Employers’ perspectives on co-op student work tasks that support their employability competencies

Abstract

Significant pressure exists to ensure university graduates have the requisite employability competencies to successfully transition into the workforce and co-op programs continue to be a widely accepted approach in helping to achieve this. Despite research that suggests both beneficial outcomes and drawbacks to co-op programs, what is not well known, particularly in Canada, is the approach employers take in supporting student development in co-op programs, particularly as they balance student development, their own resources, and the present needs of their organization. Based on the Human Capital pillar of Clarke’s (2018) Integrated Model of Graduate Employability, and an anti-neoliberal perspective, this study created an online survey that investigated employers’ perspectives on select employability competencies in four areas: (1) importance, (2) students’ performance, (3) frequency of assigned relevant work tasks, and (4) amount of time spent engaged in assigned work tasks. Participants of the study were defined as employers of organizations who had formal co-op partnerships with the University of Manitoba and who had supervised at least two co-op work terms, one of which was in the 24 months preceding data collection. Descriptive analysis found that most employers indicated that co-op students perform well in employability competencies they believe are important for recent graduates, most notably, ‘Analytical thinking and problem solving’ and ‘Concern for order, quality and accuracy.’ Similar competencies noted for importance and performance emerged with higher ratings in the number of work tasks assigned and time spent engaged in those work tasks. The overall trend of the data, which emerged through the Likert-type questions and was prominent in the open-ended questions was that, though employers try to balance student needs and interest with organizational goals, they prioritize the needs of the organization.