Chemical Engineering and Materials Science News
Christa Rose's "Dream" Internship at Genentech
Posted on: October 7, 2009
Summer Discovery
Many undergrad students cringe at the idea of finding a summer job. Engineering students have the added pressure to find summer opportunities that are interesting as well as educational. Positive and negative experiences alike can help guide class choices and ultimately career paths.
I am a Junior Chemical Engineering student at UCD, and I have always been interested in the Biotechnology field. I already had biotech research experience in a research environment, so I wanted to intern at a corporation to see if the corporate environment was a good fit for me.
I landed my dream internship at Genentech this last summer, working at the Vacaville, CA site in the Process Engineering Department. I learned not only technical skills, but also much about the “real world” and my career goals. Genentech has an amazing sense of community within such a large company. I was pleasantly surprised that people at every management level were so eager to say “hi” and sit down to talk with me and answer my questions.
I found this wonderful opportunity by being proactive and avoiding some common student mistakes:
1.Many companies hold résumé workshops and on-campus visits months before most students begin to think about finding a summer job. Go to them. Even if companies tell you they only hire “X” (i.e., not you), at least you will be gaining confidence and experience talking to representatives.
2.Online applications and summer internship information are available for almost everyone’s dream company. Make sure you fit their criteria. Then apply.
3.Don’t have a boring résumé. Give your company a reason to interview you. Your GPA often has to be high to get in the door, but don’t expect it to carry you all by itself. Your passions, engineering-related experiences, non-engineering-related experiences, and leadership skills are what make you interesting. Ironically, one thing on my resume that stood out for Genentech was my music minor. You never know!
Good luck!