Co-Op @ IT companies

[Matrix_Max]

Hope this is in the right forum...

I'll be starting university in September for Engineering. My program also includes co-op so I'll hopefully be working somewhere in that term (Jan-May). I have a few friends who've been through this process and they're all telling me that I'll probably end up at some IT company doing some kind of low-level or rudimentary programming (no complaints here, have to start somewhere).

Anyways, I'm looking at rewriting my resume and I have no related work experience. Mainly retail experience but nothing I think is tangible. I'm in the process of learning C#/.Net stuff I'll probably have most of it down by august, and I'll be skimming through a C++ book also, since I'll be doing a course on 1 of the 2 for school. Other than that, I feel I have nothing else to offer and nothing else to separate me from the hundreds of other applicants.

What are employers looking for from student interns? What if anything can I learn/or work towards before January that would give me some kind of advantage?

[NiTeFiRe]

Talk to the second year/third year students. They have been through the process and know what employers want. Ask what preferred or additional skills keeps comming up in job descriptions so you can learn them and set yourself apart. C++ and PHP came up so I'm going to get a book on PHP and self-teach myself (Im going into second year, start coop next summer) throughout the school year. C++, my school will only teach me so much this year, but I'll see if I have time to improve on that. Since you have no work related experience you might want to go for the all round student approach and try to get good grades/clubs/volunteer etc. to show the potential employer your well-rounded. An on campus computer job aint a bad idea either.

[tsehou]

What I notice at the University of Waterloo is that a lot of the co-op employers look for job experience in using the language. This can be from a job or other real life application. If you don't have any real experience it is fine just putting what languages you know.

Also, soft skills are as important as the technical skills, so this can be where your resume can shine due to your experience in the retail industry. There are some employers who are ok with students learning a new language on the job, because their soft skills are more important to them.