The 2×2 Work Experience Relationship Model categorizes student interactions with employers based on pay and relevance to their field. This model aims to clarify conversations about internships and work experiences. It updates previous best practices on managing student work programs, inviting feedback on potential improvements.

I recently had a discussion about the nature of how students and recent graduates might be engaged with an employer or at least an organization. The problem we had was definitional. Sometimes we were talking about job shadowing and other times paid apprenticeships. I resolved to come up with a better way of thinking about the relationship between organizations and students/recent graduates.

Revisiting a Best Practice

I was a cooperative education student a zillion years ago and benefited from that experience. Over my career, I hired (and never had to fire) about 100 interns. Based on this experience, in 2009, I published a best practice guide to managing interns / cooperative education / work experience programs.

The director’s cut included a table defining what is an intern, cooperative education student, or a kid who is hanging around for the summer. The table needs some updating. For example, I did not include articling students or fellowships. In addition, the table really needs a graphic as it is a bit of a slog.

2×2 Work Experience Relationship Model

From the prior discussion and looking over the magazine-article from a decade ago, I present the 2×2 Work Experience Relationship Model! The horizontal axis is how much the student is paid. Note that pay can mean a salary but could also mean a goody bag at the end of an afternoon field trip. The vertical axis is the applicability to the student’s field of study.

Navigating the 2×2

A heavy-duty apprentice-mechanic may start as a manual labourer but now is a semi-skilled employee with higher pay to match. An articling lawyer is learning lots, preparing for the bar exam, under-paid, and probably has long since said goodbye to friends and family.

The model is meant to be illustrative and not definitive. A summer student may be working at her dream job or just working. An afternoon field trip by civil engineering students to a local waste-water treatment plant is obviously unpaid but may be illuminating as to future career aspirations (I wonder if the students leave with a goody bag and what is in such a thing?).

So the next time I discuss student work programs, I now have a 2×2 Matrix to say “I am talking about this quadrant, what the heck are you talking about?“.

What Have I Missed or Misplaced?

What do you think, have a I missed a significant relationship that should be included?