I have noticed that many times engineering internships put in their requirements that the intern must be still an undergrad and I wondered why? Wouldn’t a new grad be just as viable a candidate even if it was just for a summer job? There are plenty of new grads who would take a summer job just to get the experiences, sort of a coop after graduation.
I thought perhaps they were able to write off the pay they paid the intern as a tax write off some how so maybe that was the attraction.
The idea that the company is going to wait an entire year to possibly hire that intern they used seems like they are betting on something that might not occur. Here if they use a new grad and they liked them, they could keep them right away.
Why would a new grad take an internship anyway? When I was finishing my undergrad the last thing I’d have wanted was an internship.
On the other hand, a company would have a really hard time justifying paying someone with a BS the same they pay someone with no degree who is still a student.
I see your point but that does not answer my question, why do the ads put that the intern must be an undergrad or sometimes a grad student? They want a student. Even a grad student has a BS degree.
If a senior ME student decides to do a coop in his second semester of senior year and go back to school after he can apply but if he has finished Sr year and wants to intern right after he can’t. There is no difference in time spent.
It is the strict requirement of being a student that I don’t understand.
For example this ad:
Intern - Engineering Design
Requirements:
Candidate must be currently enrolled in a B.S. or M.S. degree program in Mechanical Engineering (or similar major) and have completed their junior year of study.
Probably because the positions they have in mind are suited to undergraduate students, not graduate students. Not all positions are suitable for all workers.
Alternatively, said company might have experience with hiring grad students for a position and had a hard time retaining them later. In that case they might then restrict their search to undergraduate students.
For whatever reason, they just seem to think grad students are overqualified for whatever they are offering.
I think you are possibly on the right track @colorado_mom . The internships are advertised for 10-12 weeks so they are temporary positions and they did not pay benefits.
@boneh3ad . Plenty of new grads get out of school and have to hunt for a long while to look for work, months sometimes, and so an internship gives both the graduated student and the company a chance to see if they like each other with no further commitment beyond the 3 months. It is really a win win for them both if the new engineer isn’t even sure if he want to live in the state the company is or continue on with them either.
Sometimes jobs are advertised as internships and they specifically say they want a newly graduated engineer but they say they will consider hiring after the internship is over. There are many less ads that say that though.
It’s not a win-win. People have to hunt for jobs for a while, sure, but taking an internship after you have a degree would be incredibly sad. You aren’t covered by school insurance anymore and may or may not be co reed by a parent’s insurance and now you are takin a job with no insurance, no retirement plan, no benefits? That’s not a “win”.
It’s also not a win for the company. They are using resources on someone who, after 4 years of school, they still can’t be bothered to hire full time. Those resources could go to hiring a rising senior intern who they consider a more promising employee and over whom they won’t catch flak for hiring as an intern.
@boneh3ad , I don’t know how you were when you graduated but many young people are not sure where they want to live or exactly what type of engineering they want to do. Those same graduates do not have any insurance while they apply for jobs month after month.
Talk about taking away jobs from others, a new engineer who takes a job after applying to 50-100 jobs may just be thankful to have ANY job and may not looking at the job as someplace they desire to be in the long run. That same person may continue looking for something better and be gone, lickety split as soon as an opportunity that seems better comes along.
There is no job security for the company or the worker in today’s world. There is not the mentality that you will stay with the company for 25 years. No one young today thinks like that.
A three month trial for both the company and the engineer is a win win. No lawsuits by the engineer that he was unduly fired after working for 3 months and engineer can continue to look for work as they intern.
My guess would be that the company would be concerned a non student wouldn’t stay for the entire length of the internship. Someone who has already graduated is actively looking for a permanent position and would quit the internship when they get an offer elsewhere.
Yes, that sounds like a good possibility. The company then feels the student will stay for the entire internship especially if they are getting school credit for working.
I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. As someone who relatively recently finished up my BS, Inwould have hated settling for a 3 month temporary job. That’s when you typically want to start your life, not another period of uncertainty. I even say this as someone who graduated at the height of the recession in 2009. I still had a couple non-intern job opportunities.
@Lakemom, my husband has worked for the same corporate company for over 30 years and he interviews, contracts and hires EEs, CsEs, and other majors.
What I’ve learned from him is that his company jobs are based on job numbers and contracts that have been planned out for years prior to the HR ad. If dh is budgeting for 2 junior level interns, for 3 months, to do non-secure grunt work, he has to estimate and project HR costs and possible overtime pay, for an intern who may start in two years on the XYZ contract.
Once the person is degreed, the person legally has to be paid (salary, medical, etc.) and trained (additional costs) and estimated for clearance (time intensive and sensitive).
So the company has to estimate a job’s time that does not require clearances-nor access to secure computers, secure rooms, nor secure wings. Plus, that job needs to have been estimated and budgeted, probably, 2-5 years prior to the actual hiring. Most jobs are government contracts requiring different levels of security clearances. These clearances are complicated and time-consuming. (Dd has been in her position for almost two years and still doesn’t have a clearance for one project!)
So why would a company want a “graduated” intern who will waste their time for three months? The intern wouldn’t be able to move forward.
Thanks for that well explained answer. You have answered the question about why a large company that takes on government contracts would require the intern be a student. Which makes sense. My husband also thought it may have to do with labor laws.
I would imagine in smaller companies who are not paid by the gov’t, they can offer opportunities, even temporary ones as they see fit. I have seen ad like that where it was clear that the “intern” supposed to be a new grad and employment may or may not be offered after a trial period of 2-3 months
Some industrial or engineering companies do solicit applications from MS and PhD candidates. The distinction is that such individuals are still enrolled in a degree program.
Thanks @colorado_mom. The reason I was asking this question is that while my son is a senior, he was considering going someplace on the other side of the country for just the summer to work but returning to our coast after. So since he is really not experienced enough to fill a temp job as an engineer, seeking an internship sounded like an option since companies that hire summer interns only want them for the summer.
From everyones input, I can see that might be more difficult.
It’s good that he is thinking through different ideas. Employers are sometimes able to allow a few months after graduation before start date. If finances permit, maybe he could take an extended post-graduation trip on the other coast. I’ve knows a few grads that did biking/camping adventures.