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How does an engineer gain more experience with projects on their own and what do recruiters look for on your resume specifically?
I am currently a freshman in college just trying to get started looking for internships now, I go to the University of Miami, but I have no experience related to engineering besides classes that I'm taking.
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2 answers
Updated
William’s Answer
Hi Shamari,
This is a very good question.
Firstly, you need to pursue your studies with distinction. It's the foundation for your success after qualification in college/university.
Internships, mentorships and projects are good avenues for gaining practical experience.
Employers usually seek people who demonstrate competence. A competent person is able to use skills to put knowledge and resources available to use in order to produce performance and results. Critical skills include your ability to plan your workloads and resources, organize yourself and your activities, identify and solve problems, collect, analyze and evaluate information and work with others. You need to demonstrate these skills during your studies, internships and projects. Performance and results are the bottom line. However, personal qualities have a great influence on your ability to succeed. These traits, amongst others, include passion, perseverance, curiosity, commitment, positive attitude, attention to detail, empathy, self-control, self-esteem, assertiveness and and willingnesss to take risks. Embedding them into your work ethic improves your chances of fitting into corporate culture.
I hope this helps you to improve what goes into your resume.
This is a very good question.
Firstly, you need to pursue your studies with distinction. It's the foundation for your success after qualification in college/university.
Internships, mentorships and projects are good avenues for gaining practical experience.
Employers usually seek people who demonstrate competence. A competent person is able to use skills to put knowledge and resources available to use in order to produce performance and results. Critical skills include your ability to plan your workloads and resources, organize yourself and your activities, identify and solve problems, collect, analyze and evaluate information and work with others. You need to demonstrate these skills during your studies, internships and projects. Performance and results are the bottom line. However, personal qualities have a great influence on your ability to succeed. These traits, amongst others, include passion, perseverance, curiosity, commitment, positive attitude, attention to detail, empathy, self-control, self-esteem, assertiveness and and willingnesss to take risks. Embedding them into your work ethic improves your chances of fitting into corporate culture.
I hope this helps you to improve what goes into your resume.
Updated
Jonathan’s Answer
Hi, I'm glad you have the desire to gain more project experience early in your college career. Although there's nothing wrong with not yet having that desire. Engineering spans a variety of industries so it's understandable if you're not sure which industry you want to land in. I recommend exploring what clubs or extracurricular activities are available at your college. I learned of the opportunities at Auburn University through their E-day program and the zero credit hour Engineering Orientation class. E-day was when all the engineering clubs displayed their work and Engineering Orientation (though mandatory) allowed each engineering discipline to give a presentation of what that field was about.
Through those I joined the Solar Car team which had opportunities not just for engineering students, but other majors. Keep an open mind when looking for clubs because it may not be exclusively for engineers, but may have a need. During your career, you'll most likely work with people in several industries with mindsets that may differ from an engineering mindset. Technical knowledge is good, but you also have to balance it with the nontechnical aspects of teams and the projects they work on.
I hope this helps and good luck on your journey. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Through those I joined the Solar Car team which had opportunities not just for engineering students, but other majors. Keep an open mind when looking for clubs because it may not be exclusively for engineers, but may have a need. During your career, you'll most likely work with people in several industries with mindsets that may differ from an engineering mindset. Technical knowledge is good, but you also have to balance it with the nontechnical aspects of teams and the projects they work on.
I hope this helps and good luck on your journey. It's a marathon, not a sprint.