Co-op Spotlight: Natalie Alhadidi

CareKW, Kitchener, Ontario

Age: 21

Program: Psychology, University of Waterloo

Year: 4

Length of Co-op: Four months

The main thing I do at CareKW is recruitment. I hire personal support workers, nurses, custodians and dietary aides, who the company then places in locations across Ontario. Our employees work in hospitals, retirement homes, transitional care units and homecare. Sometimes we have pediatric clients who would otherwise be unable to go to school because of their health needs; we have nurses who accompany them to school. 

I do all the hiring on my own. At first I was supervised, but then my manager said, “You got this.” I pick out resumés, interview people, make cold calls and request documentation. Once the person is hired, I set them up for an orientation with one of our supervising nurses. 

It’s rewarding because I’ll get messages from clients saying, “We love this nurse, thank you for hiring them,” and it feels really good.

Other times, they quit when you least expect it. At the beginning, I thought, Oh man, I worked so hard on hiring them, what’s going on? But I learned certain behaviours and phrases can indicate that a person is interested in leaving, and over the months I’ve been able to pick up on little signs. 

In addition to recruitment, I’ve written and reviewed some policies and handled Workplace Safety and Insurance Board claims. I also work on the monthly newsletters and helped design and write the holiday card that went out to 260 field staff and 300 clients. 

I never knew I was interested in designing things until I came to this co-op. One of my biggest accomplishments is designing our new ID badges, which everyone uses, including all the field staff and the office staff—even the owner of the company. Seeing something I worked on completely independently being used on a daily basis is something I’m really proud of. 

My degree requires both science and psychology courses. I’ve definitely tapped into the science side as I’ve learned about different diseases and health needs. The psychology aspect has come into play on the behavioural side. HR, more than anything, is behavioural psychology, in my opinion. 

This is my third co-op placement. My first was at the university with the science undergraduate office, where I helped with administrative duties for academic advisers and student recruitment. Then I did an international placement as a consulting intern with Ernst & Young in Jordan. 

When I graduated high school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. My co-ops have allowed me to narrow down my interests. I have found human resources extraordinarily interesting. This co-op has encouraged me to further explore business psychology, but  I’m definitely not limiting myself. I’m just going to take things as I go.  —As told to Claire Gagne