<p>I'm a sophomore ChemE major and I've been applying to a bunch of internships but nobody has called me for an interview. I'm starting to get slightly aggravated and depressed and i'm beginning to feel like all the hardwork that i'm doing is worthless. Anyone know what can I do to increase my prospects of getting an interview</p>
<p>There is a guy on this board MaineLonghorn or something that says he is looking for UTa interns. UTa should seriously help you with this right?</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn is a civil engineer. I doubt she is looking for ChemE’s.</p>
<p>I am 0/12 in terms of interviews and I am the same major with relatively the same gpa as the other CC member, IHaveAHobbie, who goes to UT also.</p>
<p>I don’t know…12 seems awfully low to me. When I was applying for internships, I must have tried two dozen companies… and this was when the economy was booming. Things are obviously worse now.</p>
<p>Possibilities:
All the slots are filled with juniors and seniors
The Fall spots are filled, it is too early for next summer’s internships
Your resume could be improved, ask for revision help at Career Center</p>
<p>ChemE is long and hard but it pays well. You might want to do a search for jobs demand on ChemE though. I know they hire a lot of ME and EE, not sure about ChemE.</p>
<p>You should always follow up on any application with a phone call:“did you get my resume, do you have any questions, are there any openings right now, I’d love to meet with you to discuss any open positions…” etc, etc. It is a tough economy right now and there are not as many internships as once was. You need to be aggressive in the job market, without being obnoxious. I think Jr.'s and Sr.'s have a better chance right now, but definitely keep trying.</p>
<p>Look at the thread I just started on co-ops/internships. A CC dad passed this info on to me - they are looking for chemical engineering students, among others.</p>
<p>Only 12 “rejections” and you’re ready to give up? You can’t be serious. It could/should take you dozens of tries before finding a good match in this economy. I think you’re a little bit naive as to how the real world works. In fact, you sound a little bit like my girlfriend who thinks she’s going to go to college for a business degree and employers will just be knocking down her door wanting to pay her. The job/internship search requires seeminly infinite diligence, research, patience, and dedication. But it’s not infinite, and something will happen eventually… that is unless you give up after only 12 attempts.</p>
<p>Well 12 , to me, seems alot when others I know in my major have applied to 5 max and have gotten interviews.</p>
<p>^Agree with everything Inmotion12 said</p>
<p>12 is not very many tries. Keep trying. Keep sharpening your resume and send out many many more. Practice your interviewing skills so you are ready when you get one.</p>
<p>As a hiring manager, once I posted a job on a local job listing in a down economy and I got over 400 resumes. This is for one opening. That is how competitive the job market is. Even on a good economy, I would get 20/30/40 resumes for one job posting.</p>
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<p>In that case, you need to figure out what worked for them, why they have better results. Then you adjust appropriately.</p>
<p>I mean, is it going to look bad on my resume (if I apply for internship Summer 2012) if I just did a bunch of volunteer work and not have any internship Summer 2011?</p>
<p>It would help if you had a previous internship. Surely there is a better way to use your time than to volunteer. You could get a job or take some summer classes.</p>
<p>I kind of understand this situation. I am a second year of grad student(MS) in chemE looking for an internship for two semesters and have 0/14 in terms of getting interviews. My graduate and undergraduate school is a well known state/public university, I have 3.7/4.0gpa but still no interview. Before applying the internship, I got my resume fixed twice in career center and worked in a research based laboratory in my school for 3 years. I keep on asking myself why i am NOT getting into any of these interviews just based on my grades and research experience? Guess what, this is how the job market looks for chemE.
Kids don’t get fooled by its high paid.</p>
<p>^^now thats scary</p>
<p>Yeah, ChemE is rough right now. I also don’t think there are a ton of places that are looking for graduate-level interns. I have a feeling they don’t feel they can build the same kind of loyalty as they can in undergrads so the investment may not be as likely to pay off, not to mention it is incredibly uncommon to do internships while in grad school.</p>
<p>BLS is a projecting a 2% decline in jobs for chemical engineers. </p>
<p>Want a more steady careeer path? Go for a top 20 MBA or T14 law school. Or if you really like chemistry, go for pharmacy.</p>
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<p>And do what?..compete with 1,000 folks for the same business jobs?</p>
<p>No thank you. I rather take a technical degree and keep my certifications up in a niche technical area that always has more job openings than available candidates.</p>