<p>Graduated last year with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (~3.1 overall GPA and 3.3 major GPA). The plan was to take a year to myself and travel (stupid idea, I now regret) and then go to grad school to get my Masters. Unfortunately, things have changed and I can't go to grad school this year.</p>
<p>Now this has left me in a terrible situation, due to my own stupidity of taking that trip. I graduated with no experience in the field via internships or jobs. Add onto that, I "wasted" a year. That looks bad to any potential employers and will likely prevent me from getting any job in the field.</p>
<p>I feel so lost now and need advice on what I need to do. Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>The postgraduate internship is largely a myth created by people trying to blame the unemployment on the unemployed. Yes, there are probably some out there - but they are extremely few and far between. I graduated back in December 2011 and never took any post-school vacation. I still can’t find a job or postgraduate internship (and yes, i was open to postgrad internships right from the beginning…but there are none out there).</p>
<p>Boosted, even though postgrad internships might not be in abundance, that doesn’t mean you should just give up.</p>
<p>If you just give up, you are 100% guaranteed to fail.
If you try, maybe there’s a 70% chance you fail (this is only assuming GoalsOriented’s gloomy outlook is correct).</p>
<p>You could always try cold-emailing or calling employers you’re interested in and “creating” your own internship (basically you offer to work as an intern). You should target people who are alumni of your school.</p>
<p>I know a friend of mine who graduated from UCLA with a degree in media studies (slightly useless) who literally got his foot in the door by walking into the office and asking (face-to-face) for an unpaid internship. This is a rather extreme example, though, and the person in question is definitely way more sociable than I am.</p>