The Triangle

Issue date: 5/23/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Karl Kuchs Greg Paradee (left) and Joseph Mirabile (right) created DUcoopreview.com, a web site where students can read anonymous student reviews of co-op employers.

Greg Paradee, a sophomore majoring in information systems, has started DUcoopreview.com, a web site where students can read anonymous student reviews of co-op employers.

Mir Hussain, a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering, said he values the co-op program at Drexel and that the new web site is a "great idea."

"[Co-op is] the reason why I go to school here. … Let's say you're offered two jobs. This [site] will allow you to know which one is the better choice," Hussain said.

Paradee created the web site in January 2008 during his spare time while on co-op. He said the idea came from DUreview.com, a web site that contains student reviews of Drexel professors.

"I noticed there really wasn't [a review system] for co-op, besides the one that Drexel has on DrexelOne," Paradee said.

Paradee is referring to the Employment Summary & Planner Form archive, which contains completed student surveys to help prospective co-op students learn how students previously in their positions rated their employers and co-op experiences.

Natalie Traher, assistant director of the Steinbright Career Development Center, said, "When a student completes a co-op, they will go through and reflect on the experience and provide feedback. That is the basis of our conversation when they come back to campus."

Students are obligated to complete the survey in order to receive credit for their co-op. "After the meeting, if the student approves, we release the ES&Ps to the archive anonymously for other students to browse through and get an idea of where they may apply," Traher said.

Paradee used the ES&P archives prior to selecting his first co-op, but said it is disorganized and not visible enough.

"[DUcoopreview.com is] clearer, better laid out, and more to the point," Paradee said. "Say you've heard of a company and want to work for them. You can search for that company and it'll give you all of the jobs and what people rated it."

Umair Ismail, a junior majoring in business administration, agreed that the ES&P is not easy to navigate.

"The ES&P is too complicated," he said.

Ismail said he welcomes the idea of a new co-op review web site.

"It's obviously new because there aren't as many comments as there are on DUreview, but I think it's much more user friendly than ES&P," Ismail said.

Traher noted that the SCDC executive director meets with the student advisory board for feedback. Traher said one idea resulting from this process is the ability for a student to upload a Microsoft Word document in the resume section, rather than having to use a template.

"If students have any ideas, they are more than welcome to share that with their coordinator to see if there's anything we can do about it," Traher said.

Joseph Mirabile, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice, handles the marketing aspect of DUcoopreview.com and said his team is committed to improving the web site.

"I have a friend that works for an internet development company. He said there's things we can work on and he can help us with, and we'll be working with them in the near future," he said.

Paradee noted some changes he will implement in the next update.

"The default will be organized alphabetically. On the right-hand side there will be the top [rated] employers and the newest employers," he said. "I'm also going to incorporate listing by major and then through the new search function you can search by a job title."

Helene Remus, a co-op education coordinator at the SCDC, said, "[The site] would be fine, as long as it's fair. Some students may not have a successful work experience, and that's not always due to the employer."

According to Remus, sometimes students are frustrated with a situation and might vent in the form of an unfair review, which would not be beneficial for the venting student or a student reading it.

Traher said that the reviews are very subjective, and a student should not solely base a decision on one.

"It depends on the student's manager or the situation the company was in at the time, there may not have been a lot of work, or it just could have been timing," Traher said.

"I think it's good for students to get an idea of what other students thought about it, but I think they should also do their own research."

DUcoopreview.com is one source of information, but Mirabile said in order for the site to grow, it needs more reviews.

"We need people," he said. "We have around 170 members on Facebook, and not everyone has posted the jobs that they've had in the past. If we get that many people up there, it'd be huge for us."

If the web site becomes popular, Paradee said he plans to expand the site to additional universities offering co-op programs.

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