Co-ops and Internships: preparing you for the working world

Hello Future Co-op Students and Interns,

I am writing this blog to share my experience of working as a Co-op student for the last 4 months.

I won’t spend too much time going into the technical details of my job but as a background, I was working in Pickling and Cold Rolling Department at ArcelorMittal Dofasco as a Reliability Intern.

I had good idea of how big ArcelorMittal Dofasco was before I started my work term as I had done a fair amount of research on the company in preparation for the job interview.

Honestly, nothing could have prepared me for my first day at work though. I was anxious, excited, and nervous. But as soon as I reached the main office on Burlington Street, I realized I was not the only one. There were around 50-60 new interns, co-op students, and new hires waiting for their first-day induction. I will be honest, knowing that there are so many people in the same boat relaxed me.

First day induction, which lasted for approximately 4 hours, included a welcome from the Vice-President of Corporate Services (HR), a presentation on safety in the work place and a general welcome by the Talent Management team before we were taken to our respective departments.

When I arrived in my new department I quickly realized that we were not hired to do jobs that no one else is interested in doing (e.g.: photocopy); we were hired because of our potential as future full-timers. We would be given real roles and responsibilities.

On the second day, I started attending production, quality meetings, and was assigned a mentor to answer questions on the workings of the department and to better understand the expectations all my co-workers had of me.

I was given a project which was an ongoing issue in the department. This real challenge helped me develop my critical thinking and communication skills as I worked closely with a wide range of professionals: production workers, engineers and ‘internal customers’.

Apart from their enthusiasm to help me develop my professional skills, ArcelorMittal Dofasco impressed me with their work ethic and quality of employees. Everyone I worked with was eager to help even when I was entering new departments with people I’d never met before to do research. When people saw me struggling with a task, unsolicited they would extend advice or a hand.

This Co-op opportunity taught me things that are not taught in school. If you’re considering doing a Co-op at ArcelorMittal Dofasco or elsewhere, I would strongly recommend it. You’ll certainly be a competitive candidate for the first job you apply for out of school.