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Internships

Why an Internship is Not a Step Back During Graduate School

There is a misconception in graduate school that participating in an internship is a waste of time and might prolong your schooling, but that could not be further from the truth. Now I am not talking about brief stays at national laboratories where you conduct your doctoral research, nor clinical rotations for course credit, nor programs where summer internships are required. There are a multitude of benefits for graduate students in exploring industry first-hand through an internship experience in order to prepare them for their full-time careers upon graduation. These benefits include:

  1. Accessing Skills and Resources Outside School
  2. Test Driving Your Degree
  3. Building your Network
  4. Finding Career Mentors

1. Skills and Resources

Graduate schools have vast resources, from top notch faculty members to extensive libraries and high-tech laboratories; however, sometimes even that is not enough. Mechanical and aerospace engineers might want exposure to manufacturing and testing processes for large scale machinery. Computer science and computer engineering students might take a break from developing algorithms and instead develop code for a technology firm. Humanities and social science majors might want to develop new skills serving as an administration intern for government or academia. Internships can provide those desired skills and resources that academia cannot provide.

When thinking about pursuing an internship, think about where you would like to be upon graduation. Do you have the skills to get there? Is there a firm, national laboratory, or governmental agency that contains the resources you desire? These are the questions you should be asking yourself if you think an internship might be for you. Ask your professors if there are programs to which they have sent previous students of it they have partnerships with specific firms. Chances are they might know the perfect place for you to gain new skills and experiences, you just need to simply ask!

2. Test Drive Your Degree

You pass your courses, ace examinations, conduct research, and write lots of reports. These are just some of the steps to complete before you go out into the world to your first job, but what will that job truly be like day-to-day? While you can talk with recruiters or alumni from your school about potential employment opportunities out there, you have no real way of knowing how it will feel to utilize your degree without actually working. The solution is to take an internship and try it out. So maybe you are choosing between a laboratory position and a management position. Taking an internship during the summer before you graduate would allow you to test drive your degree in one area and experience what the field is like.

Another benefit of an internship before commencing full-time employment is if you are choosing between two majors, or majors with a variety of subfields. If you are pursuing a Ph.D. but are completing a master’s degree in another field, you have multiple options upon graduation. As a mechanical engineering major, I have used my internships to survey the fields of naval, aerospace, and product design engineering. Utilizing one summer to test drive your degree can save you a lot of time down the road in choosing the right full-time position.

3. Build Your Network

Every article about securing your dream job talks about networking, so why not get a head start on it? Simply the process of applying to internships puts your resume on the desks of recruiters. Hopefully, your applications turn into interviews which could allow you to establish new connections. Once accepted to an internship, you will have access to mentors and colleagues, growing your network still further. Take advantage of every opportunity to attend meetings with upper management, work on extra projects, socialize at gatherings, and travel on field trips. Getting to know your coworkers and recruiters will not only help you enjoy your internship in the moment but can potentially open doors in the future as well. Make sure to add everyone you connect with on LinkedIn so they can keep tabs on your success!

One forgotten task is to connect with those who may have interviewed you but did not give you an offer, as well as offers which you turned down. Just because they did not bring you in for an internship does not mean that they will turn you down next time. On the other hand, just because you turned down one internship offer does not mean you should not still stay connected with that recruiter. Build your network with anyone you cross paths with, as they just might be able to help you later down the road.

4. Find Career Mentors

During graduate school, you often have an adviser, who oversees your research project and degree progress. However, unless you plan to go immediately into academia and follow the exact same path as them, you might want to find other career mentors to guide your journey. Completing an internship is a great place to locate these potential mentors. First of all, get to know your immediate manager, as they will know you and your strengths the best, and can help you determine your best fit. Spend time also getting to know other managers in case you return to the company full time in another role. Sometimes these role models have the exact experiences you yourself want to follow, so ask them questions about the steps they took. In contrast, maybe a mentor mentions a mistake they made and will give you recommendations on how to avoid the same fate. Nonetheless, you will set yourself up for success if you seek out mentors in your dream career path and pursuing an internship will open up connections previously hidden from you.

If you are uncertain about what you would like to do in the future, use this opportunity to interview various employees. Make lists of their day-to-day tasks, what projects they work on, and who they interact with. Get to know how they got to where they are and where they aim to get to in the future. Find which ones resonate with you the most and ask them if they would like to coach you. You might discover an unknown career path that you would not have come across during your degree program!

How to Get Started

Research potential companies and their internship programs, just like you probably did during undergrad. Attend career fairs and online information sessions with your resume handy and make sure to get to know the recruiters. Being in graduate school means you have some close connections with faculty, so ask them which companies they work closely with in order to find an internship. In addition, check out where alumni from your laboratory group, department, or even university work and reach out to them directly. With all the benefits listed above, why not go for an internship? It could literally change the course of your career for the better.

To provide a real-world example, I will share my story. At Duke University, I study aeroelasticity and unsteady aerodynamics of turbomachinery; however, we only have a small low-speed wind tunnel, big enough for a single airfoil. To overcome the gap in resources and provide me with industrial jet engine manufacturing experience, I used my adviser’s network to secure internship offers at both Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney. Thus, I spent my first summer running high performance simulations on actual engines as well as participated in experimental vibration testing. I greatly valued what I learned during my internship and still talk with my mentors and colleagues.

Ricky Hollenbach is a third year Ph.D. student at Duke University in Mechanical Engineering, studying unsteady aerodynamics and mechanical vibrations in jet engines and turbomachinery. He aspires to become a management consultant in the aerospace and defense fields.

Image: Unsplash

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