Freshman year I learned that the best way to be prepare myself for internships was just to think ahead and to take advantage of the opportunities that came my way. There are tons of companies looking for young engineering talent (even at the freshman level), and the right approach made finding a company that worked for me very doable. My best decisions last year that landed me some internship opportunities were:
a.) Going to the Engineering Career Fair as a freshman
b.) Getting Resume advice from real recruiters
c.) Reaching out to family connections
d.) Attending events hosted by companies on campus
Going to the career fair was intimidating as a freshman –– half of my resume was taken up with positions as sport team captains in high school, and my most substantial resume items were working at Starbucks and schoolwork. I definitely learned some valuable lessons though, and a lot of recruiters took the time to give me tips on how to work a career fair as a student and how polish my resume. If you play the “I’m an eager freshman card” people are likely to help out 😛
I got a lot of resume advice from recruiters at the event, from family, and from a Microsoft recruiter I met while working at Starbucks. Working on my resume earlier in the semester helped me realize what I would like to work on in the future/what my ideal resume should look like, and is ultimately what led to me attending some of the more career oriented events at USC (which landed me positions with both Google and Microsoft). I ultimately ended up working at Flextronics last summer, a job a landed through a family connection.
Going through the process of resume writing and attending many career events as a freshman has made me prepared for and comfortable with my future “job-hunts”, and I’m looking forward to the career fair this upcoming Wednesday –– and all the free stuff that comes with it 😛
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