Is engineering even worth it if you're not a superstar?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>Long time lurker, first time poster here. I'm currently a third year undergraduate in Chemical Engineering on the east cost. I love what I do academically, but of course, that doesn't matter if I can't find a related career in the real world. I've applied to over 40 summer internships (in fact, every internship within a 100 mile radius related to my field), as well as sent my resume to several companies my advisor referred me to. Despite my efforts, I have gotten a grand total of one interview that didn't lead to anything. Here are my qualifications:</p>

<ul>
<li>Worked for the past year as a Research Assistant</li>
<li>Treasurer of an engineering society </li>
<li>3.7 GPA</li>
</ul>

<p>I've gone over my resume and cover letters with my advisor and a career counselor at my university. They both feel that I'm a solid candidate. However, the career counselor noted several shortcomings:</p>

<ul>
<li>I have no industry internship experience</li>
<li>I have not held any leadership roles</li>
<li>I have no family members in engineering (apparently this is how many students find that crucial first internship). </li>
<li>I have no research publications (this may make it look like I was a failure as a research assistant)</li>
<li>I am not a female or an ethnic minority</li>
</ul>

<p>These are, of course, legitimate shortcomings, and I'm aware that I'm not a spectacular candidate. But isn't there anything out there for normal students? Ignoring graduate school, this is the last summer I'll be eligible for an internship, and it appears that I'll be graduating without one. I imagine entry level positions will be even harder to find without experience. After all, they're going to be wondering what's wrong with me that I don't have any internships. Perhaps I should have chosen accounting :(.</p>

2

<p>Perhaps be open to a wider geographic range. What your 100 mile radius includes depends on where on the east coast you actually are.</p>

<p>3.7 GPA is still good, even at the most grade inflated schools.</p>

<p>Next year, apply to both graduate school and jobs.</p>

3

<p>I don’t think you should be discouraged about having one interview with 40 applications.
I get about one preliminary interview every 20 applications, and I have several years of experience at several different fortune 100 companies. </p>

<p>Maybe you need to rework your resume. Focus more on your class projects and research to distract from your lack of industry experience</p>

4

<p>The economy is tight, companies are cautious. When I was in Engineering school. (30 years ago), most internships were meant to encourage URMs and females. If you are interested in experience and don’t need to get paid, I recommend you identify engineering grads from your school that have been out 10 to 20 years. Call them up and ask for an “informational interview” whose purpose is for you to understand more about their area of expertise. If there are opportunities at their company, they can be your advocate. This is called networking - and it works.</p>

5

<p>@ucbalumnus:
Opening to a wider geographic range certainly does seem like the next logical step.</p>

<p>@JamesMadison:
It is encouraging that it seems like many people have the same results as me. I’m just concerned that if I don’t find something this summer or immediately after graduation, the gap in my resume is going to be very difficult to explain. Trouble is the 40 internships I applied for are the only advertised internships in my area, and I live in an area that is known for high employment in chemical engineering. As for my resume, I wrote it just as you described, and I’ve had a few people who seem to have quite a bit of experience read it and they said it’s fine.</p>

6

<p>I feel your pain. Son is in same position. He’s only a sophomore, but he will once again go a summer with no internship, REU. He’s a similar demographic, no ethnic or gender “hook”, no connections. He’s applied to jobs all over the US, though. </p>

<p>What worries me is, you go on to grad school, get that MS, as my son will likely do, but still, you’re at Square One. No experience, internship, just different letters behind your name. Yet you bust your butt to get good grades. Doesn’t seem to help much if you can’t get past that first job.</p>

<p>Wishing the OP much luck. Son is mech eng, but we live in chem eng heaven, South Louisiana. True, it is the armpit of the nation, but if you’d be open to applying for something down here, you just might be able to find something.</p>

7

<p>3.7 for engineering is good. It’s not you, it’s the economy and uncertainty in this election year.
Be patient. If you are any engineer besides Civil, you are in a much much much better position.</p>

8

<p>

Probably your single biggest obvious problem.</p>

<p>

Most engineering students haven’t held a formal leadership position - the number of decent positions is much smaller than the number of students. Still, you should find something you can point to when they ask about leadership - even if it is just leading a few other students on a club project.</p>

<p>Also, you were a treasurer for a leadership society - play up your contributions and remind interviewers that leadership is not confined to the top spots.</p>

<p>

Many don’t - this would help, but it is hardly crucial.</p>

<p>

Again, many don’t, even among those actively aiming for grad school. Undergrad publications are much rarer than people seem to think.</p>

<p>

Again, an advantage but hardly an expectation. Being a white male will not help, but it won’t hurt most of the time either.</p>

<p>

I hate to say this, but I disagree. The OP definitely has a few obvious minor shortcomings on their own, but I think there is something going on that we cannot see. While the lack of industry experience can be a problem these days, his GPA puts him in the top 15-20% at most schools, and his counselors noted that he is a “solid candidate”… by the numbers. Even in this economy, hiring is strong enough that someone with that GPA, research experience, and a leadership post in an honor society SHOULD be seeing some success. The fact that he is not suggests that there is something in his manner, writing, attitude, or communication skills that is putting people off.</p>

<p>

OP, what you have posted surpasses “normal students”, and I think you need to do some practice interviewing and have some reviews of your resumes and cover letters to see if everything is solid. This is not the economy, and it is not the items that the counselors noted… this is something that you need to take a hard look at.</p>

9

<p>If you like what you’re doing, hang in there. </p>

<p>My son had no internships (and a much lower GPA). He (really me) was paying for his place to live over the summer whether he was there or not as you may be. So, he went to some of his professors and said he was able to work for free if they needed any summer help. One prof took him up on his offer. When he went to write his resume he was able to point to that work. It turned out to be just what one company was looking for and he got the job (and a good pay rate).</p>

<p>If you get no internships over the summer, maybe my son’s approach would work for you too.</p>

10

<p>^^^Thanks for that, HP. My son has taken summer courses at a local university for a couple of summers. It’s not an engineering school, but I’m going to suggest to him to just volunteer at the science labs this summer, even washing glassware. He could apply for and possibly get a minimum wage job, but would likely only be 10 hours a week. That’s all his friends were able to get last summer.</p>

<p>Which would be better, 30 hours a week for free in a college lab, or 10 hours a week at minimum wage at a grocery store/movie theater?</p>

<p>He’d live at home, so no rent, but I’d still have to feed him.</p>

11

<p>I will eliminate the geographic range. I have a CHem Eng friend and she has been all over the place from New Mexico to Ohio to Georgia. Go nation wide and you will find lot more. With this economy anywhere is better than nothing.</p>

12

<p>3.7 is a high GPA for an engineer and you are probably a strong candidate. The issue is that there is NOT a shortage of engineers and the job market for non-software engineers is bad. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Let me just say that the people at your career center are idiots. None of these “weaknesses” will stand out if you craft an intelligent resume. Do these things: </p>

<p>-Put education at the top. GPA and major GPA should both be clearly visible. </p>

<p>-Have you done projects for your courses, or even interesting sounding homework assignments? Put them under experience along with your research. </p>

<p>-Do you have club involvement. If so, you might be able to make it look good if you put it down right. </p>

<p>You can PM me your resume if you want.</p>

13

<p>^^^Thanks for the advice for us, too. Son has a 3.96 GPA, and we’re confused as to why he’s getting no bites with those grades. Maybe a resume rework is in order.</p>

14

<p>Montegut, is your son’s school a factor? Are his classmates getting opportunities?</p>

15

<p>A person I went to school with who got his civil degree worked in construction over the summers. Best resume I ever saw for somebody with no “professional” experience.
Get creative. Try teaching summer camp. Perhaps you could get a QC tech job. There are temp services for that. It doesn’t have to be an offical internship.</p>

16

<p>

Very true - there is often a fair amount of hands-on work available, even in this down economy. In many areas, saying you spent a summer or two doing “basic” work can go a long way towards getting you a job, especially if you can demonstrate that it gave you some familiarity with the industry and perspective that will help you as an engineer.</p>

17

<p>There are lots of places you can get engineering experience at. Some of the resources I’ve used:</p>

<p>USA Jobs (tons of federal temporary jobs and internships for student engineers posted there)
Your school career center (Clemson has a resource for students where you login and tons of internships/jobs are posted there)
<a href=“http://nacelinknetwork.jobcentral.com/nacelink.asp[/url]”>http://nacelinknetwork.jobcentral.com/nacelink.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>other resources: [Domestic</a> Internships : Michelin Career Center : Clemson University](<a href=“Home-Clemson Center for Career and Professional Development”>Home-Clemson Center for Career and Professional Development)</p>

<p>I have a 2.62 GPA and I landed a fantastic internship with the US Forest Service. You should have no problem finding something (you need to start this very minute though if you wanna work this summer though)</p>

18

<p>“OP, what you have posted surpasses “normal students”, and I think you need to do some practice interviewing and have some reviews of your resumes and cover letters to see if everything is solid. This is not the economy, and it is not the items that the counselors noted… this is something that you need to take a hard look at.”</p>

<p>This is something that i think my boyfriend may be having issues with, but i honestly don’t know what or why. He’s a chem eng graduate, 2011, same as me, however i got really lucky and found something July 2011 (contract). Now, my contract is up in a day, i haven’t heard anything from my company about whether they will renew it or hire me, and i’ve been applying other places, and have 3 interviews lined up. (3 interviews with basically 0 resumes submitted, they found me). My boyfriend is still unemployed in his field. He’s working on contract for the navy, but not as an engineer. What can he do? He’s already met with a career advisor from school, he has a mock interview set up for this week. He was accepted into Mechanical Engineering grad school, because all of our Mechanical Engineer friends had no trouble getting jobs, however all our chemical engineering friends (who weren’t superstars) got jobs because of connections, or they’re not currently engineers.
How can he work on whatever may be putting people off? Especially since he doesn’t know what it is. This is getting hard for both of us (as if it hasn’t been already) because i’m having a choice of interviews without even trying, and he can barely score any, and when he does, they never call him back. I would love to have the tables turned on this, because at least it would boost his ego to pay for things for me, as it is now, he feels like a peice of **** boyfriend for not being able to afford simple things that i can. THIS SUCKS.</p>