Employers
Co Op Internships
Do you need top talent from Kogod School of Business?
The Kogod Co-operative Education Program (Kogod Co-Op) was recently launched as part of the Kogod in Practice experiential learning initiative, and it provides practical, meaningful, long-term (4-12 months) paid internship experiences. Co-ops are available to all Kogod students - undergraduate, graduate, international, residential, and online - throughout their academic program.
As a co-op employer partner, we will provide your qualifying job postings to a pool of students, who will then apply through your hiring system on your timeline. Our intention is for this program and these partnerships to create a pipeline for you to hire AU students and for our students to have access to meaningful, long-term internship opportunities.
To be considered a co-op, an internship must be 4-12 months long, must be paid (suggested $20-35 per hour), and must be 15-40 hours per week.
Register to be a co-op partner
What is the Difference Between a Traditional Internship and Co-op Internship, and How Do Co-ops Benefit Employers?
- Commitment – There is a commitment from AU to bring student talent to employers, a commitment from students to employers to provide their talent as a long-term part of the team, and a commitment from employers to hire AU talent. Students are even more committed to co-ops than traditional internships because they are receiving credit for their co-op and that experience will be on their transcript.
- Program Structure - Students receive support and coaching from the employer, Kogod staff, and faculty. The applicant pool system makes it more likely for the employers’ job descriptions to be seen (i.e. not lost in the abyss of the internet), and employers receive a smaller number of applicants, making the hiring process easier.
- Talent Pipeline – Because co-ops are long term (4-12 months) they allow for employers and students to get to know each other and determine whether it's a good fit. The hope is for co-ops to lead to a possible talent pipeline for employers.
Past Employers
Employer Industries
As our client list shows, KIP student consultants have worked in a broad range of industries:
• Business consulting• Education administration
• Software development
• Gourmet marketing/catering
• Renewables manufacturing
• Health care
• Public accounting
• IT consulting
And many more!
Co-Op Roles
KIP students have held many different positions during co-ops including:
• Corporate strategy consultant• Business development analyst
• Marketing strategist
• Audit intern
• Financial analyst
• Impact investing intern
These are just some of the positions KIP students have successfully held with our employer partners!
Employer Expectations (Performance Evaluations)
Expectations of Students
Hiring Expectations
Federal and State Labor Laws
The Kogod co-op coordinator will be available to the co-op student employee throughout the co-op to address any needs and ensure the success of the co-op student and overall program.
If the co-op employee does not meet the employer’s reasonable employment policies, procedures, and standards and/or has poor performance reviews, the employer must immediately inform the Kogod co-op coordinator. The Kogod co-op coordinator will work with the co-op student to identify the challenges, any additional needs for support, and opportunities for success in the co-op. The employer may terminate the co-op employment opportunity if the co-op employee continues not to meet the employer’s reasonable performance expectations, policies, procedures and standards.
Co-op student employees may only leave their co-op role for another job (part-time or full-time) if necessary due to an unresolvable employment issue. The student’s consistent participation in the co-op is for academic growth, gaining industry tools and skills, and offering value to the co-op employer partner. In their co-op roles, co-op employees are expected to perform their work responsibly and accurately and participate with commitment and diligence.
If the co-op job has a need for overtime, weekends, or irregular hours outside of the original co-op schedule, the co-op employer must first confer with the Kogod co-op coordinator and the co-op student employee to confirm that these hours are feasible for the co-op student employee to carry out and do not conflict with the co-op student’s academic studies. The student may decide not to work those overtime/weekend/irregular hours if it conflicts with their academic studies/schedule. The co-op employer may not impose any repercussions on the co-op employee if the co-op employee decides not to work those hours.
Students may choose to work these extra hours with their co-op organization after graduation if they become full-time employees of that co-op organization. If a student would like to work part-time for another employer while on a co-op, they must first obtain permission from the co-op employer and their Kogod co-op coordinator.
The co-op student must be in good academic standing to participate and remain in the co-op program. The student can be suspended from the co-op program if not in good academic standing. However, the employer may choose to continue or terminate the employment of the suspended student.
The co-op student will inform the university co-op coordinator of a permanent job offer made to the student at the end of the co-op program. The student may not begin working in a permanent full-time role with the co-op employer prior to graduation.
Co-op employers have responsibility for providing the co-op job description, interviews, and employee evaluations related to the co-op employment. The employer will reach out directly to the student candidate to make the offer. The employer must give the student up to 2 weeks to accept the offer. Students can work up to 40 hours per week maximum, to adequately manage their class/homework schedules. If a student would like to work part-time for another employer while on a co-op, they must first obtain permission from the co-op employer and their Kogod co-op coordinator. The employer can extend the co-op to a second rotation , depending on the co-op employer’s program and the student’s job performance.
American University’s Kogod School of Business is committed to equitable placement of our co-op students and does not tolerate or condone discrimination against a student, whether on or off campus. All Kogod students may apply for co-op jobs per their skills and interests and will be interviewed and hired for a co-op role by the co-op employer per an equitable application and interview process, without consideration of gender, race, color, religion, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, transgender status, national origin, genetic information or disability.
Co-ops that span multiple semesters must have different components every semester—whether this be rotating the student to a different department or assigning them to a new project. In general, the co-op employer is encouraged to offer varied functional experiences to the co-op student employee to provide the co-op employee with diverse tools and skills. The job’s technical level is expected to expand as the co-op employee demonstrates competency and progresses through the co-op program.
If the co-op job has need for additional hours outside of the original co-op schedule, including overtime, double shifts or weekends, the employer will first confer with the Kogod co-op coordinator and co-op student employee regarding any requests outside of the original co-op schedule. The co-op student will experience no employment/termination repercussions if they decide not to work those overtime/weekend/irregular hours while they are in the co-op program and while they remain a Kogod student. Students can choose to work these extra hours with their co-op organization after graduation if they become a full-time employee of that co-op organization.
The co-op employer must inform the university co-op coordinator of any permanent job offer made to the co-op student employee at the end of the co-op program. The employer will also inform the university co-op coordinator of the co-op student employee’s job performance, any co-op schedule-related needs, termination, impending layoffs or any changes or issues that might impact the co-op student employee.
As the co-op employer and co-op employee have an employer-employee relationship, Federal, State and Local labor laws may apply. The following are a few helpful sites.
- The Department of Labor at https://www.dol.gov/ and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission https://www.eeoc.gov/ for employment laws covering matters such as wages, overtime pay, occupational health and safety, benefits, discrimination and sexual harassment.
- Fact Sheet #13: Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) available at: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/13-flsa-employment-relationship#:~:text=Fact Sheet 13: Employment Relationship Under the Fair,Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or an independent contractor.
- The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 at https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/senate-bill/1200
What students say
Kogod co-ops, led by Kogod in Practice (KIP), are a fantastic way for AU students to get real-world experience as they prepare to fully step into their chosen careers, but you don’t have to take our word for it! Hear from past Kogod students as they talk about the difference a co-op internship made for them.
Steph Holzinger (Kogod MBA ’22) recalls her time during a co-op internship: “I found it to be a good way to put elements of what I’d learned in class into practice.” During Steph’s co-op internship, she met her future full-time employer at 2U, one of KIP’s many employer partners. She found that classroom lessons she’d had in Kogod about data visualization immediately became useful as she was tasked with representing financial data in an engaging way, an internship deliverable that would build skills she continues to use in her current full-time position. However, the perks of her co-op internship weren’t just limited to applying classroom knowledge in a real-world setting. “It’s super critical to know folks in your field to get a job, and to try out potential roles to see if they’d be a good fit for you. KIP provides both these things to AU students.” Steph’s KIP experience gave her some much needed perspective on what the day-to-day workload of a 2U employee is like, and confirmed for her that she was in the right field. She met Kogod students she otherwise might never have known, was given an outlet to channel what she’d learned in class, and ultimately, found her post-Kogod full-time role.
“I found it to be really engaging,” Steph recalls. “It makes a huge difference getting to see your impact day in and day out for the company outside of the classroom. You’re able to get on the ground, get some experience, meet some different people, and try new things. KIP gets you into the right spaces with the right folks.”
Bright Amo (Kogod MS Finance Analytics ’24) is another co-op student who worked with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) through KIP. He remembers seeing the OFN opportunity come up on KIP’s co-op offerings and was immediately interested. “My co-op was really in line with what I was studying,” Bright says. OFN’s mission statement of working with underprivileged communities that typically don’t get funding from traditional banks was a perfect fit for him, and the KIP co-op was just the chance he needed to find out more about the organization while introducing himself to the folks who already worked there.
“[KIP] is a really big opportunity for some of us - I had looked for an internship and it wasn’t forthcoming. But through the KIP program I was able to land this opportunity, which has really opened my eyes to the practical aspect of what I’ve been learning at AU.”
Katie Bauler (Kogod MBA 2022) took a co-op internship with Assured Consulting Solutions (ACS) that led to a full-time job offer as a strategy consultant. “My internship has been going really well, so I'm excited to roll into finishing it up strong... I'll be presenting my work to the ACS partners, executive team, and the department leads... no pressure for me!! ....It's been really neat to see my work being directly implemented into their new strategy.”
KIP is proud to work with students like Steph, Bright, and Katie helping to open doors into their futures through our co-ops program.
Do you have a KIP Pro Bono or co-op experience you’d like to share? Contact us!
Two hours in total. A one hour initial meeting is held between the AU team and the co-op employer for the student's orientation. The employer also needs one hour at the end of the student's semester to complete the evaluation form so students can receive credit for their co-op. All the time the student is working is purely between the student and the employer, although AU is always ready to help as needed.
While the student is doing their co-op internship, the co-op employer will provide professional development through hands-on experience, skills development and regular feedback.
The following is a sample timeline illustrating how KIP co-ops are launched for a given Fall Semester. Exact dates are subject to change.
May 27-June 2: Co-op Pool Application is open
June 3-June 7: Applications processed by KIP Staff
June 7: Notify students about pool acceptance/rejection
By July 8: Employers Extend Offers (suggested)
August 19: Fall Co-Ops begin
Students must have an eligible number of credits remaining in their degree to participate, and their GPA is not considered during the process. International students must demonstrate their eligibility for the co-op program before being admitted, including any visa restrictions. Co-ops are intentionally inclusive, as we'd like our employers to be able to decide the kinds of talent that works best for their companies.
There are no restrictions - a co-op job does not need to be related to Kogod's academic programs, since our students are open to and very interested in a wide range of industries and functions, and they bring a background of professional and personal experiences that can benefit all kinds of employer needs.
Employers are welcome to hire international students for any position. AU determines international student's eligibility (including any visa restrictions) for the co-op program before they are admitted.
