# email to co-op recruiter: on hiring

Hey Alok,

Thank you for the well wishes!

I received and accepted the offer last week but had several interviews
with the company in the three weeks prior.

Frankly, as finals week approaches, the amount of time we have as
students during the work week for interviews significantly decreases -
particularly for better potential candidates, who tend to self-select
for more difficult courses with higher workloads that they will learn
more from. This gives such students greater incentive to accept offers
earlier in the "co-op cycle".

As such, if I were a company hiring co-ops, I'd want to start reaching
out close to the start of the semester. I'd also posit that the better
candidates for positions typically apply earlier, so you may not
actually end up losing out on good applicants if you stop looking and
start hiring earlier in the cycle.

I don't have much data to back this up - this is just speculation - but
I hope it helps!

Best, Jacob