Learn how to effectively communicate your skills and strengths to potential employers.
The CLIMB model is designed to help engineering students navigate the complicated career journey.
To pursue employment opportunities, you will need to create professional career materials and adopt best practices. These materials will help you stand out to employers and increase your chances of securing jobs or internships.
Getting started
- Learn how to explain your skills and experiences to potential employers
- Research relevant post-graduate career opportunities to your career aspirations
- Build your professional network
Note: The getting started suggestions are not meant to be completed in any order. They are simply starting points to enable students to take action.
Career materials
Resume
Resumes are one-page documents that highlight your value to employers. This is where you share examples of how you have used your skills throughout your school, work, and volunteer experiences.
Resume format
Essentially, resumes are about two things:
Skills and speed
How fast can a recruiter find what they’re looking for?
These samples can get you started on formatting your resume:
- ENGRUD - Purple Gold [Links to an example resume]
- Some experience - Violet Gold [Links to an example resume]
- Tech - Magenta Gold [Links to an example resume]
We can help you build an effective resume!
Make an appointment with the CC@E team.
LinkedIn allows you to showcase your skills to employers worldwide, so setting up a LinkedIn profile page has become an essential part of career development.
Start developing your profile with these four areas:
- Include a professional or professional-looking headshot
- Create a branded headline: Rather than “Student at UW”, insert your Brand Statement.
- Add a background banner: use an image that supports your Brand Statement.
- About section: Tell your story. Why are you becoming an engineer?
Make an appointment with the CC@E team. We can review your LinkedIn profile and give you tips on making it effective.
Career practices
Interviewing
At some point, you’ll need to meet with an employer to explain why they should hire you. The STAR Method is a helpful way to organize your experiences (projects) into clear and concise examples that you can talk about during an interview.
- Situation: Set the stage for the story by sharing context around the situation or challenge you faced.
- Task: Describe your responsibility or role in the situation or challenge.
- Action: Explain the specific actions you took to handle the situation or overcome the challenge.
- Result: What was the outcome you reached through your actions?
Elevator Pitch
One effective way to make a strong first impression to an employer is to create an elevator pitch - a brief, 30-second personal introduction that highlights your career goals.
Here’s a quick formula to get you started:
- Brand statement
- Your story: why are you becoming an engineer?
- Technical skills: what experience do you want to highlight?
- Soft skills: what team related skills do you want to highlight?
- Language skills: Bonus! Language skills are important to employers.
- Closing
Here’s an example:
(1) Hello, my name is Chris. I'm a civil & environmental engineering student with a focus on creating affordable, functional and sustainable spaces for different groups of people to live and work.
(2) Ever since I was a little girl, I've been a curious explorer, an avid reader and investigative learner. Also while growing up, I saw people around me without access to basic infrastructure systems. Therefore, I hope to bring ideas, people, and difficult realities together to try to create solutions that add something positive to the world.
(3) I have a deep understanding about the operations, construction design and installation of various infrastructure systems through my involvement with the Steel Bridge team on campus where I developed a strong understanding of 3D design using Solidworks and AutoCAD.
(4) I’m an excellent team player and communicator with proven problems solving skills.
(5) I'm fluent in both English and French.
(6) I'm excited about the opportunity to join your team because of the work you do for the community.
- Chris, an example civil & environmental engineering student
Make an appointment with the CC@E team to practice and improve your elevator pitch!
Research
Effective career management begins with researching companies you're interested in working for. It's important to be familiar with a company before applying for a job or internship.
Pro tip: They’ll most likely ask you why you want to work for them during an interview.
You can distinguish yourself as a job candidate if you can explain why the company aligns with your major, focus, interests, etc.
Interstride supports international students seeking career opportunities in the U.S. and domestic students seeking career opportunities in other countries!
Develop networks
Establishing connections with engineers and others can have a significant impact as we begin our career journey. It’s crucial to spend time talking with people, particularly engineers, who are knowledgeable about the industry you want to work in.
Pro tip: When approaching someone in the industry, refrain from directly asking for a job or internship. Instead, express your genuine curiosity about their role within the company or industry. These industry professionals can share insights into their career paths, their academic background, and offer valuable tips for entering that industry. Over time, these connections will become a valuable part of your network as you seek out job opportunities and internships.
Here are some ideas on how to connect with industry professionals:
- ENGR 101: Engineering Undeclared students hear from different engineers about their careers during this foundational class. Did anyone sound interesting to you? Reach out to them for a further conversation.
Note: Only available for ENGRUDs. - Engineering-Connect: [Placeholder]
- Huskies@Work: Students and alumni connect for a unique job shadowing program. This program is offered in the autumn and spring quarters.
- Handshake Events: Employers regularly visit campus to present on various topics or recruit students for jobs/internships. These are great opportunities to connect with industry professionals.
- Engineering Exploration Night: Connect with engineering alumni in a casual setting. You'll meet with industry professionals to learn about their experiences, careers, and what led them there. Companies provide insight into navigating the job market successfully.
- ACE Mentor Night: (Winter Quarter)
- LinkedIn: This is a great way to connect with engineering professionals. Get started by following the UW College of Engineering page.
Make an appointment with the CC@E team! We can share tips on building your career network.
Keep CLIMBing
Now that you’re starting to build effective career materials and practices, explore the next step in your CLIMB.