Many moons ago – actually I think it was over three years ago – I did what every Northeastern University kid with a fire under their butt to make sure they were employable after they graduated did. I went out and found me a co-op position. What the hell is a co-op? It’s a 6 month internship in which you take a break from classes and figure out if the career path you had in mind after school is right for you. It’s a chance to throw yourself out into the “real world” and get some serious work experience.

Even when students have a less than stellar experience on this 6 month preview of life without school, there’s still a lot to be learned. For me, I saw my co-op supervisor get laid off with a month left to go during my internship. I saw a company go on life support because of one too many bad deals and poor financial management before my very eyes. I got a lot of lessons in what NOT to do when running a small business. Sometimes you end up learning more from failures than successes, and I strongly believe that was the case during my co-op.
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