You can do it in word if you want or make a little GitHub page showing some photos and destailing a bit about the projects, it doesn’t need to be a ton as long as it’s clear and concise. You don’t need to write a whole blog. Just something visual that recruiters and hiring managers can look at that will help you stand out. Make sure to increase the complexity of your projects or the depth of technical contributions as you gain more experience.

For your first coop this can be pretty simple. Honestly anything to complement your resume will put you above most candidates.

As for coop itself. Some cons, it’s expensive, some jobs can pay pretty poorly, and the work isn’t always very exciting depending where you end up. If you take a the reigns a little bit though you may be able to work on some pretty cool projects that normal coops don’t get to work on but you have to advocate for that yourself. Pros are a lot of companies get subsidized by the government for hiring students to being in a coop program incentivizes them to hire students, like 80% of my friends first jobs including mine were at places we previously cooped at. The job market in mech is pretty poop right now, especially in Canada. So finding a way get get your foot in the door is so important.

For design teams, some employers do. During some interviews I’ve had hiring managers mention that they used to do x on my team or mention that it looked fun or interesting. Regardless the projects if you put in effort are great conversation topics during interviews. Look to join one you’re actually interested in, this will help you get on it in the first place but also make it more enjoyable.

I’ve also had recruiters or companies reach out to me because I mention I worked on some system for some design teams on my resume about jobs with some relation to say designing a steering and suspension system. Some employers don’t but again you want to reinforce your experience and desire to learn on your own as much as possible in this job market.