The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench into the internship and job plans of many CU engineering students and recent graduates. Even so, these steadfast Buffs have been able to overcome all the extra logistical hurdles and uncertainty caused by the novel virus.
ProReady resources can help engineering Buffs overcome delayed start dates, rescinded job and internship offers, unexpected swaps to remote work and everything in between.
“You shouldn’t have to navigate this alone,” says Ben Weihrauch, senior director of student professional development for the college. “Being persistent and resilient, along with widening your job search targets, will be key in navigating the current hiring market.”
Ahmed Ferjani was studying abroad in Spain when the coronavirus pandemic reached the United States.
Ferjani, now a fourth-year CU mechanical engineering student with a minor in business and biomedical engineering, was gearing up for an in-person internship at L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York. But the pandemic had other plans.
While he was still in Spain, Ferjani got word that the company was moving his material science internship online. He returned home to Denver in July, then booted up his laptop and got to work.
Though Ferjani was bummed he wouldn’t get to meet any other L3Harris interns face to face or explore the company’s Rochester facilities, he says he’s grateful to have an internship at all.
“It was bittersweet,” he says.
Though he’s disappointed, he’s choosing to focus on the positives. For starters, interning remotely is much safer and will help prevent the spread of the virus. The internship is also an opportunity to try something new and prove to future employers that he’s nimble and up for anything.
“I’m thinking of it as a new challenge,” he says. “A new challenge to sell myself out there, prove my worth. Being able to say I can work from home, that I’m flexible — it’s a different skill set. We have to adapt, especially nowadays.”