Summer Internships

Getting Started

• You frequently hear the terms summer job, summer internship or internship among Carnegie Mellon CIT students.  They are often used interchangeably. 
• CIT does not offer academic credit or grades for these summer positions 
• Both terms imply that a student will be working for an organization from as early as May to mid August or some amount of time during the summer months. 
• Internships and summer jobs are educational opportunities where students gain career-related experience. 
• They allow students to earn a wage while learning new skills, to gain practical experience with seasoned professionals, and to become exposed to the rigors of a daily work routine. 
• Students engage in these opportunities to reinforce career objectives, explore career direction, develop new skills, and prepare for post-graduation employment.

The Career Center provides a variety of services to help engineering students identify and apply for summer internship opportunities.  These include:

• Appointments with CIT Career Consultants to discuss strategies for obtaining an internship
• TartanTRAK, Carnegie Mellon’s on-campus recruiting system of hundreds of  U.S. internships and jobs and opportunities to interview with employers who recruit at Carnegie Mellon
• CIT Internship Opportunities, a database with over 400 engineering summer internships
• Books and Internet links to uncover internships in specific geographic areas
• Job Fairs

Timing

For juniors and sophomores, the best time to start organizing your internship search is in the fall semester. Many employers look for students in the fall. However, keep in mind that many employers wait until the spring semester.

The Search

1. Think about what you want to do
   put together your preferences for an internship
2. Prepare for your search
   prepare your resources
3. Implement your internship search
   use many resources
4. Be proactive
   follow-up and be persistent
5. Top Ten Internship Search Tips Handout
   summarizes the internship search

Step 1: Think about what you want to do.

Having gained a wide variety of knowledge and experiences from the courses and labs you have taken as well from any internships you have held, you probably have a good idea of those things that you have enjoyed as well as those things you do not want to do. As you begin your job search, consider all of the possibilities of positions within your major, field of study and internship or work experience. 

• Identify Employers and Industries, Geographic Location, Type of Projects, Atmosphere, and Size of Employer
• Dream of employers you would LOVE to work for!!  Wouldn't it be great to wake up each day excited about your work?
• What types of industries, issues, products or services do you find most interesting or valuable?
• Do you want to apply your engineering background to design, research, marketing or manufacturing?
• Do you want to work in the business (finance, investment banking), consulting, government or the nonprofit sector? Access the VAULT guides.

One part of making satisfying career decisions is exploring the question of where you want to work. This question looks at issues in addition to where you want to be geographically, such as, what individual employing organizations excite you and what type of working environment you desire. Clarifying what type of organization you prefer can help make your eventual Internship search manageable, show motivation and commitment to your potential employer, and lead to greater Internship satisfaction.

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Step 2: Prepare for your internship search

• Have your resume reviewed by your CIT Career Consultant
• Practice your interview skills
• Attend Career Center workshops
• Meet with Lisa or Carol to discuss your search strategies.  Appointments may address one or more of the following topics:
  • Discussing internship search strategies
  • Practicing interview skills
  • Giving you additional resources for your internship search
  • Prioritizing values
  • Clarifying career or job objectives

• Put together a large list of employers that you would like to work for. Look beyond the obvious. The following sources may help you identify potential employers:
  • CareerSearch is a database of over 2 million potential employers nationwide (not job openings) and is a great resource for a specific geographic or industry search
  • Carnegie Mellon Online Alumni Directory can be used to network with CMU alumni (and click on search the directory)
  • Employers who hired last year’s CIT students
  • CIT Internship Database
  • On campus employers/interviews can be found at TartanTRAK
  • Job Fairs - Consider employers who have participated in CMU’s Job Fairs
  • Professional Engineering Associations and Organizations
  • Recruiting Business Cards is a database of employers’ (those that have interviewed students in the Career Center) business cards
  • Federal Jobs & Internships

• Research companies
  Conducting an effective job search requires a student to research and learn as much as possible about the potential employer.  The more you know about an employer, the more confident you are likely to feel and this translates into better communication and a more productive exchange. Thoroughly review the company’s web site to learn as much as possible about that company.

Information you should know about a potential employer:

• Attend Employer Information Sessions
  Over 250 Employer Information Sessions are held on campus each year in conjunction with on-campus recruiting.  These sessions are designed to introduce you to the employer and the employment opportunities available, and are an excellent way to learn about career fields and the variety of employers that visit campus.  Many employers choose to hold information sessions the night before campus interviews and most will expect you to attend if you are an interview candidate. However, never rely on employers to send you this information. Be proactive by using the Presentations menu to find upcoming presentations:
  • From the main TartanTRAK menu, click on "Interview & Connect with Employers."
  • In the "Presentations" box, enter a date range (mm/dd/yyyy) and click on the "Search Presentations" button.
  • Review the list of presentations and click on the date of the presentation you wish to attend.
  • Review the presentation information and click the "Sign Up for this Presentation" button.

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Step 3. Implement your internship search

A large part of your successful Internship search should be an active approach. This means actively sending out resumes, talking with lots of people about opportunities and looking for the hidden job market—that part of the job market that is not yet advertised. Find those hidden positions because not many seniors are applying to those yet! A smaller part of your Internship search can be applying to Internship postings, either on-line postings or paper postings. Keep in mind that thousands of other seniors are also responding to those on-line postings.

• Actively pursue/contact your list companies, by sending your resume and cover letter, using the following strategies:
  • Email
  • Phone Call
  • U.S. Mail
  • Network (talk to everyone you know and ask the key phrase “Can you recommend someone to whom I can send my resume?”)
  • Job Fair
  • Employer Information Session
  • TartanTRAK
    (Click here for info on how to use TartanTRAK)

• Don’t let on-campus interviewing run your internship search! Do not depend on TartanTRAK only for your job search. You need to use many strategies to have a successful internship search.

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Step 4: Be proactive in your internship search

Follow-up with employers (email or call) two weeks after you send a resume. Remind the employer who you are and then ask them details about the position and if they received your resume.

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