I remember being younger when I was a student and had no idea how to get an engineering internship with no experience. Applying endlessly to jobs, I would hear from no one. When I look back at it, I realize how ridiculous my resume was. If I knew back then, what I knew now, even with no experience, I would have been able to find an internship. It makes me cringe when I take a look at how my old resume looks. If you don’t know anything about how to write a resume and it looks something like this, you got some work to do. Don’t feel bad, this was my old resume. I’ve grown so much professionally and academically, so don’t lose hope for yourself if you’ve written ridiculous resumes.
Disclaimer: I know I wrote a guide on how to get an engineering internship, but this guide assumes that you have no experience, low GPA, and overall, not much on your resume.
Check out: 7 Things to Put on Resume With No Work Experience
If I could go back in time and teach myself how to get an engineering internship with no experience, I’d teach myself the following:
Get The Highest GPA You Can
Because my resume was lacking so much in experience, I needed to make up for it with my grades. I was able to get interviews (and still to this day) because I have no shame in putting my GPA on my resume. Employers automatically assume that you don’t have a high GPA if you leave it off your resume.
Struggling in school? Some practical advice would be to form some study groups, watch YouTube videos online, and keep practicing example problems in your notes and from your textbooks. It’s a lot of repetition, but if you do a problem over and over, you will see things more clearly each time you do said problem.
Join Memberships
I’ve said this a few times in the site, but join memberships! Memberships are a great way to meet your future coworkers, hear about job opportunities, and even find some friends. Friends go a long way as they will help you get the resources you need to pass. It all becomes a mutual exchange. You start hanging out with your friends, studying with your friends, and maybe even end up working with them. All part of the balance of life.
Projects
This is probably the most important section you’ll read. You need to have projects on your resume. There is no negotiation about this. If you’re in engineering school, chances are that your classes will have assigned projects. What you can do with these projects is you can add them to your resume. Bonus tip – look for engineering internships on indeed. Look at some of the bullet points of a posting. Look for projects that align with some of the bullet points for a job posting, so you can add that into your experience.
Example:
Look up “engineering internship” on Indeed.com
Let’s pick this exciting opportunity at JPL. If we apply on company site, we see the following about the job.
Now you have your keywords that you will structure your project underneath your resume.
Network (Colleagues, teachers, etc.)
Talk to anyone and everyone. Network = net worth. Meaning that your future job can only be a handshake away. This is not limited to people in an academic or professional setting. That random guy at the coffee shop? Some random dude at the gym? If you have nothing better to do, just try making some small talk and see where it goes. The worst that could happen is absolutely nothing. They get annoyed by you? Big whoop! Onto the next prospect or lead!
(Hint – this is all sounding like sales? Well, yes! Life is sales)
Work A Part Time Job
If you’re going to school, you need to work a part time job. This is assuming you’re of lower income background. You will need money to pay for tuition, textbooks, food, and rent. Each person’s circumstance is different, but the bottom line is that we need money to do things. You need to at least have some source of income if you’re going to school. If you’re going to school, have low income family, and not working a part time job, let this be a slap in the face for you.
Work experience, even if not relevant to the job you’re seeking is beneficial to your resume. It shows you can juggle both school and work. This makes you appear more responsible, and will certainly get you considered vs. the person who has no practical work experience. Working a part time job, let’s say in retail, gives you opportunities to network. Talk to customers, ask how they’re doing. If they are repeat customers? Form a relationship with them. From then on, you can learn more about them and if they manage to do anything with an engineering company? Boom! That is your ticket in.
Want to do well in your internship so that you can land a job at the company you’re interning at?
Check out: 12 Tips On How To Do Well In An Internship
About the author
Kazuyoshi Fujimoto, PE
Founder | Engineering Career Coach | Principal Mechanical Engineer
Kazu oversees all of ultmeche’s engineering services. He provides consulting such as resume reviews, rewrites, mock interviews, and all services career related. Additionally, Kazu performs consulting work regarding Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense. Kazu is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of California and has 9+ years of experience in Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense.
3 thoughts on “How To Get An Engineering Internship With No Experience”