A Company Transformed by Co-ops and New Grads
Grady Williams (left) displays an app he created as part of their co-op program along with his immediac co-workers. Grady is now on immediac's management team.
Each morning at 9:30 sharp, the immediac team piles into their InCamera virtual meeting room for a daily check-in. The group starts with small talk but quickly turns to business, reflecting on the previous day’s accomplishments and detailing plans for the day to come. While this process is second nature to long-time employees, it is still new for others - namely co-op students.
immediac’s recent cohort of students - who come from programming and administrative backgrounds - are currently navigating this process. Though they’re the only team members currently on a co-op term, much of the immediac team started in the exact same position. In fact, a majority of current immediac employees spent at least one co-op work term with the company.
While many organizations manage to retain some of their co-op students, immediac has built their employee retention strategy around them. The management team is built almost exclusively of past co-op students who were hired on after graduating their respective programs. This team includes Daniel Stout (CTO), Allie Harvey (Lead Administrator), Grady Williams (Project Lead and Developer) and Caitlin White (Account Manager).
John Leahy, CEO, attributes the success of immediac’s co-op program to the company’s progressive corporate structure and the program's real world learning opportunities.
“Our co-ops work on real projects with real clients. They experience things that they themselves have asked to focus on. We want the co-op experience to be the most valuable part of their education.” He says. “Once they’re here, they see how we treat the team - how every voice is heard and every opinion is respected. I think that is why many people want to come back and work with us after graduation.”
The entire company has seen the benefits of both the co-op program and the retention of co-ops for full time employment. It cuts down on training time, and new employees already know their co-workers and what to expect in terms of corporate culture. They’re confident they’ll enjoy working at immediac before even starting.
At immediac, a co-op term is an opportunity to gain valuable work experience. It’s also a chance to start on a career path that has led those in a similar position to long-term employment.