What Do Companies Look For In An Intern/New Hire?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello everyone.</p>

<p>I've read quite a few posts on this site in the past and I just created an account to ask for some help. I'm currently a junior in mechanical engineering and I need some assistance with what to do to find an internship. </p>

<p>I recently applied to about 30 companies through my school's engineering career website and I received zero interview offers. Now, I think I know what the problem is but I wanted to get some feedback from you all.</p>

<p>Firstly, I have a 4.0 GPA at my current school but this doesn't tell the whole story. My overall GPA is a 2.9 due to failing miserably at a different college that I attended fresh out of high school. This is clearly stated on the unofficial transcript that I had to submit to the companies to apply for the internships.</p>

<p>Secondly, I have very minimal work experience. I'm 26 years old and I worked little part time jobs in retail from 2002 to 2008. I haven't worked since 2008. The reason for this is that I wanted to concentrate on school and get my overall GPA up since I did so badly at my first college. I pay for the bills through financial aid and grants so I don't really need money but I may need the experience.</p>

<p>Finally, I don't have any extracurricular activities or involvement in any student organizations. Again, this is because I wanted to concentrate on school and bring up my GPA.</p>

<p>Now for the questions:</p>

<p>What can I do to get some interviews? I have really good social skills and I'm very personable. I think I could get some offers if I could just snag a few interviews.</p>

<p>Is the overall GPA a problem? It's only a 2.9 but I've earned a 4.0 for the past three years of my education.</p>

<p>What should I be doing to bolster my resume? I've made an appointment with the career center to get some advice but I think I know what they'll tell me. They'll say that I need to get involved in project-based ECs on campus, get some recent work experience, try to get a leadership position in an engineering club, etc.</p>

<p>What do you all think? I'm really starting to get worried about finding a job when I graduate. I know that internships are very important for that first job and with zero interview offers, I'm apparently a bottom-of-the-barrel candidate. I was operating under the assumption that engineers were in demand and that if I simply graduated with my ME degree and a high GPA, I'd have no trouble finding a job. Clearly, this isn't all there is to it.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading and I look forward to your advice.</p>

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<p>Can you go to some of these places, or a career fair, and apply in person? Who knows how many other people apply online. It can be very hard to get noticed in a huge stack of resumes some HR person is looking through.</p>

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<p>My first instinct is without getting a real internship / job, how about get involved in a research? I mean you must have classmates who participated in some ME research right? The cheapest way to get experience is through research, and very often (say after 6 months starting now), you may asked your professor to recommend you to some government program. Professors may have connections with real ME companies.
That’s my first advice. Do it fast. It’s really important to approach to someone right now before it’s too late.</p>

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<p>A GPA of 2.9 can be a real killer for getting an internship. My company (I am now retired) had an absolute cutoff at 3.0. We would get so many apps for internships that we would toss the ones below about 3.4 most years. Why do you have to include your grades from your first years in college? Can’t you just give the current enrollment’s grades? </p>

<p>I hired a couple of engineers who bombed out of college their first time and went back later and did really well (as you seem to have done). They were good emplyees as they had the proper motivation and maturity their second time in college and it showed in their grades and their work. </p>

<p>When hiring, I would also look for students who worked on projects outside the classroom. The classroom work tends to be made up problems to fit within the framework of the class and not usually “real world” problems (no matter what they call the class or the assignment). Project work is closer to what you will be doing as a professional engineer and therefore more relevant. In the real world, you have to work with other people and that is a skill that I would want to see some experience in. I am also somewhat suspicious of students with 4.0 GPAs and no project work as someone who is “booksmart” but “real world clueless” or hard to work with. Project work to me is more important than the 4.0 GPA. My advice would be to get into some project work at your school.</p>

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<p>So, your school averaged those grades with your new school? That’s different… If it is not averaged, list them separately. I mean, this is my second degree, my first was in psychology. I never list my GPA for that school just because it isn’t really even relevant. Yes it is your life long averaged GPA, but unless your school actually averages that with your current grades, it isn’t your Engineering GPA.</p>

<p>Also, I have applied and been accepted to several Internships/Coop’s. I think out of the 15 or so interviews I had the last go round, only one of them required transcripts. Are you running into the opposite? Clearly state your Engineering GPA, or your Major GPA. Resumes are about selling yourself, just don’t lie.</p>

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<p>HPuck, could you list some examples of project work? Is it more individual/hobby based or is it more a matter of taking the lead on a club project (i.e. building a plane/car/crane, etc.)? Also, while I’m all for it in principal, how much time should a budding engineer devote to outside project work while they’re taking a full course load?</p>