Young Engineer

Get an Engineering Internship August 19, 2009

If you want an engineering internship in the fall, now is the time to start looking. In this upcoming series of posts, I’m going to guide you through the process of finding and applying for engineering internships.
This week: Where to look for internships and which ones you should apply to.
Next week: Writing an engineering student resume

Industry, Job Postings

Postings generally start appearing in the fall, and continue into December and January. Look on general job boards, boards specific to engineering, and job boards that are specific to your industry. Remember though, statistically, only 3-5% of jobs are filled by online ads. Identify several internships if you plan to make job postings the only way you apply for internships.  Set up alerts at job boards where you’ve had good luck–many offer delivery of jobs by email or by RSS.

Industry, Referral

If you know someone who works at an engineering company, see if you can use that connection to get an internship. If you can get someone to vouch for you by providing a referral, do it. This is especially true for competitive internship programs like Google’s or Microsoft’s.

REUs

Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REUs, is a government-funded summer research program. Typically, a student is paid a stipend of between $3500 and $5000 to go work on a research project with a professor for a period of 10 weeks. Free housing on the university campus is part of the bargain. You can find a listing of REU programs by field here. If you plan on doing an REU start prepping early—each program has its own application, and most require letters of recommendation.

Government Jobs

Check usajobs.gov for listings starting in the early fall. Many government agencies and laboratories have internship programs specifically for undergraduates. The websites of individual laboratories and agencies often have additional information about these programs.

University Jobs

Many students overlook their own college or university in their internship search. Many professors and research groups have funding for summer students. Search the department page for information about the research faculty members are doing, and contact faculty you are interested in working for. It can be helpful to work part-time for the lab in the fall or spring semester, to get familiarized with the work and your adviser.

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With all these options and a full engineering courseload, you could easily spread yourself way too thin trying to apply to too many internships. So who should look where?

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Rising First Years – working for your college or university is an excellent option for first year students, since they typically don’t have the experience required to get competitive internships in industry or the technical background to be accepted to most REUs.  Depending on your school and program, you may not have even done any actual engineering yet!  It’s a good idea to apply to a few internships to practice going through the process, but be realistic about your prospects.

Rising Sophomores – Rising sophomores can apply to pretty much any of the internships on the list above. If you don’t have any other work experience, you may need to work for someone at your university for a year to build up some necessary experience. REUs are a great option for sophomores, as are industry internships. Well-qualified sophomores should be able to get an internship in industry, if they find a position that matches their qualifications.  Use the internship after your sophomore year to try out something you think you may enjoy doing as a career, or to get specific experience in a certain area of your field.

Rising Juniors– In the internship after your junior year, you want to be making the connections to people in your industry and your field that will help you land a job after graduation. If your plan is to go to graduate school, try doing an REU with one of the universities you are considering for graduate school. This will help you get a feel for the culture of the department.
Next week: Writing an engineering resume!