If you’re still in college and want to get your foot in the door of the engineering industry, you’ve come to the right place! Taking advantage of the resources available to you now will really show initiative and might even score you your dream job. From resume writing to building your network, NJSPE is here to help you kickstart your engineering career. Here are a few resources you can use to put yourself out there and maximize your chances of getting hired.
While you’re in college, one of the most valuable things you can do for your future is to join a professional engineering society. NSPE and state chapter memberships are absolutely FREE for college students who are enrolled in an ABET-accredited engineering program. As an NJSPE member, you’ll have access to free on-demand courses that will help you navigate your career.
When you’re submitting your resume into a pool of hundreds of others, it’s important to stand out with a killer resume. As an engineer, it’s a good rule of thumb to emphasize your technical engineering skills and utilize keywords in your resume from the job posting (yes, this means that you should be tweaking your resume for every job you apply for). Check out these resume writing tips and examples to follow.
If you’re ready to start your job search, a great place to start looking for brand new opportunities is on NSPE’s Engineering Jobs Twitter account. They typically post jobs multiple times a day throughout the week and on Twitter, you can easily turn on notifications so you’re the first to know about new updates. If you’re looking for jobs in New Jersey, you can also follow NJSPE’s job board. When you create an account, you’ll be able to turn on job notifications that match your preferences!
A great way to get your foot in the door of the engineering world is to join the student NSPE chapter at your school. If you’re not sure if your school offers it, check out this list of available chapters. If you don’t see your school on the list, you can learn how to establish a student chapter at your school! Student chapters are a good place to start creating connections and can give you the opportunity to get and share career advice with your peers.
Engineers and networking might not seem like the most likely pair, but just like any other job industry, relationships are key! Putting yourself out there to meet engineers that are in all different stages of their career journey can really help to give you insight on how to navigate the profession. Additionally, a valuable connection could even help you get hired in the future. Check out this blog post on how to build your professional network as an engineer.
We hope you’ll be able to use some or all of these resources to kickstart your engineering career! Join NJSPE today to get started.