Summer internships for Industrial Engineering Student

College Majors Engineering Majors
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So my son is currently a sophomore at University of Michigan in Industrial Engineering (IOE). He has just started looking for summer internships/co-ops /study abroad internships.

He is finding out there are not many opportunities for sophomores. He will technically be a Junior next semester but companies want kids that are graduating the following year.

He has a strong interest in Augmented Reality and was part of a group that started a student organization. They won 2 grants from different university groups totaling $15,000. They did research all summer and interviewed companies after his trip to Silicon Valley for a conference in AR to get speakers /presenters to come to Michigan. They hold biweekly meetings that are well attended and he is on the board.

He is noticing that a lot of internships want coders. He had python, C++, Java but he doesn’t enjoy it. He wants more business type work experience. Mathematical analytics, management, etc would be great.

I told him to start a LinkedIn page, contact his Advisors. Contact the the companies and professors he interviewed. He is starting to look on Indeed and Glassdoor. I also told him not to just look at IOE internships per se… Any type of internships will give him experience.

He is slowly getting information about opportunities from his IOE advisor.

Any suggestions on getting summer internships?

Thanks in advance.

Note to moderator: this was posted incorrectly into college essay’s and it was never moved on request so I posted it here

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Moderators this was supposed to be posted in engineering. Don’t know what happened. Can someone transfer it there? Thx.

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Your son has similar interests to mine as well, as I’ve been recently been on the search for potential summer internships in industrial/mechanical engineering as well! Is he currently involved in any engineering student organizations at his university? I see that there’s a few orgs, like Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE), that might provide some resources on internships for sophomores. There’s also career fairs, the career department center, and networking events on campus that also provide a gateway to them. Freshman and sophomores (from what I’ve been told) seem to have more struggle with landing these internships, despite having stellar GPA or side projects. Worst-case scenario, it might not be a bad idea for your son to work on a side project that utilizes skills related to industrial engineering!

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Thanks for your suggestions. Sorry it should of been posted in engineering…

He started a student org at Michigan that has a lot of engineering students etc in it.

He is following up with the engineering student orgs etc as well. I will be there tomorrow and will review this with him.

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My daughter is graduating in December in ISE (Industrial System Engineering), which took her 4 1/2 years, and was able to work two internships. She didn’t get her first internship offer until her junior year. As a sophomore, she got several interviews but no offers. It’s not unexpected, as many internships are viewed as recruiting tools.

She also isn’t a “programmer”, and avoided those type of internships. Both were “warehouse/logistics” type of internships. So far, she’s received two job offers, both in manufacturing/logistics. The choice of internship isn’t going to pigeon hole his job search, don’t let that be a limiting factor in his search. An internship is more about proving you can work well in a team.

Even though she started applying each year in Fall (September), all of her offers and both internships came in Spring applications/interviews. He should not be frustrated with a lack of success in the Fall, keep applying through March.

LinkedIn can be his best friend. He’ll find many internships posted on LinkedIn, many of which will allow him to apply via LinkedIn or would link him to the companies site to apply. Both of my daughter’s internships came via LinkedIn.

Also, he should plan on going to the Spring job fairs and tabling events on campus, they can also help.

If he doesn’t have an internship for next summer, have a back-up plan. He’s still going to benefit from going through the process this year, learning how to setup LinkedIn, tweak his resume, handling interviews, etc. It will benefit him, when he goes through the process again his junior year (and again when he graduates).

Finally, several of my daughter’s ISE friends, who did not have an internship, are not having problems finding jobs. An internship is extremely useful, but it’s not a must have.

Good Luck!

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It’s VERY tough landing an internship before third year. Most companies use them as a trial run for potential future employees. It takes a while to train new employees and younger employees don’t have much technical skill to offer. It’s a double strike.

I agree with the don’t be too picky advice, at least for non-junior summer opportunities. My son fell into a position with a structural firm, mostly drafting, that he did after his first and second years. He’s a ME with a mechatronics concentration, so it didn’t really align. He was useful for them though. He got a paycheck, a great reference and a long term friend/mentor. He landed a position aligned with his long term goals after his third year.

I agree, LinkedIn is helpful. I’d add that he should look up “ATS compliant resume.” Sometimes formatting, color, font type, etc. flummox the systems that do the first scan for key words.

At the end of the day, a “real” internship at his stage is really unlikely. Anything he does though will be useful. Ideally it would be close to home, because it might be your last summer together before he steps out into “the real world.”

Good luck!

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Some of the consulting firms could be a fit for his interests (augmented reality, management, business,analytics )-Deloitte, Accenture, McKinsey, etc. Lots of ISE grads (or IOE) end up in management or technology consulting type jobs. As others have noted, it is not unusual to not get a good internship until after junior year. Good luck to your son!

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Thanks all. He is actually doing his LinkedIn now or at least getting started with it. Consulting firms is a great suggestion. I actually saw an internship with MLB doing baseball analytics… That would be awesome!!

On indeed and others there actually are quite a few with Ford and Tesla etc but who knows if they will hire him at this point. As I told him, the worst they can say is no.

Again great suggestions… Just didn’t know what to expect. He is scheduled to graduate a semester early but maybe he will do another internship etc. He might want to minor or do a bs/ms program… All good choices.
. Great to hear no problems landing jobs :smiley:

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We are also talking about study abroad internships. Those seem to be available.

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Applying to internships is no different than applying to schools. There should be a balance between the home run companies and the lower hanging fruit. That said, my son got to tech interviews with three very selective companies, but didn’t hear a peep from the lesser companies that should have been a sure thing. There’s a frustrating randomness to the exercise for sure.

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MODERATOR’S NOTE:

The request was not made properly. We do not read each and every post. To bring a post to a moderator’s attention, use the flag button rather than posting in the thread.

The 2 threads have been merged.

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Thank you. I realized after that I should of just messaged one of you guys. Or use the flag button… I appreciate your help.