Frequently Asked Questions
1. What do employers look for in a resume? Answer
2. Is it important to research a company before an interview? How do you research a company? Answer
3. How much of typical engineering jobs are technical vs. non-technical? Answer
4. How do you balance work and family? Answer
5. How did you get your first job? Answer
6. How did you get an internship/co-op? Answer
7. How do you network? Answer
8. How can I leverage my professor's contacts? Answer
9. How do I develop a mentoring relationship? Is a mentor important? Answer
10. What were your priorities when you got out of school versus your priorities now? Answer
11. What is the most important piece of advice you'd give a new engineering grad their 1st year in the workplace? Answer
12. Would you recommend grad school? MS or MBA? After work experience or directly after undergrad? Answer
13. What is the best way to contact someone? Answer
1. What do employers look for in a resume?
- GPA is important, but not the deciding factor
- Work experience
- School project experience
- Volunteer work
- Grammar and spelling
- Objective: Include keywords from the job description you are applying for
- Skills: Software, hardware, methodologies, etc.
- Graduation date and major
- Clubs, organizations, leadership roles: State what you did in the club
2. Is it important to research a company before an interview? How do you research a company?
Nothing will turn off an interviewer more than to have a student come into an interview and not even know what the company they are applying to does. Before an interview, you should:
- Check out the company's website
- Read through their annual report, looking for things of interest to you
- Select a few key facts to ask about or mention in conversation - preferably about the location you are interviewing at
- Talk with someone who works at the company
- Family
- Friends - Friend of friend
- Intern
- Professional Network (on SWE website)
3. How much of typical engineering jobs are technical vs. non-technical?
***Note: Almost 100% of your work is team based***
Technical ~ 70%
- Individual technical performance
- Technical interchange meetings
- Technical reports and documentation
- Problem solving meetings
- Testing, analysis of data, requirements definition
Non-technical ~ 30%
Back to top- Status meetings - team
- Status meetings - clients
- Department staff meetings
- Training - policies and procedures
- Status reports
- Career development activities
- Goal setting and progress evaluations
- Compliance documentation
4. How do you balance work and family?
- Travel at night to minimize time away from home
- Set a few hard family oriented priorities like coaching a team or attending events.
- Use the commute home to adjust your attitude - work hard and do not bring work frustrations home
- Be sure family members have clear expectations about tasks and availability.
- Be very organized. Write down all activities, including: work, personal, school/extra curricular, play dates, etc. Without knowing where/when everyone is suppose to be, you'll get caught off-guard and miss important family or work events
- Hire out what you can (housekeeping, laundry, yard work, car wash, etc.) this leaves more time for family during non-working hours
- If you have someone willing to share the load (spouse, parent, friend), let them! After school day care also helped.
- Volunteer in your child's classroom one day a week. If your school doesn't have volunteers, some schools allow eating lunch with your child.
- Pre-plan a week's worth of easy dinners and shop on Sunday's for it so you don't have to go to the store again for 1-2 weeks.
- Work out at the gym during the day at lunch, sacrificing a lunch hour to work out is a great way to find balance for "me" time.
5. How did you get your first job?
- Cal Poly's Career Services - Interview with several companies. Decide on the type of industries you want to work in, and focus on those
- Through a friend and/or past Cal Poly classmate
- Post resumes on job search engines
6. How did you get an internship/co-op?
- Cal Poly Career Services - Job listings and Career Fairs
- Referrals from family friends
- Contacts from networking events (i.e. - Evening With Industry)
7. How do you network?
As a student:
- Attend industry tours and information sessions
- Join technical projects - they are often sponsored and/or advised by companies
- Get to know your professors - they are a great resource for industry contacts
- Attend networking events put on by clubs (i.e. Evening With Industry)
- Work cross-functionally as much as possible so you are exposed to other peers at your company outside your immediate department
- Join a professional society (i.e. - SWE, IEEE, ASME, etc.)
- Some companies have networking groups for young engineers or women
- Volunteer to be a member of advisory boards or committees inside and outside of your company
- Your HR representative who is always knowledgeable of what opportunities exist within the company.
8. How can I leverage my professor's contacts?
Professors have contacts with professionals who are interested in helping students do well in school and do well once they leave school. Here's some ways your professors can help:
- Ask your professors if they know of anyone who would be willing to mentor you, or even spend an hour talking to you about what advice they would give to a student based upon their years of experience.
- Professor's industrial contacts can also be a great source for senior projects and thesis topics.
- Utilize their office hours. Most professors are happy to talk to you about career opportunities, and probably consider it the best part of their job!
- Professors often receive job listings/openings from their former students and other contacts and forward the listing to the listing to current students.
9. How do I develop a mentoring relationship? Is a mentor important?
Developing a mentoring relationship:
- Watch people in action, and pick out someone that you truly admire and respect.
- Then approach that person and ask them if they would be willing to mentor you. Most people are flattered when asked to be a mentor.
- Have some specific areas in mind that you want to be mentored in.
- Set expectations up front regarding what you need from your mentor and how you will work with that person going forward.
- Having a mentor is extremely valuable in today's professional environment.
- They can guide you through the corporate environment based upon their years of experience dealing with all types of personalities, political agendas, etc.
- Without a mentor, you're basically on your own to learn how to navigate through the variety of professional situations that you will encounter throughout your career.
- Often doors are opened by mentors that would otherwise never have even been noticed.
10. What were your priorities when you got out of school versus your priorities now?
Priorities just out of school
- Save enough to get a new car, then to save enough to move out on my own.
- Independence - being able to make it on my own.
- Travel and explore alternative lifestyles
- Learn, do good work, and be recognized
- Save enough to retire
- Enjoy the fruits of labor while still young enough and healthy.
- Help others grow as much as possible
11. What is the most important piece of advice you'd give a new engineering grad their 1st year in the workplace?
- Look for opportunities to deliver beyond what is expected of you. This can set the tone for your career and will differentiate you from your peers.
- Strive for excellence in all dimensions. Only you can control your career so increase your technical competence, your communication skills, and your team skills.
- Project a professional image. You are always on someone's radar so pay attention to how they see you.
- Don't lose sight of your long-term objective which is to retire and enjoy life. Max out your contribution to your 401K program and save as much as possible, taking advantage of any company matching program that is available to you. You'll be amazed at how quickly the numbers will start to grow once you reach a certain age.
12. Would you recommend grad school? MS or MBA? After work experience or directly after undergrad?
A graduate degree is almost expected for certain fields.
- If you want to remain on the technical path, an MS is a must. This is often done directly after your undergraduate degree.
- If you're interested in moving into management at some point, an MBA might be a more appropriate path to take. This is often done after getting some exposure to the work environment.
- Many employers offer tuition assistance for graduate school and this might determine when you go for your graduate degree.
13. What is the best way to contact someone?
- Email as an introduction, but then ask the person what the best method to contact them is.
- Some people require both an email and phone call to reach them.
- Face to face via an intermediary, especially at an event (like IABs or professional society meetings) is an effective approach.
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