Caseware Co-op Program Prepares Students for Career Success
By Mike Martin
When Pedro Bastos started his co-op placement with Caseware’s Cloud Operations department, he had a plan. He knew what technologies he wanted to work with and how he wanted his career to develop. What he didn’t know was that during his placement, he would lead two key projects: one which gave Caseware better visibility into its cloud costs and another which improved the company’s IT system monitoring capabilities.
That may sound like a lot of responsibility for a student, but it’s not unusual for co-op placements to play important roles at Caseware.
“When I was a co-op student, I heard my manager say more than once that he saw me as an equal to everyone else in the department,” said Bastos, now a Cloud Infrastructure Engineer with Caseware. “Caseware looks at you like a full-time employee. You have the same responsibilities and are treated like anyone else.”
Raika Sethi, a co-op student enrolled in the University of Toronto’s Master of Information, User Experience Design program, working as a Caseware UX designer, echoed Bastos’ thoughts.
“At Caseware, I feel like I have the autonomy to take on projects and make my own decisions,” she said. “My decisions are backed by my managers, supervisors and senior designers and not once have I been micromanaged. The tasks I’m working on make me feel like I’m having an impact.”
Placements play key roles
Caseware recently hosted university partners and prospective co-op students at its inaugural University Day in its Toronto headquarters. Students have always played an important role in helping Caseware shape the future of accounting technology. University Day gave incoming co-ops an opportunity to learn more about the company and its culture. They were also able to network with Caseware’s executive leadership team, co-op alumni, hiring managers, recruiters and Caseware team members who joined the company full-time after their co-op journey.
“The goal of our co-op program is to give students the tools, mentorship, experience and connections they need to succeed in their careers,” said Caseware CEO David Osborne. “We want them to take ownership of their work, explore new projects and tackle challenges, and create an amazing network. At Caseware, we push co-ops to build on their strengths as well as push beyond their comfort level to take some risks, so they can realize their full potential.”
Bastos enjoyed working in Caseware’s fast-paced, challenging co-op environment. He noted that he always felt supported and if he had questions, people were there to answer them.
“I remember once I didn’t know exactly how a piece of software worked,” he said. “One of our senior architects sat down with me and chatted for more than an hour on the design and answered everything I wanted to know. That was huge for me. I was really impressed that he’d spend that much time to show me how it worked.”
Caseware’s technical and non-technical co-op programs are paid and typically last from four to 16 months. The positions available include development, testing, research, security, information technology, accounting, business, digital media, analytics and marketing. Many former Caseware co-op students like Bastos have gone on to successful careers with the company.
If there’s one piece of advice Bastos could give to all co-op students, it would be to have a strategy before your placements begins.
“I had a plan when I started,” he explained. “It changed a bit along the way, but I was able to talk about my plan with my boss and we had conversations about it. He knew my intentions, which technologies I wanted to work with, and that I wanted to keep working at Caseware after my placement. So he was able to help me get the skills I needed to make that happen.”
A true partnership with schools
Caseware’s co-op program has been recognized by its university partners for its commitment to helping students develop the skills they need to succeed in the workplace.
“Our students have had great experiences while working at Caseware,” said Tamika Ramsay, Co-op Program Specialist, Career, Co-op & Student Success Centre, with Toronto Metropolitan University. “They’ve told us how great the Caseware team is and how involved they are with the students. Many students have also shared that they’ve learned a lot at Caseware and are treated not like students, but as regular staff who contribute to the bottom line.”
Working with Caseware feels like a true partnership, noted Cat McCormick, External Relations Officer, Arts & Science Co-op at University of Toronto Scarborough.
“Caseware is invested in co-op and student success and has been an important employer partner for us semester over semester,” she said. “The mentorship culture at Caseware is really strong. Managers take the time to give students direct technical feedback, but just as importantly, they value coaching soft skills like communication, presentation and collaboration.”
For more information on upcoming Caseware placements, check out our Co-op Opportunities page. If you don’t see your dream position on our page, you can contact us at careers@caseware.com to discover other opportunities we might have for you.
Mike Martin is a Content Marketing Writer at Caseware. He is a former IT magazine editor with extensive experience researching and writing about enterprise technologies. At Caseware, Mike reports on today’s top issues affecting auditors and accountants and how advanced technologies are helping them drive better results.
