Why Engineering internships advertise you must still be an undergrad

College Majors Engineering Majors
21

Couple of thoughts about hiring a graduate as an intern:

  1. If they are really looking for full time work and using the internship as a bridge, then is their focus going to really be on the work as an intern. Looking for work is in itself full time work. A student working just for the summer has fewer distractions.
  2. Being a large aerospace company, we would have a cutoff of a 3.5 GPA for interns. A person with such a GPA should have no problem finding full time employment, so working as an intern would be moot.
  3. It is well known that an internship is really a long job interview. An internship is also advertising. The intern goes back to school and (hopefully) talks up what a great place it is to work. The more and the better the students who apply for full time positions, the better the engineering staff will become.
22

I agree @HPuck35 . What I was exploring was a way for the new grad to try working in an area of engineering to see how it was for just the summer with no expectation that the employer would offer them full time employment.

It would give the new grad an “additional” internship exoerience but one after they graduate. Particularly if they do not go to a coop school. Jr summer is really the only summer interns are really likely to get an internship.

I do understand that tor large companies, internships are offered with the idea the intern will come back to work for them. But there must be smaller companies that just need summer help. Those are the ones who it might be possible to work at I would imagine.

23

First, why would a competitive grad want an internship that likely only pays 50% of a full time job, and has no benefits.? Do you want them to work for $40K a year indefinitely …

Second, there is no shame in taking a full-time job in an area of engineering and deciding it is not for you and then looking for job #2. No one really knows whether a job is a good fit, but especially not a new grad. Some companies have rotations of 6 months or so to let people try different options. and while it is a nice idea to return to your coast, why would he/she do that if he/she finds a job on the opposite coast that is a good fit or provides job experience. You may miss them, but really the time to explore jobs and other regions of the country is precisely now, before mortgage and wife and kids and other ties to a specific area.

Third, working at McDonalds would count as work experience on some levels, for a grad who did an internship … I am not even sure the prestige would be better.

Fourth, job shops or temporary employment or job requiring computer skills or getting some manufacturing / oil rig type experience probably would all be better.

Summer internships are often made up with the primary purpose to bring in potential hires … not to fill a need. Absent some great programming or CAD skills ( which would be more like hiring a programmer or draftsman anyway, and that would be a permanent job with potential to promote to engineer or something), there is not much I would bring a new grad in for that they could be productive at a serious level in a 3 month timeframe… I am not going to “train” them or make them a permanent team member since they are by definition 3 month hires.

24
  1. To work in your field for just a summer in a part of the country you are contemplating moving to.
  2. Taking a full time job as if you plan to stay while you know you only want it for 12 weeks is disingenuous. You don't have to "Train" a temp employee, just give them work that needs to be done by someone who knows enough engineering to do it.

It is not because of me he might want to move back to our coast. I am totally fine about him living where ever he wants. So that is an assumption on your part.

  1. REALLY, you think an engineering grad should seek a job a McDonalds instead of a temp opportunity.
  2. Agreed. All ME students learn CAD, MAT lab and clearly have computer skills so that is an option.

It is interesting that the perception of many is that graduates need/must pursue full time jobs the moment they leave school. Why is that supposed to be the norm?

My son’s friend traveled around Europe last summer with another CS student doing temp work for folks here in the states to fund their travel. He said the work wasn’t always the most interesting but the trade off to get paid and keep traveling was worth it. He is considering do it again next summer after he graduates.

25

They want to catch the best candidates for the job early. If a student is stellar, many companies will be interested in hiring him or her. Companies hope that by hiring those students as college interns, they will have a better shot at hiring them after graduation. They also assume that if you have already graduated and do not have a job, you may not be as strong a candidate as the current student. (Yeah, I know that’s not fair).

The other reason is that an internship has a start and end date. If the intern does not work out, it is easy to just not offer a permanent position. No tears. No unemployment compensation. No lay-off package. The kid is just going to head back to school anyway). With a college graduate, even if you call it an internship, that person is going to want and perhaps expect to be kept on after the internship ends, and depending upon the state law and the circumstances, there could be legal issues involved (claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, etc.)

26

I agree with you totally. I’m sure there is the concern of law suits particularly at large companies. And you are right, if someone does not try and get a job right away, they are perceived as being less employable. That is the big problem many who are unemployed, even those who have years of experience, have found.

At the same time, as PickOne1 said, while you are young and unattached with minimal bills is the time to try out new things.

27

I think the year in Europe backpacking is fine … New hires are not like 50 year old laid off people, it is not shameful to have a gap year, just have some good stories to tell. And with the internet, you can still pound off resumes to promising ads and you can fly home from Europe in a few days, if something really seems promising.

I did not say to take a job for 12 weeks by lying about your intentions, since I don’t really understand why you would quit … unless it is something you just don’t like (and 3 months probation is pretty standard, so your company can also just tell you to pack your bags and go with no unemployment). If the plan is to quit after 12 weeks … not sure why … then no. That is dishonest.

But … there is also no really truly bad new hire job, especially if your search has gone on for long, or you have financial pressures that mean you need to work now, not later. I would say stick it out a year to get full value …

If you can get a job that seems remotely interested at a large company that does have work that interests you, I don’t think it is disingenuous or even in any way bad to take that job and apply for internal transfer after a reasonable time, unless that department is spending a lot of time and money training you.

If you have computer science or CAD skills, then I would personally chose them over an internship that clearly states they don’t want graduates.

Sorry to tell you, but engineering degrees are primarily basic science and math and some made up projects to teach students how to solve problems. So any real job will take training or mentoring or something. Summer programs include some company sponsored activities so the department doesn’t have to spend 40 hours a week entertaining your student … and yes, these are recruitment programs for high achievers.

And new hire jobs … .well, they vary tremendously, like engineering itself, so there is a bit of luck involved in finding the right niche. Really, the goal is to find a company that will help you grow into a professional by training you and allowing you to find your niche … which could easily be project management or factory floor work or high tech design (believe me, most people do not want to do this, since it is hard).

28

PS - if your DS/DD has actually done real engineering in college, then likely that will yield them some employment opportunities in related areas. In other words, if you built a winner vehicle, you should build that up on your resume and send it to related employers. However, most college projects are due to time constraints and the skill mix of the students much simpler and better defined than a typical work project.

29

We really are on the same page. I agree having some good Senior capstone project or the like can really help get a start somewhere.

I can tell you, young people,even engineers are interested in more than a 9-5 full time job with a “future”

Many are interested in Start up companies where there is absolutely no job security what so ever. I think, do it while you are young and don’t have big financial obligations.

I also used to live in Silicon valley 30 years ago. The CS engineers there jumped companies very frequently. It was all part of the enthusiasm of youth and thinking that the company you were working for that paid peanuts but gave you a stock option might be the one that made it big.

30

“It is interesting that the perception of many is that graduates need/must pursue full time jobs the moment they leave school. Why is that supposed to be the norm?” - Often it financial motivation, especially if there are a lot of college loans to repay. If there are minimal loans and opportunity to move back home that can take the pressure off.

31

Yep. I see that.