More opportunities for Engineers and Computer Scientists!!
Are you considering to find a full-time job, or a summer internship, or maybe a co-op while studying or after graduation? If you think you can take advantage of it, I encourage you to read this post.
Students and companies have many opportunities through the academic year to find either of them and the University of Minnesota will definitely get you well prepared for that moment.
Students are looking...but you must know that companies are always looking for bright students as well!! We as students are looking to get that specific job that we always dreamed of, and vice versa; companies certainly take the time and the effort to find the right person for a specific job description. Since we all have to make an effort, I will name some of the most common conferences that I had a chance to attend and participated at some point while I am a gopher!! student. This is how I got a summer-intership!!! I will also write about how the University of Minnesota helps us (students) to be prepared for interviews, writing a good resume, and some more tips!
Definitely the right job for you will take time and effort. So let’s get started with some details that at the begging I had to understand. First, what are some of the differences between co-op, internships, and full-time offers? An internship is no longer than 3 months, and it usually takes place during the summer break. Most of the companies are looking for potential full-time employees thus they will hire students for only a few months, give them a project, take them to really cool places in the city so that you can get familiar with it, and then it will be over. A co-op is much longer; it usually takes around 6 to 9 months therefore you will have a chance to work in a longer project or in multiple ones, but in general you will get a better feeling of the company and the group itself. A full-time job is nothing but a regular job that you will be interested in after you graduate; you will be joining a company that previously have make you an offer and that you accepted.
Now, what is the University of Minnesota doing to help us students to get ready for the interviews, and on how to write a good and impressive resume? Most of the companies will make a first filter based on your resume and GPA. If you think about it, your resume is like your ticket for the next step: the interview. Therefore you should really make a good effort, and with the help of the Career Center, to build a solid, concise, with no grammar mistakes!, and updated with either academic or professional experience (if you already have some). This is the link to the CCSE - Career Center for Science and Engineering; here you will find the latest news about career fairs, and other opportunities on campus.
The CCSE also offers to students mock (fake, not-real) interviews; this is a great opportunity to interview with real professional recruiters that will ask us behavioral type of questions, as well as technical ones. They come from local companies such as Lockheed Martin, 3M, etc....just to prepare, and give us an invaluable feedback. So take advantage of it!
On the other hand, there are many out-of-campus activities like conferences where you can find this space. For example I mentioned before about Grace Hopper, but you can also assist to SHPE or SWE. (If you are only looking for technical conferences to specifically dig into specific topics such as Data Mining, AI, etc. take a close look at this web-page Computer Science Conference Rankings)
I hope I have given you important highlights to find the right place where you want to be any time soon!!!! And if you have any comment or question, please post it here in the blog with your email, and I will get back to you.
Good luck!
-Gabriela
Comments
I would like to mention that individual departments also have their own co-op/intern support.
http://me.umn.edu/education/coop/prospective/index.shtml
The Mechanical Engineering department has a co-op program that helps ME, EE, and CompE students get a co-op job. Companies come to campus to recruit students for summer, fall and spring co-op positions. I personally did the ME co-op program for 2 semesters.
http://www.ce.umn.edu/undergrad/coop.html
The Civil Engineering department has it's own co-op program as well. They also have their own job fairs specially for Civil.
Most programs will give you credit for your co-op/intern work if it's related to your major. The ME co-op program for example fulfills 2 out of 4 required technical electives (8 credits, 3 semesters of 40 hour/week work) so that you don't get too far behind on your graduation.
The upside to the delay caused by a co-op program is that when you graduate, you will have nearly a year's worth of work experience on your resume as a fresh graduate!
On a side note, another useful university organization is IAESTE. Friends of mine (internationals as well) have been placed in internships through this program.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~iaeste/
and, for the none engineers, don't fret, each college has their own career resources.
Posted by: Yen | February 11, 2009 8:20 AM
Hi,I will like to ask about job opportunities there.I am thinking to apply in this university so how much money will be required
Posted by: Nidhi Mohta | February 15, 2009 10:04 AM