<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I am a second year chemical engineering student at a top Canadian university. I have applied for a summer internships to more than 40 companies for more than 200 positions (oil and gas, mining, power generation, chemicals, plastics, consulting, pharmaceuticals, etc.). The applications were through the career centre as well as through company websites. I made the mistake of not going to career fairs this year, because of ridiculous suggestions from upper-year students (they said the fairs are mostly for 3rd and 4th year students).</p>
<p>I have yet to receive a single interview invitation. Most of the jobs I applied for had end of January and February deadlines.</p>
<p>When do companies send out interview invitations? Have I likely missed most of them or do they come in March? What were your internship-finding experiences? Should I start looking for other summer work or am I still likely to be contacted?</p>
<p>By the way, my resume and cover letter seem quite professional. My cover letters were (somewhat) tailored to specific employers. I have a 3.8 GPA and 5 years of prior work experience (including office jobs). I applied for work nationwide, in the US and in Europe. I am basically willing to go anywhere/do almost anything for relevant experience.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies</p>
<p>I don’t know about all companies but my son, a mechanical engineering sophomore applied to several companies and has already had some interviews and has landed an internship for summer. The company he will be working for has already hired all of their interns for the summer.</p>
<p>I would call each company, ask if they have received your application and if you are still in the running for the position. Make sure they realize how much you really want to work for that company. Sometimes it is the squeaky wheel that gets the internship.</p>
<p>Also, I would continue to apply to more places. My son applied to over 50 places, only got 3 or 4 interviews, and only one offer.</p>
<p>Heres my tip: If the deadlines are in january/feb, apply in september. Seriously, apply as soon as you can.</p>
<p>Also whoever told you a career fair is for 3rd and 4th year students, they are wrong. I received internship offers as a freshman and as a sophomore, both of which I got at a career fair. Lets just say my GPA isn’t the best either. I had similar types of people tell me its for 3rd and 4th year, and these people were usually the people who were NOT successful getting an internship. </p>
<p>As for my experience, I have “flirted” and interviewed with many companies. The process is radically different at each company. The one I accepted at took about a month and it was 2 interviews, and the other one I got an offer from literally took like 4 or 5 months (They called me during finals week.). I have interviewed with 1 company that never returned calls or even simple emails like “Am i still being considered?”. Some companies are intense, my friend is interning at Honda and they put him through a 2-3 month process of interviews and callbacks (total of 3 interviews!).</p>
<p>Don’t give up on looking… my freshman year I was depressed since I put hundreds of hours into it, but I got an offer in the end. takes work as a freshman but can be done with high GPA and persistence</p>