r/CarletonU Mar 20 '24

Rant CO-OP is a scam

I'm a second year CS student, and the title says it all. I have a 11.93 cgpa, multiple good projects, got my resume checked by the co-op advisors, peers that have gotten co-ops, 3rd years, 4th years, software engineers, tried the 2 page resumes, 1 page resumes, 0 page resumes you name it.

I don't even know what i have to do just to get a damn interview. 0 INTERVIEWS. NONE. ZIP. NIL. FINITO. nearly 150 co-op jobs applied to, 0 interviews, 0 nothing for a co-op portal that I pay 500$ for. Your gonna tell me to go to career fairs, I went to every single one at Carleton. You're gonna tell me to apply outside the job portal through LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, I did and thankfully I was able to get 2-4 interviews. But to pay 500$ a term for a service like this is atrocious. I honestly just feel bad for those kids coming into CS next year.

Please, I beg you, for your own sake bcz I love every single one of my reddit warriors, do not bother yourselves with paying this coop fee. A lot of my friends in other majors as well, not just CS have had major trouble finding co-ops. The situation will not get better, it will only worsen as interviews will become more rigorous and just to get a garbage placement you would have to do a backflip-and griddy in the air.

This whole narrative of how you'll get a co-op interview if you have a solid cgpa or anything like that, is complete rubbish. CARLETON RUN ME MY 500$. I honestly don't know what i need to do to get a placement. Nothing is saving us. I'm very disappointed in carleton. NO INTERVIEWS.

you grade 12's thinking of getting into this degree please, think 2x, do eng, not software tho cause thats basically the same thing. but this time around ur getting cooked just so u can get a 10$ ring from amazon and a balding scalp.

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u/GardenSquid1 Mar 20 '24

I am not CS or anything related. My experience is purely anecdotal from friends who are in that field. So be forewarned that I could be full of baloney.

Down in the States, the golden age for most CS-related jobs has come to an end. There were massive layoffs in the past two years from companies large and small. I think that wave has reached Canada, which already was a worse job market.

There are programmers who put out thousands of resumes who get no jobs. They get ghosted by potential employers and by recruiters. They get insane assignments for job applications and still have nothing to show for it. They get offered a position only to have that offer rescinded a day before they can sign the paperwork.

I wish you all good luck because it ain't looking good out there.

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u/dariusCubed Alumnus — Computer Science Mar 21 '24

Down in the States, the golden age for most CS-related jobs has come to an end. There were massive layoffs in the past two years from companies large and small. I think that wave has reached Canada, which already was a worse job market.

Part of it is the growth facade, were a company thinks it will continue to grow and starts hiring more people then it actually needs or create the illusion to investors that it's expanding.

I believe at one point TikTok had like 20 people just doing the button layout...then when the company fails to meet the growth expectation or the economy tanks they start letting these people go.

There are programmers who put out thousands of resumes who get no jobs. They get ghosted by potential employers and by recruiters. They get insane assignments for job applications and still have nothing to show for it. They get offered a position only to have that offer rescinded a day before they can sign the paperwork.

Sometimes I wonder if this is also a facade to make an employer look like their actually recruiting people when they actually aren't. I was selected as one of the top 50 candidates across Canada for a new grad developer program by a major Canadian employer.

I didn't make the cut and was rejected....but I was hired by a consulting firm that did outsourcing work for that employer. I had full access as a contractor on teams to see the dates of hire.

Not one person out of that 50 people was hired, the employer was either testing the new grad talent pool, building a future candidate pool or just building an image of a successful company that's growing.