In choosing programs to work with, some companies undertake an extensive selection process. As one company representative stated,
Before we have a co-op program, we have to define the need for what our potential employee growth is going to be. And once we determine that, then we determine what kind of person do we want and ultimately what kind of position would they have. And then we contact five, six, seven, or eight schools and we narrow our choices down to three; we make a campus visit and talk to their instructors; we interview their students; we audit a class; we examine their curriculum; and then we invite them here to do the same with us. We share our mission statement, the future direction of the company, and then we select one school. For instance we use the University of Cincinnati for electrical engineering for their four-year degree program, but we also use Cincinnati Technical College for their mechanical engineering, but not the University of Cincinnati. So it depends on what the curriculum is, what is the kind of education they get; theory versus practical or hands-on.At another firm, the human resource director described how she works within the company to define the job, and then interviews colleges:
What I'll do is ask for an appointment with the managers and I'll talk with them about what major would fit the bill. What colleges in the past have been helpful? Since we have a long history, it's always nice to see if there is a college that isn't teaching the right curriculum, even though they may be mechanical engineers, but this college tends to focus more on the equipment we have, or whatever it might be. Then we'll go to that college. So we base a lot of it on history . . . . I introduced [a new college] to the dynamics group, they weren't familiar with them. They had mechanical engineers from another college and they were not pleased with what they were getting. The students were not specific enough to the task. . . . So he [the manager] was not pleased with that school. And I said "why don't I introduce you to [the other college's] electro-mechanical program; let me get you the curriculum." I met with the manager and supervisor again and said "this is the curriculum, this is a profile of what the college has to offer, why don't we interview a couple and see what you think?" He was much more pleased with what he's seeing.In that instance, the manager shifted from a four-year program to a two-year college that was able to provide a more specific curriculum.
In describing how they choose educational institutions to work with, a few of the employer coordinators--some of whom had been at their company for more than twenty years--mentioned that the relationships with the schools preceded them. This does not mean, however, that they continue with schools when the quality decreases. Rather, there seemed to be ongoing discussions about whether the programs still match their needs. As one employer stated,
The relationships with the engineering schools, at least with the University of Cincinnati and the Ohio College of Applied Science, was before me. So it was just really kind of a continuation. Cincinnati Technical College was just sitting down and talking with people and saying "here is a need, how can you satisfy our need?" So we did some interviewing at some schools.In general, employers recognized that there was considerable investment on their part in making co-op placements work--investments that took the form not only of providing placements, but also of donating equipment, money, and other resources such as participating on advisory committees or offering their site for classroom field trips. Employers were therefore highly conscious of selecting the appropriate institution for their co-op program. But the benefit of this deliberation, and of the search process that often preceded new co-op programs, was that employers were quite familiar with a variety of educational programs; this eliminated the gulf between providers and employers that exists in so many local labor markets.
In addition, one employer said they receive requests for co-op positions from students at colleges who do not have formal co-op programs. This happens more often at the four-year engineering level, however, where entry-level positions have become increasingly competitive and graduates often need work experience in order to compete. This employer said it was harder to work with students from colleges without organized programs, but that they try not to discriminate against motivated students who want the experience.
The disadvantage of student-initiated co-ops, however, is that they fail to create institutional linkages between employers and community colleges. Student-initiated placements appear similar to the kinds of employment that students normally have to finance their postsecondary education, for which they then get co-op credit. But student-initiated placements are less appropriate for keeping educational institutions abreast of labor market developments, for modifying their curricula in response to changing demands at work, or for developing permanent placement opportunities for other generations of students.
Wage rates vary considerably: students are paid anywhere from the minimum wage to about $12 per hour. There are roughly two categories of employers: those who treat co-op students like regular employees in terms of wage increases and evaluation; and those who considered them more like temporary or part-time workers. The larger employers with a longer history of co-ops tend to fall into the first category, offering co-op students vacation and holiday pay, pay increases after a certain period of work, and even (in one case) the opportunity to participate in a shared profits plan. Small employers, and those using the parallel approach, were more likely to pay minimum wage, according to co-op coordinators.[14]
A fairly common practice is for co-op students to be paid more as the number of co-op quarters increased--that is, as they become more valuable to the company. At one firm, students from two-year programs start out at a lower wage rate than their four-year counterparts, though at other employers wages are set by position regardless of whether it is filled by a two- or four-year student. In general, the colleges have little influence on pay rates, increases, or benefits in general. The coordinators generally agreed, however, that the students' primary benefits are work experience, and that working more rather than less is important. Therefore, they recommend that employers not offer vacation or sick days during the work terms, in order to reduce the incentive for taking time off.
The three schools differed in their approach to granting degree credit for co-op experience. At OCAS, a certain number of co-op terms are required of each program. However, academic credit is not granted for the co-op terms. During the work term, co-ops are considered full-time students and must register and pay a $50 fee.
At CTC, students receive 10 credit hours towards their associate degrees for co-op work experience, and these 10 credits are required for graduation. Co-op credits can be earned in three ways: through successful completion of a co-op assignment; through a petition for co-op credit based on previous work experience; and by substituting approved courses for the required co-op credit. Certainly the most common method of earning the credits is the first option, completing multiple on-site co-op jobs; on average, only about five to ten percent of students substitute courses or previous work for co-op experiences.
At Sinclair, students can apply for credits ranging from three to twelve hours towards many of the programs. Faculty members serve as "facilitators"; their duties are to work out the contract with the student as to what he or she will be doing on the job, visit the work site once during the term, evaluate the student, and assign a grade for the term.
In order to enter a co-op program at CTC, a student must maintain a 2.0 grade point average, attend full-time, and be "on track with the proper sequence." The students enrolled who are not enrolled in co-op are generally taking "pre-tech" courses or are attending part-time. All new students take the ASSET exam, testing their abilities in basic math and English; students who are weak in a particular area then start in the pre-tech program. (If interested, they can be admitted directly into an occupationally specific pre-tech program such as pre-engineering technology.) A pre-tech counselor works with the student to plan the courseload; upon completion of the remedial work, the student transfers to the major and is eligible for co-op.
Because CTC (unlike OCAS) is an open-admissions college, planning for co-op jobs is particularly challenging for coordinators because they never know how many of the entering students will pass the ASSET placement test or the pre-tech courses and be eligible for co-op. As one coordinator explained,
Because of our open door policy, we cannot estimate how many students are going to come in a term asking for placement. At the beginning of each term, we have a co-op orientation, put signs around, notify everybody. Any new student comes to orientation, they show up. Some orientations we might have 200, you know in the fall and then of course in the spring and summer it's smaller. We tell the students all the procedures. We give them deadlines for turning in their résumés. And there's also a form that their chairperson has to send in to say that they're eligible for co-op. And once they're eligible and turn in their résumés, then they're a case. Students are assigned to coordinators by program.OCAS and CTC offer only vocational programs, and so they attract students who intend to prepare for employment. At both institutions, however, students must be enrolled in programs, not just a series of unrelated courses, in order to participate in work-based experience programs. This practice effectively eliminates the students, so common in many community colleges, who are unsure of their purposes or uncommitted to postsecondary education.
Sinclair is also an open admission college, and participation in co-op is optional. The strongest co-op programs are in the business technology area, which includes accounting, aviation, travel, and computer fields. There are also a number of students from the engineering programs who co-op. Selection of students for participation is somewhat different at this college. The central co-op office does a fair amount of marketing on campus about their services, and has enlisted faculty in certain programs to encourage students as well. In order to enter a co-op, a student must maintain a 2.0 grade point average, have completed at least 12 credits, be working to obtain an associate degree or certificate in an academic program, and complete the introductory co-op/career planning course. There are no part-time or full-time requirements, as most students co-op while enrolled in courses.
In all three institutions, then, there are screening mechanisms to ensure that students entering co-op programs are relatively committed, and that they have either eliminated any academic deficiencies or have maintained a minimum grade point average. These co-op programs are not for the casual students who are so numerous in community colleges, or for the "experimenters" who are casting about for an occupational area to enter, or for those with serious academic deficiencies. As we will clarify, these screening mechanisms are crucial for the colleges to maintain their end of the "high-quality equilibrium" that characterizes the Cincinnati co-op programs. In the process, of course, students without the necessary requirements are screened out, and these may include low-income students who have done poorly in high school, or women and minority students who have not taken the required math at OCAS and CTC.[15] Every college has some remedial efforts in place, however--preparatory courses and the summer bridge program at OCAS, pre-tech courses at CTC, developmental courses at Sinclair--making it possible for students committed to these programs to enter them even if they lack the prerequisites.
The employers choose to work with colleges based on the nature of their programs, and most employers seem to know the curricula fairly well. For example, one company said they choose students from different colleges (both two- and four-year colleges), depending on the program and the direction they want the co-op student to take. One employer stated its goal of hiring students from four-year colleges because they were likely to have longer term goals:
Most of the students at OCAS that we end up getting usually are the four-year students. Generally, even if they come in with the idea that they're going for their associate degree, by the time we're done with them, they go for their bachelor's. We've convinced them that it would be very important, that it could help them later down the road.However, employers differ in their use of two- and four-year students, and some firms chose students from vocational associate degree programs (rather than transfer-oriented programs) because they did not want to lose them to baccalaureate programs in a few years.[16]
Employers also prefer students who are local and plan to stay in the area. The perception at some companies is that two-year college students are more stable in this respect. Some companies hire two- and four-year students interchangeably, while others match their needs for short-term and long-term work. According to the personnel director at a manufacturing plant, they choose the student who matches the type of job that they think they'll fill in the future:
With electrical engineering, our thinking is that we want the baccalaureate education because of the need for more theory in what we do. The mechanical engineering, a lot of our needs, associate education is just plenty . . . So we choose it as much as anything based upon what we think three to five years from now are the types of educated persons that we need in those positions.In another pattern, co-op students are selected by the coordinator at the school. While the personnel representative of the employer has final say on the hire, they defer to the coordinator to place an appropriate student with them. One employer representative emphasized the importance of having a good working relationship with the school:
[The coordinator] doesn't send us anybody that she doesn't feel would work out. She's been in the position long enough to know what our understood requirements are, so to speak.However, another employer commented on having to be careful about the coordinators' helpfulness because of the colleges' goal of placing all students:
You know some of them do a pretty thorough job; sometimes they don't at all. And between the institutions, the counselors and the coordinators are all different. At [one particular college], we've got one coordinator who says "take a look at her, take a look at him, you'll really like them." You've got others who push like crazy people they have trouble placing. And if you listen to them you pick up the people that are hard to place because it is their good feeling inside that they're going to do a wonderful thing and place somebody who is struggling with school and struggling with everything else. So you have to look at the individual coordinator to know whether they're helping you or getting a 100 percent placement, and you can usually judge from that.Even where employers select their own students, they may still rely on college coordinators to help in the selection process by screening out inappropriate students. For example, the co-op representative at a large company with considerable history in co-op admitted,
Another thing that I think that helps us with the interviewing process is that the schools are very good to screen out. They're not going to send me someone that they know [our company's] high standards are not going to be interested in. When I call and I say I have an opening, sometimes I will send them a summary. And one of the first things they'll say is "what is your GPA requirement? What are the skills? Do they have to have experience or can they have worked at McDonald's and this be the first job?" Will the curriculum, in other words, satisfy the needs of the job or do they have to have a previous co-op experience? So that helps, that thoroughness helps.One of the smaller companies tends to rely heavily on the relationship with the college co-op coordinator to not only screen applicants, but to find the right match for them as well:
We develop relationships with most of those people so they understand what our needs are and what kind of person succeeds with us and what kind of person doesn't. So they keep an eye on new people coming in, or people coming back from a job that isn't going to be available next term and they'll send us a little blurb about what kind of person they are. Then we'll interview them. And if the chemistry looks right, we typically make an offer . . . Generally, we work with [a particular local college] and primarily I guess, like anything else in our business, it's people oriented. We've got a good contact in [the co-op coordinator], and that relationship has just worked so well that we tend to rely on him for most of our technical co-ops in the assembly area.At one of the companies that hires over 100 co-ops per term, selection of students is a year-round effort. While most of their co-ops are baccalaureate students, the process for selecting associate degree students is equally challenging. As the recruiter stated,
Most people think the recruiting or getting a co-op is just showing up on the college campuses, and that's not how it is done. I'll spend the majority of my time traveling, involvement, working with the college or university, so that by the time I'm ready to recruit, the right students sign up on my schedule. So, for example, I was at Cincinnati Monday, I'll be at Georgia Tech tomorrow. It is not open sign up per se, but the faculty and the co-op administrators determine my schedule. Or the students come in and say I want to talk with (company). So mostly, I have six key schools that I recruit at and the other ones are on a referral basis. And I do that because I think you only have the time to give to a select number of schools.This same company chooses educational institutions based on the school's interest in them as well as proximity to one of their eleven locations. A "well-disciplined" co-op program at the college is much easier to work with, and therefore they will go to extra efforts to recruit students there. (The elements of a "disciplined" program include rules, requirements, and structure.) For this firm, the availability of classes is critical to the success of a co-op program so that students can rotate terms working and attending classes. The high enrollment of women and minorities is also important, since this firm uses co-op partly as a way to recruit qualified women and minority workers.
Firms have different requirements for co-oping, including term limits. At two companies, students are required to spend at least two quarters with them due to the high cost of training and supervision in the first term. Some employers might also have more specific curriculum requirements such as the ability to read blueprints, having a certain level of math proficiency, or experience on certain machines.
In general, then, the selection process is a joint one: Employers clearly have the final say, but many of them--even the large ones with their own personnel departments--rely heavily on the colleges to select the students that are appropriate for them. This may, of course, place the education providers in a difficult bind. On the one hand, they want to educate all their students and place every individual; and on the other hand, they need to be selective about the students they recommend to employers. But whatever the discomfort involved with selection, it adds another kind of screening to the process, adding to the "high-quality equilibrium" established in Cincinnati.
We were unable to ascertain anything about one possible dimension of selecting students--that is, whether there are any patterns of discrimination against minority students, or against women in nontraditional occupations. This has been a source of concern for proponents of school-to-work programs, too, because of the possibility that discrimination in employment--particularly against black males and women in certain positions--might affect school-to-work programs as well. However, we were able to learn almost nothing about such possibilities: employers are extremely close-mouthed about their racial and gender-based hiring practices (see Grubb et al., 1992), and co-op coordinators were no more informative. It is tempting to conclude that companies using co-ops to "grow their own" employers would be unlikely to discriminate because their commitment to developing fledgling students is so strong--and because they know they will have the opportunity to observe students over a long period of time to weed out those whose performance is inadequate. In addition, several companies use co-op as a way of recruiting minorities and women, and they would be particularly unlikely to discriminate. One company, which relies solely on co-op as its campus recruiting mechanism for permanent hires, stated quite clearly its goals for diversifying their workforce:
[Co-op] gives us the competitive edge in recruiting in that we identify these people early on, especially minorities and females. We're going to identify them in their freshmen, early sophomore year, and not wait. They're not going to be there as seniors to recruit on campus. See, I don't believe that companies can do the traditional way of recruiting anymore. You just cannot go show up on college campuses and get the best and the brightest. I believe they're out there in co-op. But you need that early identification.However, confirming our hunch that firms in the co-op program are unlikely to discriminate would require considerably better data than we were able to obtain.
[13] At Sinclair Community College, the co-op coordinators have the double challenge of recruiting students in addition to employers because of the voluntary nature of co-op there.
[14] Co-op programs are amenable to numerous variations. For example, one college has an arrangement with an employer who employs numerous co-op students, but contracts with the college to pay them so students do not appear on the firm's payroll. This is a company which has gone through major restructuring involving extensive layoffs. The company chose to arrange it this way in order to report fewer workers on their books.
[15] As part of the general lack of data, we were unable to obtain any information about such effects.
[16] However, most students continue to co-op when they transfer. Surprisingly, there is little problem transferring from the two-year to the four-year program, even when it involves switching institutions. As the coordinator stated, "It really isn't that big of a deal to transfer; it's just a matter of working the classes out and the credits out accordingly with the counselors."