Originally Posted by feonateresa

^ Yeah, exactly my point. If you have no experience, you're screwed. And if a job requires virtually no experience, you're overqualified for it. I guess internships and co-op in upper years is the next option.

Just because you're in co-op doesn't mean that getting a job is any easier. You're still competing against other students either from the same or different universities. Plus, the co-op office is not there to guarantee you a job... in the end, it's the effort you put in. That's just my two cents having gone through the co-op experience.

I know that for some of the jobs, they already have people in mind. So it helps to job hunt early and maybe even talk to these people in person.

On a slightly different topic, who do I go to if I can't log in to Oscar? It says my Mac ID user name is invalid, but it works for MUGSI.

Originally Posted by reeves

On a slightly different topic, who do I go to if I can't log in to Oscar? It says my Mac ID user name is invalid, but it works for MUGSI.

Have you enabled your "MAC ID Services" yet?

Originally Posted by Ivan Q.

Have you enabled your "MAC ID Services" yet?

Yep. MUGSI works, emails work. Don't know what else to check.

It depends if your program offers co-op or not.

Originally Posted by Bobby66

It depends if your program offers co-op or not.

No. Incoming first year students can't access OSCAR until
1. they've paid for their fees
2. their information gets uploaded into our system sometime in August

Originally Posted by Ivan Q.

Just because you're in co-op doesn't mean that getting a job is any easier. You're still competing against other students either from the same or different universities. Plus, the co-op office is not there to guarantee you a job... in the end, it's the effort you put in. That's just my two cents having gone through the co-op experience.

I know that for some of the jobs, they already have people in mind. So it helps to job hunt early and maybe even talk to these people in person.

Well there's a fourth year co-op class thing in my program where I go to a Speech Language Pathologist in the area and watch him/her do their thing, so I'm sort of guaranteed as long as I do my part. It looks good for the masters program and then voila, I've got good qualifications.

One of my friends was urging me the other day to do co-op because you get lots of experience that way and you network and such.

Originally Posted by ~*Sara*~

That's the problem. You have to be given a chance in order to GET that experience :(

Yeah, that's the dilemma. It sucks doesn't it. :/

Originally Posted by feonateresa

Well there's a fourth year co-op class thing in my program where I go to a Speech Language Pathologist in the area and watch him/her do their thing, so I'm sort of guaranteed as long as I do my part. It looks good for the masters program and then voila, I've got good qualifications.

One of my friends was urging me the other day to do co-op because you get lots of experience that way and you network and such.

Well that's good then. You should definitely do it! It's worth it in the end if you learn new skills and techniques and get to network.

For my program, we were in direct competition with senior biochem students... not fun =/

Originally Posted by Ivan Q.

Well that's good then. You should definitely do it! It's worth it in the end if you learn new skills and techniques and get to network.

For my program, we were in direct competition with senior biochem students... not fun =/

Yikes, that doesn't sound fun - well keep on the lookout for internships and whatnot. Especially the paid ones.

Originally Posted by feonateresa

Yeah, that's the dilemma. It sucks doesn't it. :/

Definitely:(. And I agree, every employer would think of their business first, and getting someone experienced saves him all the training and such, as opposed to a person who's never had a job =/

there's actually a lot of jobs available. Its just that personal preference comes into play and the job may not seems so great so people are like I'll find another one. Apply to what ever you can! Get that work experience... and hey you make money! Not a bad deal for something you might just do over weekends.

Originally Posted by patelp

there's actually a lot of jobs available. Its just that personal preference comes into play and the job may not seems so great so people are like I'll find another one. Apply to what ever you can! Get that work experience... and hey you make money! Not a bad deal for something you might just do over weekends.

I definitely agree! But it's also good to exclude the jobs you KNOW you won't like. Just in case

I know a lot of faculties don't let undergrads do this, but a good job to try and get is to T.A. a course.

A) it looks good on a resume

and

B) it pays really well ($20.75/hour)

I would disagree. You won't really know you're not going to like a job until you do it. I hated jobs I thought I was really going to like.

And I've noticed that many students don't start applying for work until the summer after their first year, so they're disadvantaged when they apply for the same jobs as their peers who worked during high school. If you have zero work experience, you shouldn't be picky.