How To Get An Engineering Job As A College Graduate

With the help of a friend, who is an engineer, we answer the question, “how to get a job in engineering?”. A viewer who is about to graduate with an engineering major wants to know what he needs to do to get a job.

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Once students realize there’s one year left in school, the pressure is on to get a job in their major. It’s no easy task and today we answer one student’s question about getting a job with an engineering major.

It’s when college and university students head into their 4th/final year that they start thinking about what they need to do in order to get a job related to their degree after graduation. Some even wait till their last semester (which is really pushing it), and I’m an advocate of tackling it sooner than later.

Today, I answer a very common question I get from college students of various majors, but this time it comes from a 4th year electrical engineering student who is wondering if he can get a job without co-op experience.

Even better, I bring in a colleague and friend of mine who is an industrial engineer (who practices in Vancouver, Canada) to provide his insight as we go through the email together. To briefly recap, we discuss:

– The need for pre-graduate work experience. If you don’t have co-op experience, you’re going to have to reach out to companies yourself to get a summer job or internship.

– The leeway employers give to students that haven’t graduated yet – that means you’re allowed more mistakes during the interview and on the resume than another candidate that has actually graduated

– The significance of getting experience, not necessarily work experience, but transferable skills from hobbies or activities outside of school that can be used to convince an employer to hire you. (This is likely more applicable to engineering than other majors.)

– The importance of networking TODAY- not only to find potential firms to hire you for an internship but also to network with your current schoolmates and to see them not just as someone to help you with assignments but as a potential network to get you career opportunities 3 years from now. If you don’t have many friends in your class, you’re going to have to learn how to make some (see my link below on How To Make Friends As An Adult).

– This means you’re going to not only need the academic skills to DO the job, but also the social skills to build connections, make friends and conduct memorable and effective interviews in order to GET the job.

From a strategic standpoint, and considering the advantages of looking for work experience BEFORE graduation, it may be worth contemplating extending your last semester or two by taking 2-3 courses in the semester to buy yourself some time and look for a engineering internship or summer job. I know this extends into time in college but I’d say it’s worth it considering it may take you longer and be more difficult to find a job AFTER graduation.

There are other items we discuss (eg. does GPA matter?) specific to the email in this video so be sure to check it out! I’d also strongly encourage students to grab my free ebook, The Unfair Advantage, as it goes through the job interview, resume writing and company search process.

To help you further, here are additional videos that you will find helpful:

How to write a cover letter that stands out: