Center for Engineering Career Development Blog

We're only a month into the fall semester, but we know many of you are already thinking about Summer 2021 internships.
Our career advising team is here to support you in your summer internship search. We also encourage students to explore the many ways you can gain experience during the academic year. From self-paced skill building courses, to short-term projects (a great way to try something out without a summer-long commitment), to remote internships you can choose when and how you explore your interests outside of the classroom.

In our Alumni Spotlight series, we ask alumni to tell us about their careers and how their UVA experiences prepared them for life after the Lawn. This month, let's meet Ellie Kayton, a 2017 graduate with a major in Systems Engineering and minor in Engineering Business. NOTE: This interview was conducted pre-COVID.I grew up in Albemarle County and really enjoyed my time at UVA. I was a member of One Less and Kappa Delta Sorority, two groups full of powerful women.

Congratulations! You received a return offer from your summer internship. That's fantastic news! Except that they want you to decide in just a couple of weeks if you're going to take the offer or not and you are really interested in exploring other options. What to do?This scenario happens frequently. And actually, the timing of any job offer is rarely perfect. There's always more information you'd like to have before you have to make such an important decision. There are a couple of tips we have for making the best decision you can:

There are several ways to stand out to an employer even if your GPA isn't what you'd like it to be. I know it may seem like everyone at UVA has an awesome GPA, but I promise you, they don't. Lots of students go on to find fantastic jobs even when their GPA has taken a few knocks.You might consider alternative ways to calculate your GPA. If your GPA in just your major classes is higher than a 3.0, put it on your resume as “Major GPA”.

If you're reading this, you likely want to draft your first resume or update an existing one. We have tips and resources to help you develop a strong resume as an Engineering student!Tips for creating and updating your resume

What percentage of students do you think find their jobs through Handshake? Based on the numbers reported by graduating students, 12% of students find their job through Handshake. So while Handshake is an excellent job search resource, there are other job search tools you need in your toolkit. Here are a few to get you started:SPECIALTY JOB BOARDS

Interviewing can seem like an overwhelming process, especially when you're preparing for your first interview (or if it's been a while since your last interview). In addition, the pandemic has led to an increase in video interviewing according to this article, in March alone more than half of professionals in the U.S. changed their in-person meetings to either phone or video for health and safety reasons.

This summer or fall, you may find yourself starting a new job remotely, working remotely on personal or summer projects, or other virtual activities.
I've been working remotely since March 16th, and I've picked up helpful tips and habits along the way that have made the transition from my office in Thornton A-wing to a makeshift desk in my living room a bit smoother.
If you find yourself working remotely, and especially if it's the first time, review these essential tips on making it work from experts.23 Essential Tips for Working Remotely from Inc.com

UVA Graduate Programs To Consider for Fall 2020
COVID-19 completely changed the post-graduation view for a lot of students. If the new economic realities have you considering graduate school as an option, you'll need to know what your options are at this time. We've put together information for you from UVA graduate programs that are still accepting applications.UVA Engineering Graduate Programs
Flexible Deadlines as late at Aug 1, 2020

As a student hopeful of one day having a job, I registered for the SEC & ACC Virtual Career Fair with the intent of learning more about what exactly a “virtual career fair” is and how it would compare to a traditional, in-person career fair.To register, all I had to do was make a free account on the career fair's website and fill out some of my basic information. Upon registering, I was immediately given access to the schedule of the 2-day event and could easily plan out which employers I wanted to connect with.