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Professional Development Resources

RESUMES

Some tips on getting started:​

  • You should have NO colors other than black on your resume and no pictures, unfortunately, the engineering industry isn’t up to date on color aesthetics

  • Do not be afraid to ask for help! Utilize ECS resume review appointments, ask your family to proofread for spelling errors, reach out to your SWE officers for help

  • Don’t just list things on your resume, if you are going to include that you are in a club or organization on campus, including what you do within that club (otherwise companies don’t care lol)

  • Stick to one format throughout the resume and be consistent (Ex: periods at the end of every bullet or not)

  • There should be nothing from your high school on your resume once you enter your second year

  • If you have no involvement freshman year, you can extend this through your second year

  • Keep experience relevant and current!

  • Try and only include things from the past two years

  • If you can expand more on a project or job experience, you don’t need that hobbies section

  • Unless you are trying to just fill space, you likely do not need to list your high school in the education section

Career Fairs

Preparing for Career Fair

  • Company Research – Use this company research document to learn about companies you are interested in.

  • Update your resume and get it uploaded into Handshake. If you are attending in-person, then print off enough copies to give one to each company you wanna talk to and a couple of extras just in case

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During Career Fair

  • Attire: Business casual or business professional, see SWE highlight reel for examples of outfits that fall within these categories. Wear what is going to make you feel most confident!

  • If you are virtual, arrive at your meeting 5 minutes early (try not to schedule any back to back)

  • If you are in person, try and stay off your phone unless you are checking the map, have any notes that you need in a physical copy, review your resume or questions you want to ask while you wait in line if you are in person

  • If you are virtual, have your resume pulled up in front of you

  • Always write down the name of anyone you spoke with and try and get their email address so that you can follow up with them

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After Career Fair

  • Even if you didn’t get an offer or a follow-up interview, be proud of yourself. Career fairs are really intimidating and just taking the effort to attend one is a huge step in the right direction!

  • If the recruiter asked you to email them anything, do it within 2 days

  • If you got the recruiters email at all, send them a thank you email within 1 day and try to include something from your email that they will remember you by

  • Apply online to any positions you are interested in

Networking + Interviews + Salary Negotiation

Networking

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Interviews

  • Check out this interview preparation document to help you succeed in your interviews!

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Salary Negotiation

  • Check out this zoom recording for our How to Negotiate event with Engineering Career Services.

  • Would you like to see the average salaries for a specific major from students at OSU?

    • Check out this amazing resource from ECS that shows Co-op/Intern Hourly Wages as well as Career Employment Starting Salaries.

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Do you have any questions/anything else you would like to see here? Fill out this form and let us know!

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