<p>If it’s questionable, always put your US citizen status on your resume. A hiring manager can always assume that the presence of an accent might mean that an applicant could be a non-citizen; they might not even ask you about that.</p>
<p>So to be clear, these were real job interviews and not just practice interviews? You said you scheduled them through the practicing office.</p>
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This is precisely what I was talking about:</p>
<p>Your resume + you (in person) = no interviews.</p>
<p>Your resume + someone else (in the “practicing office”) = interviews.</p>
<p>Your resume is not changing in those equations, and unfortunately there is not going to be anything we can do over the internet to help you with communication or interview skills.</p>
<p>It sounds like you need help from the co-op office. It may be you, or may not be you. Sometimes there are cultural differences. Sometimes companies are fighting over a few people who wow them, and then since they can’t all take the same person, they will call up their second and third choices.</p>
<p>Do not give up hope.</p>
<p>Do try to contact them and check in, if you’ve gotten no response. Talking to them on the phone might help.</p>
<p>You need help from the co-op office. Since english is not your first language you should put US citizen (as of date) on your resume. Often times interviewers will scan the resume. Look at the clubs/EC/other section and do a little chit chat. A newly minted US Citzen is bound to stand out and make you “memorable”. I would also highlight your other languges and the proficiencies (ie. fluent / native fluent etc). </p>
<p>By the way, don’t “try to be friendly or smile alot”. Just be yourself. If your “friendly” it will come thru. Polite is more important. Good manners go along way in first impressions. Really Good Manners. Standing to shake hands. Waiting to sit down untill invited. No using your hands to point (use a pen). No interrupting. Thank you note. Good Luck. </p>
<p>Make sure you clearly put that you are a US citizen and you have the right to work in the US.</p>
<p>If you are willing to relocate, clearly state that in person or on a resume. It’s really difficult for companies to get kids to move away from their home state or even home town. If you are willing to go to remote locations oil and gas companies will love you. </p>
<p>Your GPA doesn’t really matter. It gets you in the door and that’s it. The rest is all personality and company fit. Also for a company like Exxon, they are getting the best of the best grades wise AND best of the best interview wise. They take who they want. I graduated with a 3.85 in undergrad and have a 4.0 in graduate school (Texas A&M), so I do well in school, but it’s not what gets you the job.</p>
<p>Also if a company says they’ll get back to you in a week, it’s more like a month. If they say a month, all bets are off. </p>
<p>Going through the job search now myself. Relax, it’ll work out.</p>
<p>"I am now US citizen since I passed the citizenship interview last month. " - Congratulations! Good advise above. </p>
<p>I appreciate all of your good advises. I will try to keep my hope up. In the meantime, I am working hard to maintain my GPA and make a plan to improve my resume and get the research experience. I think that I will extend my graduate date to December 2015 instead of May 2015 to find an internship/coop in summer since there will be more opportunities.
@boneh3ad : yes they were real job interviews.</p>
<p>I would not mention your future goal to move into management or onto the business side. That may be your goal, but hearing that turns me off as a hiring manager. I am looking to hire an engineer and I want someone to have that as their goal. I hired a couple of people that also expressed interest in the management side and they didn’t work out at all. They weren’t satisfied doing just engineering work but wanted management work when they still had a lot of engineering to learn (and I had engineering work that the group had to get done). </p>
<p>If, after a number of years on the job, you want to look into management, do so then.</p>
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<p>I think this is a bad idea to discuss this during a coop interview. When I am interviewing for an engineering position, I want to hire someone who wants to be an engineer. If someone is too eager to move very quickly into management, that is a red flag to me that they don’t actually want to do the work that they are being considered for.</p>
<p>Additionally, in my experience, the people who get selected to move into engineering management are those with the best communication skills, both verbal and written. Without excellent English proficiency, your path to management would be harder. So mentioning that is something that you want to do quickly, when your odds of being able to do so aren’t great, leads to a mismatch in expectations that would make me reluctant to hire you. </p>
<p>You could also be hurt by being behind in the number and level of engineering courses taken relative to your class standing. Engineering employers prefer to see upper level engineering courses on your transcript. </p>
<p>Take advantage of your career office to review your resume and conduct a mock interview. It’s not the end of the world to not get a coop yet. But keep trying for the future, once you have completed more upper level courses, since having coop or intern experience is helpful when trying to find your first real job.</p>
<p>I agree that if there is anything on the resume that would lead a potential employer to question if you have US citizenship, it is a good idea to list that you are a US citizen on the resume, but I wouldn’t include the date when you got the citizenship. </p>
<p>And… you might actually like the engineering work 
Even after 30 years, I still have zero interest in being a manager.</p>
<p>I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the real problem…It’s because you went to UT instead of Tennessee Tech! Just kidding. Congrats on becoming a US citizen by the way. Put that on your resume like others have said. You seem like a friendly individual, I’m sure you’ll end up with a great Co-op/internship in the near future!</p>
<p>I received the reject letter from DOW chemical today. I expected that since I did badly in the interview but it still hurts my feeling.
I am thinking about opening a new thread about co-op/internship questions that might throw you off, so we can share our experience.
In my case, those questions was from DOW .
It was like " tell me about a time a person with different background from engineering give you the advise that help you in school and at work". I did not know how to answer this one so I made up stuff and the interview went down hill from there. Shame on me to not be prepared. But I don’t know how to prepare because I never had co-op/internship interview before. </p>
<p>Another question is " what do you like doing outside of school?"</p>
<p>So you made up an answer and the interviewer probably realized that. Essentially, you lied in an interview. It’s not surprising that you weren’t hired, then. Don’t lie. Don’t ever lie. Why would anyone hire you if they already know you are a liar? You are much better off being honest.</p>
<p>I did not completely made up the answer but I tried to connect an event that I had to the answer and it was awkward. I said that I made friend with a mechanic and he inspired me doing engineering and taught me to be organized and be neat. I know that it was not the best answer but I cannot say that I don’t remember anyone with different background giving me an advise that truly help me in school.</p>
<p>For some people, interview skills come naturally. For others, you really have to practice before you get the hang of it.</p>
<p>But I’ve found that just about everyone can learn to give excellent interviews. Keep practicing.</p>
<p>Sometimes if you get a tough question, you can buy a bit of time by finding a way to make the interviewer talk for a minute again. Perhaps ask for an example. </p>
<p>“what do you like doing outside of school?” - Hopefully you did have an answer for that. If not, think of a decent (and honest) answer. It will come up again. </p>
<p>The problem is I can answer any questions but I don’t know whether or not that what the recruiters want to hear. So I get hang up on that and say awkward things. For example, I said that outside of school I help my parents doing housework, watching TV, doing homework… the moment I said that I know that I failed that question. I should have said that I am interesting in researching new technology since I am a tech savy like smartphone, computer hardware ( which is true).
Another example, I was asked " what is your least favorite class and why?". I answered that thermodynamics because the prof. was not helpful and the material has lots of theoretical equations and I don’t want to pay attention on those details. I have not found an appropriate answer for this one yet!? </p>
<p>In questions like that, it’s not a test. There is no right answer. They are just trying to get a feel for you as a person and whether or not you will get along with coworkers and can relate in any way with them. They want to know what kind of hobbies or non-academic activities you like to do in your free time. I’m guessing that housework and homework are probably not really what you enjoy.</p>
<p>I actually enjoy homework because it helps me understanding the course material better and know how to apply the theoretical equations to the engineering problems. Doing housework keeps me busy and make me feel that I am being helpful and doing something nice for my parents and the house. But I did not elaborate those reasons since they did not ask why, so I assume that I just said random things :-/ </p>