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Saturday, April 15, 2006Are you looking for a break from pushing papers around on your desk? Don't love working from 8-3? Cooperative Education or COOP for short opens up a wide world of work for students. Helping them discover whether it's for life or not at all. COOP has been offered in the Halton region of Ontario just outside of Toronto for more than 20 years. This vibrant program puts students behind the scenes in all kinds of industries whether it be my chosen one of hospitality and tourism or cosmotology, mechanics and much more. Students simply submit an application the the teacher who you don't see all that often in person, yet they coordinate all affairs COOP. You then express two fields you are interested in submerging yourself in for 5 months. You can choose to work all day long for students looking for a full alternative experience with no regular classes. They then apply for a 4 credit program that has them arrive at their placement in the morning and work through to the end of the afternoon. Alternatively a 2 credit program gives you 3 hours of work each day giving you a 2 credit program. Once the teacher looks at your industries of interest they search in your city and surrounding area for a perfect placement. My placement was at a 150 room hotel part of a global chain in Oakville, Ontario just west of Toronto. I walk in to report for work for a 3 hour stint at rotating times in the morning, afternoon or evening in different uniforms depending on the department I'm working in that day. I have shifted throughout the hotel from the office to the kitchen, catering, laundry, bell service and front desk. In each department different duties are laid out for me, with the employees in that department teaching me all about their job and showing me new skills and jobs.
In the office I learned about how hotels do direct billing for members of their loyalty program, filing and various office duties. In the kitchen I helped with cleaning duties, preparation, moving things around the kitchen and lent a hand to the dishwashers. Catering brought putting together wedding and promotional packages. Laundry had me helping to pull dirty guest laundry the maids throw down the laundry chute. I helped the laundry attendant fold sheets, pillow cases and put away other items such as bath robes and mats. Bell service had me knocking on doors doing turn down service, deliveries and delivering complimentary brownies to guests who are part of the hotel's loyalty program.
The front desk agents as they are titled need to call around 15 hotels in the surrounding areas to get their room rates and occupancy, in case they run out of rooms. The agents are always calling maintenance and bell service on their radio as well as housekeeping to follow up on different requests. Courtesy calls are made one hour after check-in to the rooms, key booklets are made up for the next day with coupons and checks of the files all need to be done in a day's work. The multitude of regular duties keeps you busy and gives you a wide variety of designated tasks. Never knowing what someone is going to call or come to the desk about also keeps you on your toes.   As with all alternative programs though not regular school you do need to show documentation of what you're doing and learning. A daily log is kept with the number of hours you accumulated that day along with what you did, learned and the questions you posed in point form. On the back of each log is one of two assignments. Either you will have a journal or a creative activity. For the journal you have to write up a page focusing in further detail on something you learned that week, or about something you did the right way or wrong and the lessons you learned from that. Off and on creative assignments await on the back. These include having to interview an employee at your placement and asking them a series of questions to provide you with added insight into the industry of your choice. Evaluations are done letting the teacher know how you are enjoying the placement and the quality of your experience. Twice during the 5 months, once halfway through the placement and again at the conclusion of your placement. These evaluations rate your performance and how hard you're working, how often you take challenges and what you are learning. How well you cooperate with other staff and clients. This is the crowning glory of the feedback your supervisor gives you.
Teague Neal blogged on 12:06 AM
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Teague Neal |
