Hudson's January
Week 1 Reflection

What movie/book (standalone or series) best represents your co-op experience at U+? Explain why.
The Inside Out 2 movie would best reflect my co-op experience at U+ education and this is because my shifts always varied in how I emotionally felt when committing to my tasks. Sometimes I’m in a state of calm happiness when doing research-oriented tasks and sometimes that might shift to anger when I cannot find a specific bit of information I need. Furthermore, the plot of Inside Out 2 showcases the courses of anxiety Riley goes through when preparing for a major hockey match, which is how I felt at times when I’m presented with new tasks as I sometimes get rollercoasters of anxiety on how I should approach them. And much like the ending of Inside Out 2, I’d end up feeling happy in the end when I realized that completing the task wasn’t as horrifying as I made it out to be.
What learning and/or skill development took place on the job that you wouldn’t have experienced in school?
A skill I wouldn’t have learned at school was learning how to schedule my time productively. From my personal experience, I never found myself having the pressure of “not having enough time” to complete something. I never found it terrifying to study as I was completely fine with studying for hours, which is why I never ran into the issue of needing to use my time more efficiently until I got my co-op placement. As it’s a practice to complete all my co-op tasks within my shift, it challenged me to become more time efficient unlike school (where I have the freedom to do work at home) which is why this skill is something that’s unique to co-op in my opinion.
Did your understanding of the world of work change as a result of your participation in co-op this semester? How so/why not?
Personally, my understanding didn’t change too much as a result of this co-op placement. Considering the fact I’ve had a previous part-time job before, I wasn’t too surprised with how U+ Education had structured multiple departments with multiple supervisors and members, along with how they delegated tasks. The only thing that changed my understanding on the world of work is how important it is to create a work environment that’ll make you more energized and productive; from having study music running in the background to making sure my desk is as clean as possible to avoid distractions.
Your personal values shape the needs you require in a workplace and motivates you to make certain career decisions. With your U+ experience, what are the top three values that must be satisfied when you consider a future workplace? (For example, but not exclusively: advancement; altruism; autonomy; creativity; detailed work; leadership; fast-paced; friendships; high salary; problem-solving; solitary work; teamwork; supportive supervisor; variability/change; work/life balance.) Briefly explain why you chose those three values.
After my several months working at U+ Education, the top three values I require to hold interest in joining a specific workplace in the future are work/life balance, variability/change and friendships. One thing that I liked about U+ Education is how the tasks they assigned to me rarely required me to dedicate time outside of my shift to complete tasks, and the times that I had to only required me to spend only 20 minutes of my free time. Hence, I now strive to have that privilege in the workplace I join from now on in order to lessen a stressful workload. Furthermore, having variance in my tasks is something I’ve learned to appreciate more in the workplace as I found that the times I felt most productive in my shifts was when I had multiple tasks to do that made my day feel less monotonous. Finally, friendships are something that I want to have in the workplace as I want to be a part of a vibrant team culture because of how friendly the U+ Education team was!