George Hauser came to UNB from Truro to take engineering, though he wasn’t sure what discipline he wanted to focus on. When it became clear he wanted to pursue Chemical Engineering, Dr. Guida Bendrich convinced him to take a co-op term to broaden his experience.

At first, George was resistant because he wanted to get through his degree and get out working. But Dr. Bendrich convinced him that it would be harder to find a job in his field without experience. So he applied and received a 12-month position with Imperial Oil in Calgary that began after the third year of his program.

He jumped at the chance for this new experience in a province he’d never visited and landed in Cowtown to begin his work term in September 2018. Fortunately, a classmate and friend had also received a co-op position at another firm in the city, so the two found a downtown apartment to share. “There were actually quite a few UNB’ers in the city that we hung around with,” George says.

George became an Environmental and Regulatory Advisor, working from head office in Calgary and also working onsite with field operations. He was in charge of implementing any new government or corporate regulations on the sites. He, therefore, worked heavily with both management and operations and became known as an expert in new federal regulations.

From day-1, George says he was thrown onto a huge project that required him to learn news skills like time management, creativity and communications. “I definitely used some of the knowledge I had gained during design projects in my classes, but I needed to learn how to deal with big teams of 20-40 people and project manage that many different ideas and points of view.”

By December, his manager had already told him they wanted him back full-time after he graduated. George says that he’s heard from the company that they “like hiring UNB students because they’re usually outgoing, can talk to people and are helpful on-site, and they’re willing to work hard.”

At the end of his co-op term he put in an application for the full-time position and he signed a contract with Imperial Oil practically the next day. After graduation, George will take on the role as Environmental and Regulatory Advisor on a big project site north of Fort McMurray.

“I’ll be working between Calgary and the site, getting both operational and head office experience. The pay is really good and the work is amazing – the site is huge – it’s as big as the whole city of Houston.”

“Securing a full-time job before I even go through my final year at UNB is a big relief,” he says. “It was tough adjusting back to the classroom after working for a whole year, but I’m finding that I’m understanding concepts more easily now because I understand how they apply to real-work situations.”

George says he would recommend co-op to all students. “Not many of my classmates have already secured work, and employers are really looking for experience when they hire. Co-op was an amazing way to get that and learn at the same time. I would highly encourage students to seriously consider it.” 

The Engineering Co-op office provides flexible programs where students can work up to six co-op terms (one co-op term is 4-months) as part of their degree. Students are engaged in highly productive work, rather than just observing, and are paid for their efforts (often with government assistance programs). The Co-op Office is accepting applications from large and small organizations around the globe for student co-op positions – and we’d love it if our alumni were involved in hiring our students. If you’d like to learn more please get in touch.