Cooperative Experience
Undergraduate Students
Information Technology requires 3 quarters of co-op experience. Co-op is short for co-operative education, and is a program in which you, the student, gains real-life work experience. You will be paid for the job, but more important, you gain on-the-job experience that is valuable when you graduate and begin to search for a full-time position. To help facilitate your job search, the RIT Office of Co-op and Career Services can help you prepare for your co-op job search and maintains active relationships with many employers for job postings and on-campus recruiting activities, including career fairs.
Eligibility and Requirements To be eligible for co-op, you must have completed a minimum of 68 credits, with at least 24 credits of IT courses, including either 4002-219 Programming for Information Technology III or 4002-414 Java for Programmers. You also must have a Co-op Agreement Form on file in the IT office, which can be filled out at a mandatory Co-op Orientation session (see below). Additionally, transfer students must attend at least one quarter (most do two or three quarters) of classes at RIT before they are eligible for their first co-op.
You must complete all of your co-op requirements before you finish your last classes. Another way of stating this is that you may not "end on a co-op." One final consideration: since most students are on co-op in the summer, the summer course offerings are sparse, particularly at the IT concentration level. With that in mind, it is probably best to plan your double block so that it includes the summer quarter (spring/summer or summer/fall). You should secure your first co-op experience as soon as possible following your second year of classes, ideally the summer after your second year.
Mandatory Co-op Orientation Session To begin your co-op search, you must attend a mandatory co-op orientation session at least three quarters prior to your intended co-op quarter. Co-op Orientations are conducted by the Co-op and Career Services IT Co-op Program Coordinators in the beginning weeks of each quarter. These orientation sessions cover co-op policies and procedures, job search strategies, finding jobs on your own, preparation of resumes, cover letters and marketing tools, applying for jobs, on-campus interviews and other ways of presenting yourself as professionally as possible.
You will fill out a Co-op Agreement Form at the Co-op Orientation, which will be kept on file in the IT department, and which is required for Co-op registration.
Transfer students with an AS or AAS degree from a two-year computing program should attend the co-op orientation in the fall quarter and prepare their resumes as soon as possible, since they are likely to go on co-op for a spring/summer double block after only two quarters at RIT. Dates and information about the co-op orientations and other job search programs are available online at http://www.rit.edu/co-op/careers.
Suggested Timeline for Co-op Job Search A suggested time-line would be to attend a co-op orientation at the beginning of the fall quarter of your second year, prepare your resume, register on the RIT Job Zone (on-line job posting system) and begin to respond immediately to opportunities that may be advertised fall and winter quarters. Some companies recruit very early in the year for summer co-op jobs, so you must begin planning your job search 3 quarters in advance of the quarter you wish to work. Many interviews for summer co-ops will occur during spring quarter, but some companies begin interviewing earlier, so you need to be ready! Due to the current competitive employment market, it is suggested that you start your search early and with perseverance. Seeking a job is a "full-time job" and you should be dedicating a significant portion of your time to your job search each week.
Reporting/Registering Your Co-op Once you have accepted an offer, you must register the job. To do so, navigate to the RIT Job Zone (http://www.rit.edu/co-op/careers), click on the Student link and log in. Under Co-op Info, click on the Report Your Job link, fill out the form for the appropriate quarter(s), and submit. select the Report Your Job link and fill out and submit the co-op notification form.
Submitting the notification form will alert the IT department of your intent to register a Co-op job. Upon receipt of this notification form from Job Zone, the IT Department will verify your eligibility for co-op and then register you in SIS for the actual Co-op course, 4002-499.
Note: To be eligible for co-op you need to have a Co-op Agreement Form on file in the IT Department. This form is issued at the Co-op Orientations. If you do not have one on file, you will need to contact your Program Coordinator in the Co-op & Career Services Office.
Prior Work Experience An increasing number of IT students are gaining experience that is equivalent to co-op before they are eligible to register for a co-op. Some students have taken summer internships or worked in summer jobs while still in high school that provided IT-relevant experience. Once you are eligible for co-op, you may petition to have one or more blocks of co-op waived. The process involves completing a petition form (available on the "forms wall" outside the IT Student Services office) and having your manager send a corroborating letter on company letterhead to the department (details are included in the form). The absolute minimum for a co-op block is 350 hours (minimum of 35 hours per week for a minimum of 10 weeks). In some cases, part-time work over an extended period or a series of short-term "consulting" jobs may be an acceptable substitute.
Job Search Resources An excellent resource for job leads is the RIT Job Zone web site (http://www.rit.edu/co-op/careers) , which is maintained by RIT's Co-op and Career Services Office. All students must register on this site to view open co-op positions and on-campus interview opportunities, but you should not limit your search to just that resource.
Job Search Advisement For more information about your personal co-op job search, contact one of the IT Program Coordinators and they will assist you with your employment plans. The Program Coordinators assigned to undergraduate students in the IT department are Jill Jablonski, Jim Bondi and Annette Stewart, and they may be reached by calling (585) 475-2301/6905 TTY. Hearing-impaired IT students also can work with Lynne Morley, who works at the NTID Center on Employment (585) 475-6206.
Co-op Forms [pdf]