I am a mechanical engineering sophomore, and as of now, I have worked at a company as an engineering intern since mid January, and my last day will be in mid August. My graduation has been delayed by a full year because some of the engineering courses are only offered in the spring or fall.
There is another company (a supplier of the company I’m currently working for) that wants to interview me for their fall semester co-op, which will start in September.
The only issue is that I’ve also been looking at a start-up company that is on campus, but they said they will only hire interns if the project load is sufficient, and that if they start hiring, they will start in early September.
I prefer to work at the start-up company as a part-time, but I will be in a tough position if the supplier company extends an offer to me.
My order of preferences:
- Working part-time at the start-up company while taking 12 semester hours of courses (1 course will be a gen-ed).
- Working full-time at the supplier company.
- Take 15 semester hours of courses
How should I contact the start-up company to determine if they’re hiring in the fall semester? And even if I knew for certain that they would be hiring, there’s no guarantees that I will be given an offer in September.
I forgot to mention that the start-up company previously wanted to interview me for their summer internship, but I politely declined it, citing that I had already accepted my current company’s offer to come back for the summer (after the start-up company failed to respond to an email that I sent inquiring about their internship).
What exactly is your question, it’s not clear?
If you are asking what you should do, you should go to work for the supplier. Start up companies come and go and are not a reliable source of income. You will have plenty of chances to work for a start up after you graduate.
Tell the start up that if the supplier does not hire you, you would be very interested in working for them if they are willing to wait until after Sept when you will know.
I think it’s always a better idea to work for a large, stable corporation before going into a startup. It gives you a lot more credibility in your next application to a startup.
I agree, stable companies have money and resources that’s better for training you. Startup is not organized most of the time. Only join it if you get significant stock option and have a few years of working under your belt. If the startup doesn’t work out, you can easy find other jobs.
I’m sorta leaning more towards the startup company just to get an idea of what startup and small companies are like. I don’t care much about the pay as long as it’s above minimal wage. In fact, I suspect the supplier company might have a similar culture as the company I am currently working in.
I would also get the option of working part-time at the startup company while doing some courses, while the supplier company is located 2 hours away from campus.
I want to get a variety of industry experiences to figure out what kind of industry, work environments and company cultures I would prefer before graduation, since it’s harder to switch jobs after graduation.
I can see the attraction. I have worked for a couple of start up companies. Start ups are usually done by young people, they can be thrilling to work in as you are part of the beginning growth, you have to wear lots of hats as there are only so many people to do the work and you can learn quite a bit if there is someone there who truly has some experience to apply to the company’s growth.
The downside is that they can be disorganized, frantic, you work way more than part time as there is so much work to do and there is not enough people to do all that is needed. So your part time job may not be part time. And if no one there is experienced, it can be a little like the blind leading the blind. Start ups often fail in the first 2 years.
In both start ups, I was the experienced one and it can be challenging to convince others to do what was reasonable and safe.
Looks like you have your mind made up so Good Luck to you 
Ok so I’m asking again, what is your question if you know you want to do startup?
The problem I am facing is that the supplier company, if they want to hire me, will send an offer BEFORE the the startup company starts interviewing.
Which means I could face a risk of declining the supplier company’s offer, only to get rejected by the startup company, and thus end up doing full-time studies (which is a viable, but least preferable option).
Or I could forget about working part-time with the startup company if I get an offer from the supplier company.
I’m trying to figure out how to explain to the startup company that I’m interested in them but that their decision to start the interview process after the supplier company’s fall co-op start is going to force me to make a hard choice.
On a side note, I did do some research on the start-up company, and it appears it was founded by three former employees of another company, and two of them were senior engineering managers. I strongly suspect that they had a product idea that got crushed by their previous employer, and thus decided to create a new company to sell the product.
An odd case of a group of people in their 40s and 50s leading a startup company.
Older startup founders are the norm. You are more likely to be moderately successful as a professional who starts a company, while you are more likely to win the financial lottery as a younger founder. Only the latter become famous.
It sounds like the start up people are not green but truly, people underestimate what it takes to get a business financially funded and off the ground. Unless they are funding themselves, they need venture capital and that means convincing someone to give them money in exchange for something like stock or a cut of future profit.
They don’t need VC money any more. My daughter’s friend went from a Genenal Manager to Vice President of a large company. As her daughter told my daughter, it’s considered a demotion. So she left the company and started a start up. She is in her 50 or could be 60. From my googling the use angel seed money, IIRC. So basically they are wealthy enough and they know enough people.
Regarding your dilemma, have you interviewed for the supplier company, I mean what is the status with that company? I wouldn’t mind jump start the interview process with the startup if you are getting close to an offer.
You can mention the reasons as you mentioned here. You don’t want to be in a situation to NOT getting either. But your preference is still with them. Is it a paid or unpaid internship? Do you care if you don’t get paid?
The supplier company has not setup an exact interview date, although the day that I sent an application, the recruiter requested additional information and said that she’ll be in touch. The next day, I was told that an engineering manager wanted to interview me.
I would assume the startup company would have some sort of a pay, given the amount of responsibilities and “desired skills/qualifications” that they listed.
I will be asking if they could do the interview process before September, if I get an offer from the supplier company. The tough part is figuring out how to politely ask for them to speed up their process.
Also, I’ve previously contacted the startup company for a summer internship, but they would take 1-4 weeks to respond back, although they said that they were very busy with clients and other sorts of businesses.
By the time they said they wanted to interview me for a summer internship, I had already accepted my current company’s offer to come back again for the summer.
I did ask if the startup company was considering part-time fall/spring co-ops, and they said they would start the interview process in September.
Their delay for summer internships is a warning of what may well happen for Fall coops. Remember they have more work than people to get things done at this stage.
Dr. Google, the need for venture capitalists is still going strong for new companies. It all depends on what stage they are at.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242702
I didn’t say there is no need, I said it’s not necessary.
Word of warning, don’t get too attached to a startup. My experience is that they have significantly below average administrative ability, work conditions, and they are in general what you’d expect of a company which has yet to establish itself. Even the worst corporations have established a proven system; most startups will never be even as good as the worst managed big companies you can think of.
A somewhat cynical, yet very well-considered blog post about startups, which I mostly agree with: https://michaelochurch.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/07/08/dont-waste-your-time-in-crappy-startup-jobs/
Since they deal with you before, maybe you can be a bit more persistent. You don’t have to be too polite. You get no where. But it’s a skill you need to develop, convince people to do things they’ve already said no, citing previous year result. I mean it doesn’t hurt to try because the end result the same as last summer if you don’t try.
NeoDymium:
I understand that startups have a higher risk of crashing and burning, but I want to know what it is like working in a startup before I graduate.
After graduation, switching jobs will be harder, especially if I have to move to another geographical area, and even more if I fall in love with someone.
DrGoogle:
That is a good point. I guess I could cite that I don’t want a repeat of a situation where a company needs me to accept or reject an offer before the startup company even schedules an interview.
If they’re willing to budge, then that means they’re interested in me. If they say they can’t make an exception or fail to respond, then oh well.
What geographical location are you interested in working. It’s not hard to switch job in SV.