How to Land a Job as an Engineering Intern or Co-op

If you’re an engineering student, chances are good that you’re not planning to spend your summer vacation sitting on the beach. Instead, you’re probably looking for a summer internship, if you haven’t found one already. Internships are an important part of an engineering education. For one thing, they can help you pay for school; according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average engineering intern earns more than $20 an hour, much more than you could hope to earn in most other summer jobs. Internships also enhance your employment and earnings potential after graduation. In addition, they allow you to build relationships with mentors and peers. Most importantly, they allow you put the things you’ve learned in the classroom into practice -- and to learn things about the real world they never teach you in a classroom.

You might also be interested in co-op job opportunities. While internships are generally short-term summer jobs, co-ops typically last two semesters or more (i.e. summer and fall, or spring and summer). Because co-ops last longer, they allow you to learn much more than you would in a single summer, and to build stronger relationships in the industry. However, they will also delay your ability to graduate, since students don’t typically take classes while they are doing a full-time co-op. Furthermore, despite the fact that you aren’t actually taking classes, schools usually expect students in co-op programs to pay tuition (although sometimes employers will reimburse you for this). If you’re lucky enough to find a good summer internship within a reasonable distance of your school, and your employer is happy with your work, you might be able to work part-time in the spring and fall, and full-time in the summer. This provides a lot of the benefits of a co-op, while allowing you to stay on track for graduation.

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So what do you need to do in order to land an engineering internship or co-op? First, you need a resume. You might not have much experience to speak of, but that’s OK. You can include projects you’ve done in school, clubs you’re involved in, work, and non-engineering-related work experience; even minimum-wage retail or restaurant jobs may help to demonstrate your level of maturity, responsibility, and people skills. On the other hand, don’t make your resume unnecessarily long; the longer you make it, the less likely employers are to read it. For an internship or co-op candidate, if it’s more than one page, it’s definitely too long. Your school’s career center should be able to help you put your resume together. Don’t lie or exaggerate on your resume; at a previous job, I fired an intern who lied about her grades on her resume. (She also submitted fake transcripts to back it up -- another bad idea.)

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Where can you find internship or co-op opportunities? Campus career fairs are a great place, since they give you the opportunity to meet potential employers face to face. Your school’s career center or your academic department may also have some listings. Professors may know who is hiring. Online job boards are another good place to look. In addition, if there are specific companies you’re interested in working for, you may want to check the companies’ websites.

What are employers looking for? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m in the process of choosing a summer intern right now. I collected about 15 resumes: some from a job fair at a local university, and some as a result of emailing the job posting to a professor I know at another local university. Then I conducted phone interviews with each of the students. (Many companies would probably have someone from human resources do the phone interviews, but since the person will be working for me, I wanted to get to know each of the candidates.)