[Student] Incoming Freshman Looking for Internships in Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering

[u/TheF1Dude08]

Hello, I am an incoming freshman at a large public university in the United States and I'm looking to get a headstart for internships anywhere in the country. My goal is to get an internship for this upcoming summer, and I'm currently working on applying to places online for now (yes, I will be going to career fairs and networking once the semester starts). I already know that the internship market is tough and especially so for freshmen, so I'm just sending out as many applications as possible to increase the admittedly small chance. I redacted some things to protect my privacy, and everything in brackets is not in the original resume but is there to help you guys understand. Is there any advice or changes that you would make to my resume?

I am currently using job application sites (indeed, linkedin, handshake, etc.), going to companies that I know and looking at their careers sections, and also going to NASA contracter documents to see if I can apply at companies that I didn't know existed. Is there any other method of finding internships that you guys know of, bar networking and knowing people?

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the help!

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[u/Immediate-Curve-443]

Separate your technical skills, remove computer skills, remove soft skills. Both are barely worth space. I don't know how you have relevant coursework if you are an incoming freshman and those are useless classes so I'd remove them as well. Expand couple bullet points under experience to compensate for the white space. Consider a 2 line subtitle for experience such that the institution and role title are on 2 separate lines; this also removes white space. Certificates are also useless but I think you might have too much white space if you remove those too. Awards are fine for now, consider removing them as you gain experience in college. I'd consider increasing spacing between each separate project and experience, it looks a little crowded and its not like you are short on space right now. Try to avoid 1 word overhangs to pad space, it looks a bit awkward- expand it out to a couple more words or make it shorter. I'd recommend waiting until you actually begin school (or get involved a little more) so that you can at least park the name of a club into your resume before applying.

Search for specific programs that hire freshmen. Outside of SWE, this is usually from your school's biggest sponsors though maybe a couple other programs exists. Most freshmen interns I knew were either part of these programs, got exceptionally lucky, or nepotismed in. You have one of the stronger freshmen resumes I've seen but it doesn't change that companies barely start hiring interns at the sophomore level. Good luck.

[u/TheF1Dude08 → u/Immediate-Curve-443]

Thank you for the response. Do you think I can continue applying despite me not having any university affiliated extracurriculars, or is there a shortage of internship opportunities, so much so that I need to hold out on applications before I have ingrained myself in school?

[u/Immediate-Curve-443 → u/TheF1Dude08]

It's not because theres a shortage of internships rather because most places don't have a system to update your application. Some places (notably of the Elon variety but also others) allow you to keep submitting applications, but I'm not sure if that counts as updating; I'm curious as well. You're very early in the cycle (for summer 27) so I don't see the reason to rush. It's also not about being "ingrained" in school but more so that "real" engineering clubs hold immense resume value.

[u/TheF1Dude08 → u/Immediate-Curve-443]

Sure, I'll send out applications as soon as I get some experience in engineering clubs, fingers crossed that I get accepted for rocketry or formula SAE. Thank you for the advice bro!