In order to build a well-rounded resume, students work hard on their GPAs, involve themselves in activities and look to jobs or internships for experience. To help with this process of building resumes, the Business Leadership Community hosted an internship panel on Nov. 22 in room D106. The panel lasted from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., featuring representatives from Boeing, Inrix and Seattle City Light.
BLC co-adviser Judith Paquette was one of the main organizers, who believes that internships are important early on in one’s college career. “The whole concept of internships, and the importance of them is something that we want students to hear about in their first and second years of college,” said Paquette.
According to Paquette, students oftentimes graduate from college without work experience and “suddenly realize that they need more experience, even for an entry level job.” Paquette explained that only 20 percent of students know what they want to do as a career and that students should “have meaningful internships, and several of them so that they can be better informed about what is best fit for them.”
Alyssa Brown / The Watchdog
During the panel, students listened to these representatives speak about varying topics regarding internships including how to successfully apply and what companies look for in an ideal candidate. On the topic of interviewing for an internship, Boeing representative Christie Lindstand said “interviews will be structured. Questions like ‘tell us a time when you worked on a team to develop an outcome,’ will be asked. Most questions will be scenario-based.” She also spoke about being prepared to answer these type of questions and to always be yourself during an interview. “We are looking for you to tell a story and want your personality to come through.”
Aside from giving professional tips on landing a job as a college student, panelist Heather Carpenter from a traffic intelligence provider, Inrix, explained that longer isn’t always better when it comes to resumes. “Your resume shouldn’t be longer than one page. That is one of the biggest mistakes I see people do.” Additionally, Carpenter went into depth about students stressing about grades. She said “the more experience you can build up, the better. The farther you get from graduating the less the school you went to and your GPA will matter. It’ll all be about work experience.”
Towards the end of the panel, students were given the opportunity to ask their own questions. One student in the crowd asked about finding the right internship over the summer. Lindstand spoke about her past experiences with summer internships. She completed an internship based around civil engineering, but found that it was not right for her. Lindstand said “find as many internships as possible and figure out what exactly your niche is and what you like.”
“The panel gave me a better idea of what companies are looking for and knowing that you don’t need to be overqualified was pretty reassuring,” said Dylan Phan, a business major who attended the panel. He said he feels that everyone is “absorbed in either their part time job or their school work but they don’t really know what is ahead in the future. Having an internship is kind of the first step towards that desired career.”
BLC is one of the college’s longest running clubs and is a combined community of students, alumni and professionals. For more information or to become a part of this community, contact co-advisers Judith Paquette or Leslie Lum or visit their office in C207.