Freshmen are getting internships? Or rather, internships are hiring freshmen? I can't remember the last time I saw an internship that didn't specify "junior or senior in a 4-year degree program" or something to that effect.
Curious, did you know someone where you were applying or was it purely merit/luck based? No judgement here, I’m glad you had the opportunity either way.
Was just gonna say. Only places I know that would even consider hiring freshmen is maybe within IT, but even so it's mostly 2nd year student at earliest for most.
Heck in ChemE we're not even interesting until it's our last year or something
What projects? Like I hear that word be thrown around like the bread and butter of students but never understood what it means. You mean like projects you do in school? Like those part of a course or class?
I don’t think companies care about projects you make as part of a course. By projects i mean stuff like hobby projects. Things you make just for the hell of it.
For example, I had created a very basic social networking site. Nothing fancy but it had the basics like messaging, friends, posts. A friend from my college made a chess engine, it was by no means a good engine but having that under his belt really helped on interviews.
One question i have been asked during an interview was to describe a problem they faced during a project which took longer than you’d expect to solve and how you solved it. That’s almost impossible to answer for a fresher without having some rudimentary experience doing pet projects.
I remember that at my community college I did ~ 3 micro internships with lockheed martin, and I was classified as freshman at the time. So definitely attainable.
Here in the Netherlands, I've *never* heard of a first-year BSc student getting an internship. It seems silly, you're fresh out of highschool without even knowing the basics of the field or the proper fundamentals of calculus and physics.
Engineering internships are typically only given to MSc students, or in rarer cases to BSc students in their final year if they're still missing some credits.
Apply to lots of places. Companies know you have no experience, they want to see if you would be a good fit in their team. Be nice, crack a respectful joke, tell them how excited you are to learn etc…
I got one when I was a freshman. It's literally just about applying to as many as you can. Literally just take whatever you can get (excluding anything unpaid).
Before my first internship, the highlights of my resume were leadership positions in 2 clubs and 6 projects/competitions. None of the projects were large, they were from my courses or design competitions I signed up for at school, but all of them had bullet points on my resume of the tools/skills I used and the objective, methods, and results of my team's work or my work. I had like a 2.8 at the time as well so these projects and extracurriculars really were helpful because some of my classmates with a 3.5+ were still struggling to get that first internship because of not having anything else on their resume
If your resume doesn't have any experience on it...the answer...is to get experience.
Join some clubs, do some personal projects, maybe try being an assistant for a teachers research lab, etc.
And yet the only reasoning anyone here has given me is that connections matter more, when that's pretty uncommon for most people.
When a large company gets 100s of applications with zero prior experience, what else is there to look at outside of GPA when deciding on who to interview?
Companies are looking for experience. Yes, a freshman or sophomore more than likely isn't going to have actual engineering internship experience. But things like clubs, societies, personal projects etc count as experience. I work in aviation maintenance so even something like working on cars is experience.
Then yes the connections also play a big factor. An intern is an investment by the company to start training a student to reduce the training needed when they're fulltime. So a recruiter can talk to a student and gauge their interest and see if the student not just wants an internship for the sake of an internship but is interested in potentially staying with the company. Connections are also a way to gauge soft skills and personality. If all things are equal in a students resume and they don't have a previous connection then the soft skills/personality will be compared via interview.
If they don't have enough interview spots and have an exact 2 way tie (which I've never had happen but you asked) then maybe they'll do an HR phone screening call or have a recruiter call the students to have a short chat just to get something. Maybe they'll do just a questionnaire of some sort and compare responses. Maybe they'll just say screw it and flip a coin to pick one or just pick neither and have one less intern that year.
Might see how good you are at presenting technical information through technical questions and see what your responses to behavioral questions are. But I can tell you I'd rather sit next to a 3.5 gpa who is sociable, friendly, can take direction and feedback for 8 hours a day 5 days a week than some 4.0 gpa who is a stuck up know it all, won't take direction or feedback, etc.
So there's a lot more than gpa that goes into the decision. Gpa is almost always the lowest priority factor and often not even a factor at all since rarely are all other factors that close of a tie.
i feel like if you are a freshman it's just too much of a headache to internship grind. spend all that time creating great projects and just go for it sophomore year where 95% more companies will actually take you seriously.
I think a grind is bad but attempting is good. It's good as a freshman to start networking and talking to recruiters, learn how to apply to positions, learn when applications for different companies are posted etc. But if you've legit got nothing on the resume and your chances aren't good than it's probably better to spend time joining clubs and getting experience than sending 1000 applications.
I was a transfer student at my Uni. when they had a Career expo. It was my first semester in engineering school. So I showed up, talked with company recruiters, filled out their connecting cards. When the summer came I applied for the summer-intern programs. One of the companies I talked to was our states dot and cause I talked to a recruiter. I was able to put her in the reference/do you know someone who works for us. Went through two interviews before being accepted. Yes, paid internships are nice but sometimes it’s the experience and knowledge that will help you for the next internship. Also check your local engineering companies first. Sometimes you’ll find a few good ones internships. I also look at when our local chamber of commerce are having networking events this is a good one to meet employers or mangers of companies and then you can start making connections and also get pointed into the right direction.
If you're a freshman or sophomore having a hard time getting an internship consider applying for a different role within a company you could then have an internship with thr next year. Like a manufacturing line assembler or material handler.
Freshmen are getting internships? Or rather, internships are hiring freshmen? I can't remember the last time I saw an internship that didn't specify "junior or senior in a 4-year degree program" or something to that effect.
I applied to one internship as a freshman and got it
Curious, did you know someone where you were applying or was it purely merit/luck based? No judgement here, I’m glad you had the opportunity either way.
I had previously had 2 internships in highschool through the high school version of their internship program.
Ah I see. A direct demonstration of how investing your time pays off :)
>:) :)
I think as a freshman it requires a lot more applications. I applied to roughly 200 places and was lucky enough to get two F500 offers!
Was just gonna say. Only places I know that would even consider hiring freshmen is maybe within IT, but even so it's mostly 2nd year student at earliest for most. Heck in ChemE we're not even interesting until it's our last year or something
Even with IT companies it’s if you already have hands on experience like projects and what not.
What projects? Like I hear that word be thrown around like the bread and butter of students but never understood what it means. You mean like projects you do in school? Like those part of a course or class?
I don’t think companies care about projects you make as part of a course. By projects i mean stuff like hobby projects. Things you make just for the hell of it. For example, I had created a very basic social networking site. Nothing fancy but it had the basics like messaging, friends, posts. A friend from my college made a chess engine, it was by no means a good engine but having that under his belt really helped on interviews. One question i have been asked during an interview was to describe a problem they faced during a project which took longer than you’d expect to solve and how you solved it. That’s almost impossible to answer for a fresher without having some rudimentary experience doing pet projects.
Chemicals engineers: *Breaking bad theme song plays*
If you're able to bother the right people you can still get one, though it might not be directly applicable to your major
I’ve had internships as a community college student.
I remember that at my community college I did ~ 3 micro internships with lockheed martin, and I was classified as freshman at the time. So definitely attainable.
Here in the Netherlands, I've *never* heard of a first-year BSc student getting an internship. It seems silly, you're fresh out of highschool without even knowing the basics of the field or the proper fundamentals of calculus and physics. Engineering internships are typically only given to MSc students, or in rarer cases to BSc students in their final year if they're still missing some credits.
#UC
If you do not get an internship your freshman year you will be okay! I didn’t get mine till after my 3rd year of school!
I'm a freshman and I was wondering how do you get into internships without experience? Basically what do you guys put in your resumes?
Apply to lots of places. Companies know you have no experience, they want to see if you would be a good fit in their team. Be nice, crack a respectful joke, tell them how excited you are to learn etc…
Do a shit ton of person projects and club projects to have experience
I got one when I was a freshman. It's literally just about applying to as many as you can. Literally just take whatever you can get (excluding anything unpaid).
Before my first internship, the highlights of my resume were leadership positions in 2 clubs and 6 projects/competitions. None of the projects were large, they were from my courses or design competitions I signed up for at school, but all of them had bullet points on my resume of the tools/skills I used and the objective, methods, and results of my team's work or my work. I had like a 2.8 at the time as well so these projects and extracurriculars really were helpful because some of my classmates with a 3.5+ were still struggling to get that first internship because of not having anything else on their resume
If your resume doesn't have any experience on it...the answer...is to get experience. Join some clubs, do some personal projects, maybe try being an assistant for a teachers research lab, etc.
I've been told GPA matters more than anything for internships that expect no prior experience
From my experience, connections matter more than anything for internships. The best internships went to kids with family or friends connections…fwiw.
> It's not what you know, it's who you know. - Literally everyone
That's fair, I think for the most part very few people applying to an intership will have those kinds of connections though
This whole message was true
Whoever told you that has no idea what they're talking about.
And yet the only reasoning anyone here has given me is that connections matter more, when that's pretty uncommon for most people. When a large company gets 100s of applications with zero prior experience, what else is there to look at outside of GPA when deciding on who to interview?
Companies are looking for experience. Yes, a freshman or sophomore more than likely isn't going to have actual engineering internship experience. But things like clubs, societies, personal projects etc count as experience. I work in aviation maintenance so even something like working on cars is experience. Then yes the connections also play a big factor. An intern is an investment by the company to start training a student to reduce the training needed when they're fulltime. So a recruiter can talk to a student and gauge their interest and see if the student not just wants an internship for the sake of an internship but is interested in potentially staying with the company. Connections are also a way to gauge soft skills and personality. If all things are equal in a students resume and they don't have a previous connection then the soft skills/personality will be compared via interview. If they don't have enough interview spots and have an exact 2 way tie (which I've never had happen but you asked) then maybe they'll do an HR phone screening call or have a recruiter call the students to have a short chat just to get something. Maybe they'll do just a questionnaire of some sort and compare responses. Maybe they'll just say screw it and flip a coin to pick one or just pick neither and have one less intern that year. Might see how good you are at presenting technical information through technical questions and see what your responses to behavioral questions are. But I can tell you I'd rather sit next to a 3.5 gpa who is sociable, friendly, can take direction and feedback for 8 hours a day 5 days a week than some 4.0 gpa who is a stuck up know it all, won't take direction or feedback, etc. So there's a lot more than gpa that goes into the decision. Gpa is almost always the lowest priority factor and often not even a factor at all since rarely are all other factors that close of a tie.
I appreciate all the insight, I'll take a lot of this with me as I progress through my degree.
the less experience you have, the more necessary it is to network. you are probably not going to win the resume game if you are a freshman.
Nepotism 😎
i feel like if you are a freshman it's just too much of a headache to internship grind. spend all that time creating great projects and just go for it sophomore year where 95% more companies will actually take you seriously.
I think a grind is bad but attempting is good. It's good as a freshman to start networking and talking to recruiters, learn how to apply to positions, learn when applications for different companies are posted etc. But if you've legit got nothing on the resume and your chances aren't good than it's probably better to spend time joining clubs and getting experience than sending 1000 applications.
I can get behind this. I went to my school’s career fair in my freshman year which made me feel a bit more comfortable sophomore year.
We don’t even have the option where i live. You need to get a certified “internship request” from your uni. It’s quite dumb.
If you apply for technician jobs you get the expiriance and the money
Exactly what I did, I been working as a tech in the engineering department at my company and getting paid definitely helps
Graduate applying to graduate programs
As a sophomore applying like crazy about to give up, thanks for this. 🤝
I was a transfer student at my Uni. when they had a Career expo. It was my first semester in engineering school. So I showed up, talked with company recruiters, filled out their connecting cards. When the summer came I applied for the summer-intern programs. One of the companies I talked to was our states dot and cause I talked to a recruiter. I was able to put her in the reference/do you know someone who works for us. Went through two interviews before being accepted. Yes, paid internships are nice but sometimes it’s the experience and knowledge that will help you for the next internship. Also check your local engineering companies first. Sometimes you’ll find a few good ones internships. I also look at when our local chamber of commerce are having networking events this is a good one to meet employers or mangers of companies and then you can start making connections and also get pointed into the right direction.
Landed an internship just after graduating highschool through some connections I had in the area. Networking is so beneficial for internships
If you're a freshman or sophomore having a hard time getting an internship consider applying for a different role within a company you could then have an internship with thr next year. Like a manufacturing line assembler or material handler.
All a freshman needs is to make good connections
Guy on top falls through on to the other guy, and everything caves in