Question : do jobs care about extracurricular engineering projects? I am looking into design engineering and I was wondering if they deserve a place on my resume or should I leave my resume full of skills and coursework and job experience.
The example I am mostly curious about are programs such as EPICS (engineering projects in community service) , Engineering Without Boarders, Aggies Invent etc.
Do jobs care about these projects. Would you say they improve my chances of getting a job after college (or say getting an internship ? )
What should go on any resume, engineering or otherwise, is dictated by what you have to put on your resume. Early on, it’s usually slip pickins. As you accumulate internship, coop and job experience, research, publications, patents, etc. the lesser things fall away. For a student, clubs, with listed active things you did in the club are germane (“designed suspension arm for 12th place SAE car” “implemented water purification program for 100 person village”). For a practicing engineer, they wouldn’t be. Course work can be intuited from your year in school, but you can make a transcript available. This is controversial, some believing it’s more important than others, but there’s little downside for a student listing their GPA if it’s good. Format is all important. Look up ATS resume format. Automated Tracking Systems (ATS) are widely used to glean keywords. You can have the best experience in the world, but if the machine can’t extract the data, you’ll never make it past the first round. Lastly, be patient. If you get a position early on, that’s great. It isn’t the usual thing though. Most internships go to upperclassmen and are doled out by companies looking to screen for full time positions. Don’t overlook local firms in your home town that’ll let you do things like CAD. The work might not be “dope,” but it’ll be a useful resume builder and will start to establish your “plays well with others” cred, a term stolen from @HPuck35, who has hired many people over the years. Good luck.
Quick Question : Should bring a portfolio of projects to the career fair to hand in with my resume if I am applying for a design or product internship ?
Engineering jobs typically involve working as team’s. How one can work in such a collaborative environment is always a question about a college hire. Project work helps in a big way showing that you can work in team. I would definitely include it, I would also expound on your role within the team.
I just got accepted into this program and I don’t know if I can put it under “work experience” since that is where I am placing research. Even though its unpaid?
You might be able to use “Externship” as a title once you specifically know what project for what company you are doing projects for. Otherwise, since you haven’t taken it yet you can use “Additional training” and enrolled in xxx with describe that you were selected to participate in zzz.