Internships/college jobs

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I'm a sophmore studying for mechE technology, but I'm currently still at CC. I'm working a brainless warehouse job because it's basically the best I can get. I've been applying for manfucturing (or some kind of engineering related) jobs for months now. None of them care to give me a shot. I follow up, but it's like talking to a brick wall. </p>

<p>I would really like to get a job doing something engineering related. I'm a good student and know how to sell myself, but I don't have the related work experience because guess what - I wasn't born with 3-5 years experience on a CNC machine or aircraft engine assembly, etc, as must be the case with other people. The bottom line is, I can do any job - as long as they are willing to train me right. I'm feel I'm not the average shmoe, and I'm getting fed up. </p>

<p>So my question is, how do you get a job while you are in school, that is related to your field of study? It must be connections, right? I guess I fail in that department. When I transfer to the state university, I should have better oppurtunities, right? The only thing my school has is a website where I veiw job postings, but thats the same as newspaper ads.</p>

<p>::Fustrated, and tired of lifting boxes::</p>

2

<p>You could try a manufacturing assembly job. Usually they are brainless, but they pay significantly better and generally Engineering companies look at those slightly better than McDonalds.</p>

3

<p>Most manufacturing assembly jobs pay $8-9/hr. I'm making $13/hr and looking at a 15% raise with benefits soon, at the warehouse I'm at. So it's not entirely bad, I just would like to learn some job skills that are worth something on my resume.</p>

<p>McDonalds? You got to be extremely desperate to work there.</p>

4

<p>The way I got all of my jobs and internships was through the brute force method.</p>

<p>I gathered as many firms' names and addresses as I possibly could, polished my resume until it shone, wrote individual cover letters, invested in some nice resume paper, printed 'em all up, sealed all the envelopes, and sent 'em out into the world.</p>

<p>As an undergrad, I sent out close to 40 resumes and ended up with one offer for an internship. (This being in ~2002... not a good year for internships.)</p>

<p>As a grad student, freaking out slightly about the prospect of a repeat of my internship-hunt experience, I sent out over 150 resumes. My phone literally rang off the hook, and without putting too much effort into the pursuit, I ended up with five spectacular offers with some big-name firms, and got to negotiate and choose where I wanted to go.</p>

<p>As an undergrad, though, it was really tough to find a job that would actually help me get where I wanted to go, at least in the actual industry that I was going to pursue a career in.</p>

<p>Still, there are plenty of other non-engineering skills that can be honed in the meantime, if you're getting annoyed with manual labor... A good engineer knows how to write, how to communicate, how to effectively give presentations... Teaching is a great way to learn how to explain things to clients so that they can understand what the heck you're talking about. I used to be a chemistry camp counselor, which mean that I'd explain the principles of combustion and explosion and polymers to a bunch of kids, and then I'd blow stuff up and make slime and things like that. It was a ton of fun, and I learned how to present complex concepts in an easy, understandable manner. It still serves me well, and I was able to spin my prior "teaching experience" into a really forceful positive for getting both a teaching assistantship in grad school, and eventually, for getting a real job in the real world. It's apparently not that often that you find an engineer who can communicate... firms like that, especially firms whose engineers deal with non-engineering clients on a frequent basis.</p>

<p>So, there are plenty of options out there... They don't necessarily require experience on a CDC machine. Heck, apprenticing yourself to a carpenter, or learning how to weld, or doing some sort of community outreach at the same time as you're working at the warehouse might be opportunities that you hadn't even considered yet. Since you need experience to get experience, you've gotta get creative about getting experience and resume fodder... Think outside the box!</p>