YOU CAN HELP: Does your company hire summer interns? The School of Engineering is looking for alumni partners who will commit to at least one position for a qualified UAB student. If you are interested in partnering with us, contact Desland Robinson today at
Beginning this fall, the School of Engineering is making those opportunities an official part of its undergraduate programs by offering guaranteed internships to all incoming students following their second year of engineering coursework.
To be eligible for a guaranteed internship, students must participate in the Career Readiness Program, a new initiative launched this fall by the SOE Office of Career Services.
“Our location in Birmingham gives us a great advantage over other schools because there are so many local companies that hire students for engineering internships and co-ops,” said SOE Dean Jeff Holmes, M.D., Ph.D. “With so many companies headquartered within minutes of campus, we realized there is an opportunity here for us to make a guarantee that few engineering schools in the country can match.”
A Spot for Every Student
In order to make an official guarantee, Holmes said he first had to make sure of two things: that there were enough opportunities for students in all of UAB’s undergraduate Engineering majors, and that students would be adequately prepared to provide value to the companies through their work as interns.
For the first requirement, Holmes looked to Career Services Director Desland Robinson, who over the past seven years has placed UAB Engineering students in hundreds of jobs with more than 165 engineering companies. “We already knew that an average of 60 percent or more of our students were participating in internships each year,” Robinson said. “In some fields, such as civil engineering, that percentage was already much higher, but it was lower in other fields such as biomedical engineering, where many of our students focus on laboratory research in preparation for graduate or medical school.” Recognizing the importance of those research experiences, Robinson worked to integrate those opportunities into the guaranteed internship program, while simultaneously reaching out to alumni to expand our network of corporate internships.
In parallel with expanding their list of internship opportunities, the Career Services team considered how to best prepare students for the experience. To that end, Robinson worked with Career Services Assistant Director Molly Kate Lallone to develop the Career Readiness Program. “This program ensures that our students are fully prepared to experience a professional work environment so that they can get the most out of their internship,” said Lallone. “Students will be required to attend one Career Preparedness Seminar each semester, but we will also work with them to create opportunities for alumni mentoring, job shadowing, networking, and other activities to help them become career ready.”
Students who complete the Career Readiness Program will receive certificates granting them eligibility for a guaranteed internship in their field of choice.
“Hands-on, real-world experience is important for engineering students for many reasons,” Holmes said. “It helps students find their passion, deciding which disciplines and professional roles are the best fit for them. It also provides motivation by showing students how what they are learning in class applies in the field, and it introduces them to local companies and contacts, often leading to job offers when—or even before—they graduate.
His pitch to future engineers? “Most of us go into engineering because we want to help shape the world around us, so why wait until you graduate? Come to UAB and start building your future – and ours – now.”
Sidebar:
Career Readiness Program at a Glance
Goal: Empower students early in their academic career to prepare them for their desired career path and to help them gain confidence in their selected majors.
Who can participate: All engineering or pre-engineering students.
Timeframe: Four semesters, followed by a one-semester internship (typically summer after sophomore year)
Focus: Career and self-development, communication, critical thinking, inclusion, leadership and professionalism, teamwork, and technology.