Beginning in 2020, you’ll see a new tab within each co-op job posting in WaterlooWorks where students and employers can view work term ratings submitted anonymously by students over past work terms. This tab will also contain a hiring history for the organization, if available.

Making more informed decisions

This new approach to sharing student feedback will allow you to consider the experiences of other students when making your application decisions, as well as provide your own anonymous feedback about an employer or job after completing a work term. This means you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about your next work term while helping other students to do the same.

Bonus: you might even help an employer to identify trends and improve their next co-op student’s experience!

What’s included in the work term ratings summary?

The work term ratings summary includes:

The average overall rating (out of 10) and number of ratings for all co-op work terms

The average overall rating (out of 10) and number of ratings for the employer Organization and Division (if available)

A distribution breakdown of overall satisfaction ratings (out of 10)

A breakdown of average ratings (out of 5) by individual Rate My Work Term questions for both the employer and for all co-op work terms

Here are some key things to keep in mind:

Data collection began in Winter 2017 and will roll forward using the most recent 9 terms (3 years) of information

To ensure anonymity for students, this information will be reported only when there are 5 or more ratings for the employer at either the Organization or Division level A Division divides the Organization (e.g. ABC Company) into independent groups based on factors such as physical location or business unit (e.g. Toronto Office)

Submitting a work term rating is optional

Response data will be presented back anonymously to both students and employers in identical reports

Students can find work term rating reports attached to a specific job posting in WaterlooWorks

Students are not able to search or filter jobs based on hiring history or work term ratings data

Once per term, a new report will be generated that captures the previous term’s feedback; any changes made after the reports are created will be reflected in the following term’s report

Open-text responses may be a future enhancement, though we need to gain experience with the current functionality before considering this

Questions and core principles for reporting the data were developed in close partnership with the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), and its affiliated faculty student societies

the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), and its affiliated faculty student societies were developed with representatives from UWaterloo student societies

Questions were purposely kept to under 10 questions to ensure: it’s quick and easy for students to fill out students will not be overwhelmed in the job-searching process using the data



What kinds of questions will students be asked?

Students are asked to rate the following:

Availability of employer support (e.g. start of the term in the company, ongoing interactions with supervisors/others, general feedback and end-of-term transition) Opportunities to learn or develop new skills Opportunities to make meaningful contributions at work Opportunities to expand your professional network Appropriate compensation and/or benefits How closely your work was related to your academic program How closely your work was related to the skills you are developing at university Your overall satisfaction level with your work term (satisfaction takes into consideration the work being assigned, support and resources, the work environment, whether the job is meeting your expectations, etc.)

Hiring history

The hiring history provides summary information about an employers’ co-op hiring history, if the company has previously hired from the University of Waterloo within the last nine terms. The report includes a breakdown of the number of students hired per term, the percentage of hires by faculty and work term number, and the number of students hired by most frequent academic program.

The more work term ratings we receive, the richer the data for future students applying to co-op jobs. If you’re finishing a work term, don’t forget to submit a rating. Visit our WaterlooWorks Help page for instructions on how to rate your work term.

If you have questions, please contact your co-op advisor.