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Employer Terms & Conditions

Purpose In order to provide high-quality service to employers and co-op students, employers must be informed and operate within the following terms of service of Algonquin College's Cooperative Education Department.  The Employer Terms of Service outlines all the important and required items needed for employers.  Following the guidelines in this document enables our employers to:
  • Hire students for positions approved as creditable co-op jobs.
  • Promote competitive/appropriate compensation for their new employee (please confirm that all funding applications have been submitted and approved before hiring a student, if applicable).
  • Provide positive and suitable working conditions, supervision, training, and evaluation.
  • Operate within Algonquin College's co-op process regarding job postings, interview arrangements, and rankings and job offers. Please ensure you review our recruitment process.
Job Postings Employers are asked to:
  • Provide an accurate description of job duties, qualifications, skill level, and work location of the job advertised.
  • Include the name of the organization wishing to employ the student(s), as well as the full name, phone number, and email address of the employer representative.
  • Post your co-op positions as early as possible, to allow for ample time for the security screening process, if applicable.  Co-op positions requiring security screening should be posted before Round 4 of each term. Please review the Co-op Important Dates for more information.
  • Employers are required to have the proper workplace insurance (WSIB) or third-party insurance in place.
Cooperative Education will not accept the following types of employment:
  • Work that is multi-level marketing (MLM) in nature
  • Work that requires the purchase of a service/product which requires a monetary deposit or similar as a condition of employment
  • Work that is 100% commission-based
  • Home-based companies where the office is in a private residence, with exceptions considered on a case-by-case basis.
  • Jobs that requires students to operate as independent contractors
Interview Process Employers are asked to:
  • Provide notice of interview times and cancellations to Cooperative Education as soon as this information is available.
  • Participate in our job offer process and refrain providing the student with a job offer before, during, or directly after the interview.  All offers must be submitted through HireAC in alignment with the Co-op Important Dates.
  • Not ask a student to accept a job offer ahead of the Rank & Offer period.   The key benefit of this structured approach is to ensure an equitable job search for students and to provide employers with access to as much talent as possible.
  • Contact the appropriate Algonquin College Industry Account Manager before sharing candidate resumes with other hiring managers for consideration to ensure the student is still available for hire.
Offer Process (Ranking) Employers are asked to:
  • Offer employment only through Cooperative Education's employment process (i.e., do not make offers during or immediately following an interview).
  • Rank students according to preference for the advertised position.
  • Submit rankings via HireAC in alignment with the Co-op Important Dates.
  • Ranking a student confirms your intention to hire them for their co-op work term, and a tentative co-op job offer will be sent through HireAC.  Upon acceptance of the offer through HireAC, employers are asked to follow up with their students on the next steps of the hiring process.
  • A job offer confirmed in writing must be submitted to the student.
Work Term Employers are asked to:
  • Participate in the work-term assignments and evaluations as prompted by the student.
  • Contact the appropriate Industry Account Manager for assistance should disciplinary action be planned or considering the dismissal of a co-op student.
  • If you wish to rehire a student for an upcoming work term, extend an offer of employment to the student for their next scheduled work term before the end of their current work term and inform Cooperative Education accordingly.
  • Do not ask students to leave their studies to accept full-time employment before completing their program graduation requirements.

Concluding a Work Term

Before the end of the work term, employers are encouraged to have their student(s):
  • Review and update the job description accordingly to ensure accuracy for future postings
  • Write/update a handbook or advice manual for incoming students in the same role.
  • Consider and implement, if possible, feedback about improving the workplace and position for future student employees.
Accountability
  • Algonquin College reserves the right to take the appropriate course of action when an employer does not comply with these policies and procedures. In some cases, this action could include being removed from our approved employer list for co-op student hiring.
  • Noncompliance may include, but is not limited to:
    • Providing incorrect or misleading information
    • Substantiated complaints from students, or practice of unethical practices
    • The employment opportunity is considered by Cooperative Education to not represent a viable work opportunity for the students
    • Behaviour or conduct of an employer in their involvement with the College is deemed contrary to Cooperative Education terms of service, and the College's core values.
    • Be able to provide Workplace Insurance for students throughout the duration of their work-term.  Please contact our office if you foresee this being an issue.