We recently hosted our Spring Career Fair, with over 200 companies descending on the Tsongas Center looking for talent. While surely a number of graduating students were looking to lock in their first job upon graduation, I always encourage sophomores, juniors, and even freshmen to take advantage of the opportunity to look at the job market and perhaps land a summer internship or co-op position. One can never start looking, or preparing, too early for landing that first job.

I have always advised my students that potential employers are looking for three attributes in future hires: (1) good scholarship; (2) demonstrated leadership; and (3) practical experience. Note that a Career Fair is a unique opportunity – an applicant has the chance to “explain” their resume to a company representative. In this day and age, many more job opportunities are presented online and the applicant merely presents a resume and cover letter. For this situation, it is critical that the applicant highlight (1), (2) and (3) clearly, as there may never be an opportunity to “explain” an item on the resume.

Item (1) is straightforward: getting into UMass Lowell is the first hurdle, as our Engineering program is highly respected by companies throughout the world. The next hurdle is succeeding academically, generally measured by grade point average (GPA). This is not easy, so one has to work hard – if it was easy, more students would pursue engineering degrees. (According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, only 5.2% of B.S. degrees conferred in the United States in 2014-15 were in Engineering!) Do note, that if the GPA is subpar, the applicant must be ready to illustrate why, presumably through extensive off-campus commitments, such as work.

Item (2) requires that students take advantage of the University’s offerings in experiential learning. At Lowell, we have a number of opportunities for students to get involved, and lead. There are student clubs, teams and societies, each with a different mission and purpose, but all having the need for leadership. For example, engineering teams such as Design-Build-Fly, Collegiate Wind, Concrete Canoe, and Steel Bridge, to name a few, have deadlines throughout the year leading to the competitions. These require extensive planning and students must step forward and to keep the projects on schedule. Student clubs, such as those affiliated with a major (i.e., American Society of Civil Engineers, or ASCE), or an affinity group (i.e., Society of Women Engineers, or SWE), have an obligation to their membership to provide professional development opportunities, as well as some fun, through tours, speakers, travel, outreach and other events. Again, these activities take planning and execution such that many clubs and societies have extensive rosters of vice presidents to help spread the workload. This is what a company wants to see – leadership, not merely participation.

Item (3) is a bit of a double-edged sword. Companies want students with experience but students need experience to get a job. This is why it is so critical for students to look for opportunities early in their academic career – companies may require experience for a full-time position, but they are less stringent for summer intern or co-op options because they know that this is the entry point for most students.

So students, start early and remember, a three-pronged strategy is needed to land that dream job: scholarship, leadership, and work experience.