Concordia Co-op students get career-ready from day one

 Joining the Institute for Co-operative Education can be exciting, even overwhelming, as students balance their academic studies with paid, full-time internships. To help them feel confident and ready from day one, Concordia has revamped the Career Fundamentals training offered to co-op students in their first term.

Developed by the Institute’s Student Learning and Professional Development team in collaboration with eConcordia, this completely redesigned program combines cutting-edge e-learning approaches with a universal design for learning framework. The goal is to create an inclusive, flexible, and engaging learning experience for students.

Mobile-friendly and designed to fit into a busy schedule, the training is built around students’ real needs, the skills employers are looking for, and the realities of today’s job market.

“Co-op students complete three internships during their undergraduate degree, and for many, their first internship is also their first professional job,” says Julie Foisy, senior director of student success and retention.

“Career Fundamentals ensures students have the knowledge and the professional confidence they need to succeed. This early preparation empowers students to see themselves as young professionals, and lays the foundation not only for successful internships, but a lifetime of career mobility and development.”

Career Fundamentals is a blended program that includes three self-paced online modules on Moodle, along with three optional live online workshops with their peers. The program guides students through the key steps of the internship and job application process with strengths-based strategies that build confidence and readiness. Topics include job search strategies, résumé and cover letter writing, interview skills, and how to navigate Compass, the Institute’s online platform students for internships.

The program also covers essential professional skills such as time and stress management, mental health literacy, learning agility, and how to highlight extracurricular activities and projects.

Launched to Institute students in fall 2025, the revamped training has been refined for the winter 2026 cohort based on their peers’ feedback. Insights from students helped shape the approach, content and learning activities to ensure the training reflects students’ expectations and meets their needs.

From a learning design perspective, student engagement was a central priority. “We used innovative e-learning approaches that are interactive, flexible, and student-centred, helping learners stay motivated while building practical, career-ready skills,” says Emmy Huot, e-learning technologies lead at eConcordia, who designed the training on Moodle.

Adds Stefanie Corona, lead of student professional development and program instructor: “We feature real Institute students who share tips from their lived experiences of applying and being hired for internships.

“In order to keep the course easy to update, we also chose to use an AI voice for the narration so that the content can be revised quickly and can stay current. The narration was written by our Institute team, and is based on real student experiences, research on early career development and the kinds of questions students ask most often,” she explains.

Career Fundamentals is the first required step for all undergraduate, graduate and Career Edge students entering the Institute for Co-operative Education. By completing the program, students gain strong application materials, essential professional skills and the confidence to succeed at their internships.

At the same time, employers benefit from hiring Concordia co-op students who are well-prepared, capable and ready to make a positive impact — helping hiring managers feel confident they’ve made the right choice.

Discover how co-operative education at Concordia benefits both students and employer-partners by turning classroom learning into real-world experience.