9/28/15
Parents,
It’s hard to believe, but students have now completed 5% of their college educations.
Last week was a special week on campus for all our students. Our College hosted a Career Fair on Wednesday and Thursday. Over 130 companies were here looking for permanent hires, co-op students, and summer interns. I asked all of our freshmen to attend. I’ve heard from a number of companies about their hiring plans. The employment situation looks very good for our students. Over 15% of my senior class already have job offers for when they graduate in May.
I believe that we are the only engineering college in the nation that has its freshmen participate in a Career Fair. I think this experience is critical for three reasons:
1. Freshmen can obtain summer internships by talking to companies. A number of freshmen last year did get an internship. These internships typically pay $10/hr - $12/hour. for students with limited course work to $24/hr and higher for students who have completed some courses in their major.
2. Freshmen get experience talking with employers. Many of our students have a tendency to be shy, and this experience helps them become more comfortable in talking with employers. With the experience they get early in their career, they find it easier to pursue a permanent job when they get closer to graduation.
3. The Career Fair comes at a time when many students have doubts about their ability to be an engineer. The Career Fair serves as a motivator. It gives students that extra drive and commitment for success.
Our college also offers a one-hour course, Engineering 463,that students can take that helps them develop their job seeking skills. This course focuses on interviewing, developing job contacts, understanding employment contracts, and evaluating job offers. Most students take this course when they are sophomores, but many freshman also take this course.
One of the things that I will be emphasizing with students is how important experience is to them. To get the best jobs at graduation, students need to have at least two professional experiences (summer internships or co-op rotations). A co-op is a full time, engineering position that a student will have during a semester, and possibly a summer. Since many of our students come to college with credit hours already earned, they can take off a semester for a co-op and still graduate on time. Their scholarships are also deferred during this semester so they don’t lose their scholarships. We have a co-op coordinator who will help students find positions. A co-op can also provide the financial resources to help pay for college. We have had students make $25,000 - $30,000 on a co-op.
One of the mistakes students make is believing they have four years to build a resume. Actually they only have three years. The best job offers are made in the fall of the senior year. Most of our best seniors will have decided where they will start their careers by the end the fall semester of their senior year.
I hope that you will encourage your students to work seriously on building their resume. All of our students now have a professional resume that they completed for Engr 199. If you haven’t seen your student’s resume, you might ask to see it. I think you will be impressed.
I think the one thing that my father was proudest of was my work with students helping them start their careers. I remember when I was 6 years old. I asked him for an allowance. My father said he would think about it. The next day my father said that he would give me an allowance. I walked outside with him and there was a lawnmower. My allowance was the money I would make with the lawn mower. I’ve long thought that work experience is so much more valuable than a scholarship in so many ways. It’s really exciting when a student gets a great internship or co-op offer. While that may seem long away in the future, the time will fly by. Last week wasa big event in your student’s career development.
Let me close with the story of Ashley. Ashley had had an internship every summer in college beginning with her freshmen year. She was one of those students who struggled in math/science courses, but really excelled when she was on the job.
There’s another side to Ashley as well. When she came to Morgantown she started volunteering to help an older gentlemen. He could no longer drive so Ashley took him to places he needed to go. She checked in with him each day. He had a son, but his son had virtually no contact with his father. One week Ashley took the gentlemen to the hospital for test. Hisdoctor had said that he had a very short amount of time to live. Obviously Ashley was very upset and really struggled.
Later Ashley’s friend died. She had a tough time for a while. But I kept reminding her of the real difference she had made in his life. That’s the true measure of an individual: Did you make a difference in the lives of others?
By the beginning of her senior year, Ashley already had two job offers. Eventually Ashley had more offers than many of her classmates with much higher GPAs.
We put too much stress on grades and ignore the complete development of our students. Ashley is representative of the graduates that make me proud. She has practical engineering skills. She is a caring person. She is professional in every way. She has “it”, and “it” is not reflected in a GPA.
As our higher education system has become more credential oriented and ratings focused, we are pushing aside the Ashley’s in favor of the star students. I hope that WVU will always give the Ashley’s a chance.