Intern Prep: The Inside Scoop
By: Boris F. Trot
Tags: Job Interview, Engineering, Interview, Internships, College

Welcome back! If you read last week’s post, then you probably already know where we’re headed in this week's blog. For everyone else, I will be sharing some advice and personal situations regarding my experience with professional interviews, obtaining internships, and changing your mind after making a significant life decision. Now keep in mind, my personal experiences stem largely from the realm of engineering, so take my advice with a grain of salt; however, I do hope it is helpful for all majors... Let’s get started:

Preparation and the Hunt

So you‘re in the market for a summer internship, co-op, or maybe even a job, eh? Well, where do you begin? First, you need to start off by putting together a nice résumé. This task in and of itself can seem pretty daunting, however, there are a plethora of fantastic resources out there that you may not know about.

For starters, check out your university’s career or advising center. There, you should find faculty members who are well versed in the ins and outs of résumé construction who would be happy to look over what you have, give you pointers, make suggestions, and generally guide you in the right direction.

Next, try YouTube. When putting together my résumé, I watched at least a dozen different videos, both engineering specific as well as general, in order to pinpoint the most common trends regarding what to include, as well as what not to include.

It may seem obvious but consult family and friends. Ask them to read over your résumé, check your spelling, and see what they think. They themselves have most likely have gone through this exact scenario at least once before, so see what tips you can uncover!

Now that you have your résumé started, how does it look? I bet you forgot to mention that you tinker with Arduino on the weekends, or that you built a 1:100 scale bridge out of K’NEX four years ago… Well, guess what, these things may seem unimportant to you, but especially for someone early on in their professional career, these experiences can go a long way. Would-be employers and recruiters are reading hundreds of résumés a day. What will make you stand out? Mentioning these sorts of hobbies and projects (don’t forget to include school projects and clubs as well) demonstrates your creativity and ability to pursue learning on your own accord. It also paints them a small picture of what kind of person you are before they ever meet you.

Similarly, don’t just list ten accomplishments. Instead, use five. But with these five, don’t just tell them: show them (with words). Quantify your accomplishments, give them tangible numbers or other reference points, show them how you made a difference, explain the outcome and results of your endeavor and explain how you extracted applicable skills from these experiences.

Finally, before we move on from résumés, I’d like to mention one last thing: DO NOT LIE. This is probably the most important pieces of advice I can give. Do not put any misinformation on your résumé, and do not stretch the truth. Make sure you have a story and/or you can easily explain everything that you have listed. Interviewers commonly ask about experiences that you mention on your résumé, so be ready to elaborate a moments notice.

So your kickass résumé is complete, now what? Apply, apply, apply. “Oh, its only winter break, I still have six months to find an internship…” WRONG — you’re probably already too late. Believe it or not, lots of companies nowadays start looking for summer interns almost a year in advance, typically around October of the year prior, which is why its best to start applying as soon as you possibly can. This helps you for a few reasons:

Your options are much broader

Your résumé isn’t buried as far down as it could be

Companies can take weeks, if not months to get back to you

It allows you to plan for transportation/housing arrangments if needed

You have time to change your mind

There are lulls in hiring durn the holiday and tax seasons

Big companies fill up quick

For these reasons, again, I urge you to apply for positions as early as you can, especially so you don’t miss out. Learn from my mistakes — I once waited until winter break to apply to positions… and to 46 positions I did apply, yet only one response did I receive… which ended up falling through anyway. It was only after I reached out to someone I knew that I was able to land a pretty decent internship with only a month to spare before summer…

Next on the preparation list, I’d recommend creating a portfolio to compliment your résumé. Put together a nice, professional looking scrapbook, slide show, or collage of your recent projects (again, quantify these projects and explain how you extracted applicable skills from these experiences). With this visualization, you can either submit it online or present it in person. Either way, it will further depict your accomplishments and skills while also providing an aid for continuing conversation if in person.

Finally, I recommend:

Taking a public speaking course (or at least practicing your PS skills)

Going to an *insert industry here* conference, such as the SWE conference for engineers

One can never have enough practice talking in public. Whether it be on the phone or in person, you will be talking to strangers. Even though you may never be 100% comfortable, the more practice you have, the easier it will be and you’ll present yourself more professionally.

Finally, networking is not dead. It is so much easier to distinguish yourself to someone in person than it is on a piece of paper. When we converse, we shine. We display emotion, we have the ability to connect and to bond, and we have the opportunity to control the impression that we leave behind. This is why I believe going to conferences are so valuable. These face to face opportunities allow us to get our foot in the door and leave a lasting impression, one that would not be so easily obtained through a regular online application… Who knows — if you’re lucky, you may even get an on the spot interview.

Interview

Congrats, you obtained an interview! Now if you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to be super nervous at first — but don’t worry, it’s easier than you think.

Before we continue though, let’s lay some ground rules:

Don’t try to show off

Don’t act as though you know everything

Be honest

Know who you’re talking to

Illustration by Jon Marchione. © The Balance

During the majority of the interview, you will be doing most of the talking. The interviewer will open by introducing him/her/themselves, then they will probably ask you to tell them a little about yourself and explain your education/previous job experiences and your overall story. Then, depending on the type of interview (most large companies tend to conduct STAR formulated interviews), the interviewer will ask you a bunch of different questions about your experiences with different professional and non-professional scenarios. With each answer, they may expect you to follow the STAR technique (see illustration above) to fully describe your experience. The question that I once received that threw me off the most was, “Explain a time when you were dissatisfied with your performance,” where I basically had to bash myself… but instead of pretending I’m a perfect person, I thought about it for a bit longer than normal and gave them a real, honest answer of a time where I could have improved my ethics and management skills during one of my previous jobs. After the fact, I was proud that I had the courage to be upfront with them about the situation, even if the opportunity could potentially fall through. To my surprise, however, they did end up offering me a fantastic position, which I happily accepted.

Continuing on, don’t bullshit. At least in the engineering realm, the interviewers are usually engineers themselves, so they know what the hell they are talking about. If they ask you a question, and you don’t fully understand or don’t know the answer to, don’t hesitate to ask for clarity or admit that you don’t know or haven’t any experience in that area. If instead, you choose to feed them malarky, they will know, and you won’t get the job. To piggyback off this, as I said, they are professionals and have seen a lot. Therefore, anything you have done or accomplished probably won’t impress them, so don’t try to make it sound more technical than it is. Just be honest. It will get you a lot farther in life.

On a side note, if you’re worried that you’ll be asked a lot of technical questions, it really depends on the company and position you are interviewing for. If its a STAR format, then the answer is pretty much a no, as the questions usually focus on your experiences. That being said I have been asked some technical questions from other companies, but nothing ridiculous.

Finally, as the interview winds down, the interviewer may ask you if you have any questions for them. This is your shot to stand out. Do your research and come prepared to ask them questions about the company, about their job duties, about opportunities for career expansion, ask them what your day as an intern would look like, etc. Show them that you are interested in them and the products they provide.

Aftermath

If you’ve made it this far, hopefully you have an awesome résumé and you blew them away during the interview with your preparedness, professional demeanor, and list of questions. After a few weeks (or months), you should hear back via email, regardless of the outcome. However, I hope that you have earned an opportunity with whatever company you are gunning for. If you open that email and read, “ Congratulations! We are excited to offer you employment at…” then you’ve done it! — at least the hard part.

Next, depending on the company and procedures, you may have to send in your official transcripts (some places have pay brackets that correlate to your number of credit hours and GPA), take a drug test, and arrange for transportation and housing at your new position. Of these, finding affordable housing may be the most challenging if you have to relocate. Hopefully, your employer will cover most, if not all of the housing costs; however, if this is not the case, I recommend booking with Airbnb. I have had the most luck here, as you can usually find some accommodations that best suit your needs. From single room renting to full apartment renting, it’s quite easy to find something for the duration of your 3-month internship (or longer).

A past experience that I’d like to share occurred this past fall. After all my application efforts, I only received one single offer from company A; even after interviewing (face to face) with at least ten other companies. Granted, I was by no means disappointed. The offer was great and I was really looking forward to the new experience I’d be embarking on in just a few short months. Therefore I read the offer letter, signed it, and sent it back with a few days to spare before their deadline. ***Make sure you fully read and understand any form/contract before you sign it. ALWAYS***

To my surprise, about a month later, I received another offer from company B. This particular offer was from a bigger, more renowned company and out of all the companies that I applied to, this was the one I for sure thought I’d never get. It was basically my dream position and checked all the boxes that I had on my list. However, I had already signed with a different company…

The next week or so was pretty tough. I had to make up my mind and determine how to proceed. I weighed the two positions over and over in my head, as the experiences would be very similar. Setting pay rates aside, I chose to step out of my comfort zone and go with the company that would push me into new realms of engineering that I wasn’t very experienced with. In combination with the thrill of learning new skills, I also chose the larger company because they have more locations in areas that I may want to someday live. As I near graduation, I am trying to cover all my bases and make the best decisions for my future, not just for the present. It just so happened that the latter offer from the larger company also paid more salary wise, as well as in terms of housing and transportation, which was a great benefit.

Now that I made up my mind, I still had a dilemma. I had officially signed with company B, but I was still signed with company A. Thus, I had to figure out how to go about telling company A that I changed my mind. Luckily, the form that I signed was just an offer, and not a contract of employment, thus it was not legally binding (*I am not a lawyer so do not take my advise as legal advise*). I re-read the agreement and made sure I was in the clear legally, but I mentally acknowledged proceeding with this decision may or may not hinder my chances if my career ever leads me back to this company.

Moving forward, I consulted with some of my siblings and family members and decided that calling the hiring manager (the one who interviewed me) would be the most professional route. Before I gave them a call though, I typed up a “script” on my computer in order to arrange my thoughts and act as a guide in case I became nervous during the conversation. Unfortunately, however, the manager did not answer, so I left a message informing them that I would like to speak in regards to the internship opportunity. A few days later, after receiving no response, I tried calling the manager back… but again, to no avail. Therefore, I instead opted to compose a nice email explaining my situation (the pre-typed script that I made earlier made this process quicker) and I sent it out to both the hiring manager and the HR representative with whom I had been in contact with. This way I could be sure that at least someone would see it. The next day, both parties responded politely and acknowledged that they were sorry that I changed my mind, but they were understanding to my situation.

Disclaimer: I only felt comfortable retracting my acceptance of the position because I notified them as soon as possible, which in my case was five months prior to the start of the internship, in order to give them ample time to find a replacement. So please keep this in mind if you ever encounter a similar situation.

In summation, thank you for following along with me and reading about my collegiate experiences in the professional world. I hope that my advice helps you in your endeavor to secure an internship in the future. Again feel free to drop a comment below you would like me to explain my experiences with one of the following: