Benefits for all in co-op placement
Guest Post by Stacey McCarthy
The Letter M is proud to have participated in a co-op placement with the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, the company’s first (although we’ve been home to several enthusiastic and sorely missed summer students). For this co-op, we welcomed Joanne Ly, a Grade 12 student, who dedicated 2-3 hours each day over four months to (successfully) support the varied communications and branding needs of Letter M’s clients.
During her placement, Joanne experienced the full gamut of communications activities, which included client and staff meetings, theme and brand brainstorming, copywriting, website editing, ad placement plans, social media calendars and more. Although the majority of Letter M’s staff work remotely, Joanne also spent several days in-office to experience the more dynamic energy of an in-person environment.
Joanne was supervised by Letter M’s senior account manager, Stacey McCarthy, who, with support from Letter M’s full account team, outlined, supported and evaluated Joanne’s daily tasks. This direct client work was supplemented by additional independent tasks to ensure Joanne had a fulsome introduction to communications and branding such as reviewing select client projects, learning about Excel, WordPress, Word features such as ‘track changes’, and more.
Here we’re pleased to provide some summary perspectives from both the student and company on the mutual benefits of co-op placements.
Joanne:
I enjoyed doing my co-op term with The Letter M (TLM); they are extremely kind and helped me become more efficient. Co-op, in general, has a lot of benefits, such as getting work experience, gaining practical skills, and actively learning in the “real world,” but at TLM, I learned so much more:
- Utilize communication strategies with various companies/clients. For example, I learned how to promote and research.
- Work effectively and quickly. I tend to be a slow worker, but at TLM, I got a lot quicker at completing day-to-day tasks.
- Write efficiently. I struggle with being creative and spelling, so constant writing helps me generate more ideas as I have to keep up with the projects.
My time at TLM was short, but it was very memorable. This company is amazing, as all the employees and clients are kind, especially my supervisor, Stacey!
Stacey:
We loved (and already miss) Joanne’s enthusiasm and energy. Her unique perspective and youthful, creative mind were invaluable in ensuring we continue to think outside of the box for clients, and her recommendations were never random, but backed by strong strategic brand rationale. Finally, her knowledge of some new digital tools kept us abreast of digital developments and good industry practices.
I know Joanne has a lot of options available as she evaluates her September, post-secondary opportunities, but communications seems a natural fit. I hope, and trust, we’ll hear and perhaps see more of her in the years to come. Thank you, Joanne, for your time, commitment and always-cheerful demeanour. You’ve set our bar for hoped-for future co-op placements very high.
