<p>I know academic jobs are incredibly difficult to get. But what about, say, R&D at Intel or IBM? Are they highly selective? Pretty much everyone with an engineering PhD manages to get <em>some</em> job, so what I'm interested in here is the most desirable industrial R&D positions. Like (good) universities, do they only take the best PhD graduates (i.e. the ones with high-impact publications and unusually strong backing from their advisor)? Or are they accessible to the more average graduates?</p>
<p>Specifically, I'm an EE PhD in semiconductors, but you can answer more generally. Related questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are these large companies we often hear about (e.g. Intel) even the most desirable positions as I assumed? They do seem popular with the best graduates from my EE research group. But then there are loads of companies that aren't household names that also perform research. How do they compare against the behemoths in terms of salary and advancement?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the hiring process even like for industry R&D positions? Similar to BS/MS grads?</p></li>
<li><p>How many internships should one bother with in grad school? Here at Stanford, it's common for EE PhDs to head off for summer internships. Is that better than sticking around during the summer to get more publications? At other schools, it seems PhDs are expected to stay and be at their most productive during summer.</p></li>
</ol>