by the Director, Co-op and Experiential Learning, in conjunction with the PLAR office.
• Supports students by providing expertise and insight regarding meaningful available employment opportunities, and expertise in job search techniques and resources.

Faculty and Institutional Engagement - Works collaboratively with academic and student service departments to ensure the coherence and cohesiveness of the co-operative education operations model within the academic planning administrative/finance systems of the college.

• Contributes to inter-departmental planning and strategy implementation in addressing both ad hoc and systemic issues that impact co-operative education and the Co-op Department operations.
• Attends and contributes to program advisory committee meetings, faculty departmental meetings, faculty promotion meetings, and faculty organized events (ie- Meet the Grad Night).
• Collaborates with faculty in investigating new and emerging trends in co-operative education and work integrated learning systems and practices.
• Assists in the development of administrative processes, document trails, other metric systems for purpose of capturing performance data, including employer and student satisfaction results, participation levels, and other co-op and graduate employment success measures.

External Community Partnerships - Facilitates effective liaison and linkage between the Co-op Department and the community.

• Builds effective educational and work integrated learning collaborative with other educational partners such as universities, other colleges, district school boards, sector councils, and work-integrated learning associations/organizations.
• Gathers and compiles data to support sound decision making by the college and its partners in relation to industry trends and labour market shifts.
• Participates in community capacity building groups and committees, including community boards, and multi-agency resource tables.
• Engenders collaborative relationships and productive partnerships with the college’s multi-stakeholder constituencies, encompassing public and private sector alliances, employment partnership planning ventures, college sector strategies, government initiatives, and sector specific projects.

Mohawk Strategic Priorities - Contributes expertise and knowledge to the attainment of the college’s strategic priorities of quality, innovation, and sustainability.

• Undertakes special projects approved by or assigned by the Director, Co-op and Experiential Learning Examples: departmental, college-wide, and/or external committee activities; designing / redesigning methods of operation; marketing activities such as those directed to potential students, or where alternative co-op models may be required.

Qualifications

The successful applicant will have:

• Post graduate (current) accreditation such as a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP), Career Development Practitioner (CDP), or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years direct professional experience in a post-secondary learning, training and business development setting, community outreach and promotion, job and employment development.
• Demonstrated commitment, understanding and knowledge of application of human rights, equity, diversity and inclusion with the ability to communicate and work effectively inter-culturally with diverse groups of students, employees and the community.
• Undergraduate degree required at point of hire (preferred: Masters degree).
• A valid G driver ’ s license is mandatory.
• Experience in educational administration, employment development, counselling techniques, career development or human resources management, industrial relations; or related field.

Mohawk College prioritizes recruiting and retaining diverse employees. With this in mind, the College is committed to fostering inclusive and barrier-free recruitment and selection processes.

Should you require accommodation through any stage of the recruitment process, please contact the Human Resources Department at (905) 575 - 2047.

Mohawk College is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons, women, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, S2LGBTQIA+ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.

For more information concerning the Mohawk College strategic plan, please see: strategicplan.mohawkcollege.ca/