Spring 2011

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Understanding the labour market, for all it has or has not changed after the recession, is integral to assessing the appro-priateness of co-op job development. An awareness of which industries have thrived and which have suffered allows for a more refined and productive process of identifying prospec-tive employers for Waterloo’s co-op students. Such familiarity with the marketplace is also beneficial for educators; educa-tion and the economy are intrinsically linked by the fact that a university degree is intended to aid a graduate in securing employment. Different degrees enable different career paths; a forward-thinking university ensures that it does not prescribe degrees for which there are few job prospects.

The major trends in growth and decrease by industry are fairly consistent over time: the recession did little to effect these trends. Service sector jobs have long been out-growing goods production jobs: between 1981 and 2009, the service sector experienced a growth of 72.4% whereas goods production grew by 49.3%.

“The recession came. The recession went. There has been relatively little aftermath on the labour market.” Smith’s comment is a surprising one, especially for those who were affected by the economic downturn of 2008/2009; but, his observation is accurate and he has the statistics to sup-port it. “Of all the mature industrial states on the planet,” he states, “Canada is the first one to return to its previous peak of employment. Of all these mature states, we have the highest rate of job creation since 1960.” Canada, it would appear, has done more than weather the economic storm – it is flourishing now.

Is the University of Waterloo doing just this – graduating students, providing them with opportunities for multiple work terms, only to find that a changing economy has stunted their likelihood of employment? Adjunct Associate Professor of Eco-nomics Larry Smith helps answer this question: he presents a brief overview of Canada’s post-recession labour market, with

(Continued on pg. 2)

a focus on the correlation between successful industries and related degree programs.

CO-OP, WATERLOO & THE  ECONOMYAlana Rigby, Media & Publications Associate, CECS, interviews Larry Smith, Adjunct Associate Professor of Economics

IN THIS ISSUE:Co-op, Waterloo & the Economy ... 1

Lead Development ... 3

Job Development in Dubai: An International Angle ... 4

The Spectrum ... 5

Beyond the Spectrum ... 5

The PRISM is a triannual e-publication released by Co-operative Education.

To view past issues, visit:www.cecs.uwaterloo.ca/Prism

Issue editor: Alana Rigby

a SPECTRUM of ENLIGHTENING CECS NEWS

As we wrapped up this issue of PRISM, Canada was heading, willingly or otherwise, to the federal polls. By the time you read this, I’m not sure whether we will see terrain that is much different. Re-gardless, the economy was the front and centre campaign issue and I suspect will continue to be for many Canadians for a while yet. The state of the economy is particularly pertinent to us at Waterloo where we have ever increasing numbers of students looking for co-op employment each term. Gasp!

Ready, set, go!

I hope this issue of PRISM is as uplifting for you as it is for me. I’m pretty pumped with the stamina we’ve demonstrated, both nationally and institutionally, to traverse the rough economic terrain of the past few years. Whether we find ourselves on a new political landscape, or its “same old, same old”, I know that Waterloo students, co-op and graduates, can go the distance.

In this issue of PRISM, we take another look at the state of the economy and its relation to co-op employment. In Co-op, Waterloo and the Economy, Larry Smith, Adjunct Associate Professor of Economics takes a post-recessionary look at the labour market in Canada, and dare I say, his story has a happy ending for both the educational focus and co-op at Waterloo. In Lead Development, Robert Vanderlaan, Business Development Manager for CECS, tells us about Waterloo’s expanded focus on finding and introducing new employers to Waterloo’s wealth of talent. In Job Develop-ment in Dubai: An International Angle, long time CECS staffer and current Job Development Man-ager for the Dubai campus, Rick Roach, tells us about the ups and downs of building a culture of co-op in a culture where none exists.

GOOD NEWS WATERLOORocco Fondacaro, Ph.D, Director, Student & Faculty Relations, CECS

Did you know the University of Waterloo hires more of our co-op students than any other em-ployer? Spectrum presents a hiring wheel showing where co-op students are plying their skills on our campus. Finally, this issue’s editor, Alana Rigby, presents an Employment Timeline, revealing the consistently strong employment success of Waterloo co-op students during, and in the after-math of recent global economic chaos. While the percentage of students employed showed minor peaks and troughs from Winter 2008 till Fall 2010, several hundred more students were seeking co-op work each and every term. In absolute numbers, each term saw more students getting co-op jobs than the term preceding it. Another gasp!

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AN  EMPLOYMENT  TIMELINEAlthough percentage-wise co-op employment appeared to decrease during the recession, in terms of absolute numbers, the number of stu-dents employed increased by hundreds each term. Co-op students still found unique work experiences; showcased below are some of those ARTSAHS ENG ENV MATH SCI

Spring 2008Winter 2008 Fall 2008Kate Howes (3B ERS) worked in Alert, the northernmost point in Canada, measuring chemical emissions & collating environmental data.

Carmen Lau (3A ARCH)built 3D models & blueprint diagrams with Kohn Penderson Fox Asso-ciates, an architecture company in London, England.

Cole Atlin (2A PACS) spent a term writing speeches & research-ing campaign strategies for the NDP in Queen’s Park, Toronto.

Painful though the recession was, the bulk of its effects were in areas where co-op students and newly minted grads are not likely to seek employment – in goods produc-tion, in manufacturing and in agriculture.

“We can expect the future to look very much like the im-mediate past,” Smith says with confidence. What this means for Waterloo and co-op is that, despite the recession, our programs are still relevant and our students are still gaining worthwhile experience. What Larry Smith’s comments about self-employment reveal is that the values Waterloo holds dearest: innovation, free-thinking, and the spirit of ‘why not’ are, in fact, part of Canada’s national identity. Whether or not Canadians recognize this identity is another matter entirely.

This burst of entrepreneurship is undeniably more in line with the ‘American Dream’; as Smith states, “no one envisions Canadians as a mob of aggressive entrepreneurs.” But entrepreneurship has, in fact, been commonplace in Canada. Waterloo encapsulates this notion with its plethora of alumni entrepreneurs who own start-up companies and happily return to hire co-ops.

One reason for this marked difference is rather surprising, and is very much in line with Waterloo’s affinity for innovation and creativity. This reason is one Smith describes as being “quite contrary to our perceived culture. The reason is that we have one of the highest rates of self-employment on the planet. Canada creates jobs, self-employment, at one of the high-est rates of all mature industrialized states. Last month alone, 20,000 persons started their own businesses.”

Despite this, there is reason for both men and women to share some optimism. As Canadians, we can take pride that we live in a country that has, for the most part, recovered from the recession. This is a remarkable feat indeed, especial-ly given the state of our southern neighbours. “The United States, at their present rate of job creation, will take at least six more years to return to their previous employment peak,” Smith says, describing some of the most notable results. “Their employment ratio sits at 58.4%, a good three percent less than Canada’s 61.8%.”

One discernable difference, however, appears when as-sessing employment by gender ratio. “Physical strength has absolutely nothing to do with any form of career success,” Smith says, and this change is partly the result of the decrease in the goods production sector. “Simply put, there are more opportunities in service than there are in goods production. Jobs in the service industry require the soft skills that are traditionally associated

Smith reminds us, however, that “not all students conform to these narrowly defined programs. We have to consider industries and occupations for which a more generally educated student would fit.” For example, occupations categorized as management positions have grown substan-tially, increasing in size by 24.2% from 1991 to 2009. “One of the reasons we’re interested in management is because it is a career to which people from almost any degree back-ground could aspire.” Similarly, the business, finance and administration occupations are booming, increasing by 21.5% in the same time period. Together, these two occupational areas comprise 27.2% of all employment. They represent a significant portion of available jobs, and are growing substantially. Thus, they are occupational areas worth monitoring.

Another service sector industry that grew significantly was health care and social assistance, which “doubled its employment and increased its share of total national em-ployment from 8.4% to 11.6%.” This is promising, both as a location for co-op job developers to focus their efforts, and as an indication that aspiring healthcare providers in science or applied health sciences are likely to find employment.

Within that service sector, the increase the university should be most concerned with was in the professional, scientific and technical industry. “This is where you’d put the CAs, the engineers, the planners, the economists. A large number of our programs fall into this category.” Knowing that, it’s pleasing to see the industry increasing to 205.4% the size it was in 1981, doubling its share of national employment to 7.1%. Smith is satisfied with this develop-ment: “just because we graduate people does not mean the marketplace will make jobs for them, but in this case it is creating those jobs, and at a very high rate.”

with women, not the brawn or hyper-competition typically as-sociated with men. It is a broad generalization, but it does not change the fact that our female graduates, upon graduation, are more likely to find a job than their male equivalents.” Sta-tistically speaking, “women out-employ men, are more likely to be highly educated and even have the gall to outlive men.”

“We can expect the future to look verymuch like the immediate past.”

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Christina Miceli (3B GEO) worked for Trim-ble in New Zealand. She did extensive field work testing GPS systems.

Shaelyn Culleton, (3A BIO) sur-veyed terminal cancer patients and turned her results into pub-lished, peer-reviewed papers while working atSunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Taif Syed (3A ELE)travelled to California to join Apple in their development of the iPhone display technologies.

Cole Atlin (2A PACS) spent a term writing speeches & research-ing campaign strategies for the NDP in Queen’s Park, Toronto.

Every university faculty has programs with specific needs and nuances. Every prospective employer has questions and con-cerns about the co-op process and how to “hire Waterloo”. Every co-op student has personal interests and preferences in mind when applying for a work term. Every student becomes a graduate who needs full-time employment. Lead develop-ment exists to reconcile these often competing needs.

The lead development process is spearheaded by Robert Vanderlaan, the Business Development Manager for CECS since September, 2009. However, Vanderlaan confides, lead development existed well before that: “field co-ordinators have been doing lead development for a long, long time.” The market downturn of 2008/2009, combined with increased competition from other schools, created the need to more directly and more actively seek out prospective new employ-ers. “What we’re doing now,” Vanderlaan explains, “is defin-ing processes, following those processes, having a consistent methodology and consistent way of tracking data. In a previ-ous time, we may have had forty field co-ordinators using individual approaches. Now, we have a consistent system.”

What is that system? Vanderlaan defines lead development by its goals: “create more job opportunities, engage more employers, improve our geographic presence.” Essentially, lead development entails enticing new employers to “hire Waterloo”, and encouraging current employers to expand their hiring processes into fields they have not hired before.

The process takes into consideration a variety of issues when identifying prospective employers. “Geography is a significant factor,” says Vanderlaan: “the GTA represents the home base for more than 50% of our students. Students will migrate to their home base, especially as juniors. We need to consider that more than 50% of our job opportunities would hopefully come from the GTA area.” Some programs currently have a greater need due to lagging employment levels. But that is not to say that smaller or more successfully employed pro-grams are ignored. For example, the recently created Masters of Public Service program has twenty-five students scheduled to work in spring. As a new program, few employers existed. Vanderlaan was responsible for co-ordinating with the Fac-ulty to develop a strategy to approach the marketplace. Once established, employers were targeted and approached, all in the hopes of creating jobs for these masters students.

Approaching employers to develop a lead can occur several ways. Recently, Vanderlaan and other Waterloo representa-tives attended the Human Resources Professionals Associa-tion (HRPA) conference at the Toronto Metro Convention Centre. HR is a field that provides prospective employers for all faculties; thus, HRPA represented a diverse networking op-portunity for CECS. Although lead development often occurs through attending conferences, the initiatives are not always so costly. Anything from referrals to breakfast meetings to open group events can also provide CECS with cost-free ven-ues for marketing our students.

Often, initial contact at a conference or event is not enough to constitute a lead. Lead development is a lengthy process; as Vanderlaan describes: “no company will flippantly say ‘let’s hire five co-ops!’. We plant the seed, but then budgets have to be set and organizational fit has to be examined. By the time the seed germinates, a year might’ve passed. We need to ensure we have regular contact with them and answers to their questions.”

LEAD DEVELOPMENTAlana Rigby, Media & Publications Associate, CECS, interviews Robert Vanderlaan, Business Development Manager, CECS

Rob and other CECS field co-ordinators and di-rectors attended the HRPA confer-ence, hoping to entice prospec-tive employers to hire Waterloo.

Lead development is a long term process that requires diligent attention. “Sometimes,” Vanderlaan confesses, “the biggest challenge is knowing where to start. When people find out what we do, they get excited. They all have ideas and pet projects; they all want to be involved. It’s challeng-ing to satisfy all those niches and it’s challenging to satisfy them well.” But satisfaction has been delivered: at HRPA the lead development team generated 83 class A leads – that is, 83 promising employment opportunities from employers who’ve expressed interest in co-op hiring. As Canada pulls itself out of its economic slump, co-op at Waterloo remains strong, and that is in part due to the efforts of the lead development team.

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MThe United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly Dubai, was hit hard by the 2008 recession. Construction projects were stopped, many workers left the country, and companies across the Emirates were forced to scale back. Now, local newspapers try to spread hope, describing a “strong recovery”. There does appear to

At the very least, the economic recovery appears to be on our side. The Gulf News reports that recently “the Dubai economy ... forecasts 1.6% growth in Dubai’s gross domestic product in 2010. It is projected to expand 4.7% in 2011 and 6.3% in 2012,” so those of us who focus on job development have reason for hope. It appears that, even continents away, in a country where the recession took a slightly different form, co-op and Waterloo will continue to build on its success.

Despite these little victories, we (both staff and faculty) have our work cut out for us in Dubai. Two senior co-ops have recently been hired to assist with marketing and job development. And as our students return from their work terms, having grown themselves and benefitted their employers, we plan to advertise and lever-age their successes with other employers.

The result of these efforts is success that’s been long in the making, but it’s success nonetheless. Employers are often slow to interview, but jobs are being posted and filled; our students are going out to work and impressing their employ-ers. Some of these employers are coming to our campus to advertise and speak directly with students – they’re impressed with our education system and would like to see us succeed.

How do I go about doing this? I collaborate with the experi-enced staff and faculty at our campus in Dubai. We hosted a “year-one” celebration and invited employers to meet our en-thusiastic students. We target and call employers, and arrange meetings with just about anyone willing to listen to our pitch. We track our calls diligently and follow-up with all employers who show interest. We work with the students as well, encour-aging them to participate in local events which benefits both the campus (by increasing its profile) and the students (by enhancing their résumés).

Technology Management. The Dubai campus started small, but it’s growing quickly and we need to find jobs to keep pace with that growth.

Labour in the UAE is also less expensive, much less expensive than Waterloo’s standards for co-ops, and workers there require work permits. Many employers I approached were concerned about being fined for em-ploying students who had not been officially approved to work. Additionally, the government encourages the hiring of Emirati nationals and we have none enrolled at our Dubai campus at present.

problem when trying to find these students job op-portunities. Co-operative education is an entirely new concept in the UAE where employers are used to taking students as unpaid interns who contribute little and learn even less. Students are viewed as learners, not as productive and innovative workers.

It was in this economic climate that the uWater-loo Dubai campus opened. In fall 2009, the first class of civil and chemi-cal engineers be-gan their 1A term. These students were scheduled to undertake their first work term in spring 2010.

JOB DEVELOPMENT IN DUBAI: AN INTERNATIONAL  ANGLERick Roach, CECS Job Development Manager, Dubai Campus

be more economic activity; but, there are remnants of the economic downturn everywhere.

“Slow-builds” occur in Dubai where the minimum amount

of labour works on a con-struction project to prevent

its cancellation

In the face of all these challenges, fall 2010 saw the addi-tion of two co-op optional Math programs to the campus: Financial Analysis and Risk Management and Information

As you can imagine, the post-recession economy posed something of a

Karan (2A Civil) worked in Abu Dhabi for Project Management & Design Consultants. He performed so well that Dubai campus hopes to bring

them on board as a co-op employer.

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Fall 2010Spring 2010Joel Brooks (3A REC) worked in Wemindji, PQ - a Cree community. He developed athletics programs & fundraised for trips, all the while playing sports himself.

Katie Meredith (4A PSCI)travelled to Singapore to conduct research for the National University of Singapore, Institute of Systems Science.

Adrian Morun (4B MATH/BUS Double Degree) student, helped Microsoft Canada with its marketing campaign and financialforecasting process.

Winter 2010

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& Alumni Affairs

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Recreational ServicesParking Services

Library

Housing & Residences

Information & Systems Technology

Centre for Teaching

Excellence

Federation of Students

Human ResourcesOffice of Research

Office of the Registrar

Organization & Human Development

Student Awards

Student Services

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Bulk of ENG faculty jobs: research (mechanical, chemical, mechatronics)

Bulk of MATH faculty jobs: CS tutors

Bulk of SCI faculty jobs: research (chemistry, biology)

Bulk of ENVfaculty jobs: research (geography)

Bulk of AHS faculty jobs: research (kinesiology)

Audio Visual CentreFinance DepartmentCommunications & Public AffairsOffice of the Associate VPOffice of the VP Admin & FinanceOffice for Persons with Disabilities

Creative ServicesVeloCityVisitors CentreRetail ServicesWatCard OfficeFood Services

Academic Support Groups Employing Fewer Than 1%

5%

316 students were employed by Faculties.

105 students were employed by these units.

HIRING

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FACULTY

SUPPORT UNITHIRING

Bulk ofARTS faculty jobs: techsupport

Waterloo is the biggest employer of co-op students. Students work-ing on campus are employed either by academic support units or by faculties. Here’s where they were working in Winter 2011...