Over the past few weeks I had the pleasure of speaking on career development to the ASCE Chapters in Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester, New York.  It was a great experience in which I met some very interesting, talented and motivated engineers and engineering students.  The seminar attendees included a combination of student members, younger member groups and local chapters.

Career Development in Syracuse

I started out in Syracuse at Syracuse University where we had a crowd of about 20 or so, mostly engineering students.  The attendees asked a lot of questions about the interviewing process.  We talked about how, during an interview, you should question the needs of the employer and then explain to them how you can satisfy those needs.  Don’t go in there and talk non-stop about yourself and all of your experience.  They only want to hear how you can help them!  There were also some excellent questions about internships.  One student asked if it was okay to leave an engineering internship if they didn’t enjoy it.  I recommended that they only leave the internship if they are taking another one where they would gain engineering experience.  If not, I recommended fighting through it for the summer and making the most out of the opportunity.  Develop some contacts and soak up as much knowledge as you can. [Read more...]