Courses Of Action

 

Companies are finding talented employees by making some educated decisions. Gerbus Bros. Construction Co. in Cincinnati employs undergraduate students from the University of Cincinnati's Professional Practice Program, one of the country's more than 1,000 cooperative educational programs in which students study six months, then work for a company the rest of the year.

Tim Sheeran, 21, a student employee in Gerbus's accounting department, receives $800 a month, about half the compensation of a regular full-time worker. The Professional Practice Program reports that about 60% of the co-op students return after college to the company that employed them as undergraduates.

At Citizens Industrial Financing Corp. in Morgantown, W. Va., a student intern is volunteering as a part-time programmer. "We get a top-notch employee and the student gets course credit as well as valuable experience," says James Maholic, manager of information services.

For a directory of more than 1,000 cooperative programs run by schools in the United States and Canada, write the National Commission for Cooperative Education, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115.