In the life of a civil engineer, recruiting season begins the fall before graduation. Considering it is November, that means I am in the thick of it. I just want to share with you the process I have been going through, just to offer some insider information.
I started with an ever growing list of companies I wanted to apply to. This started at about 10 companies, but I was eventually able to narrow it down to three. How you may ask? Well first I considered location. Not just where I wanted to move directly after graduation but also where I would potentially move a few years in. This cut out a lot of companies that were not national. Then my next consideration was whether there would be support for employees pursuing a graduate degree. I did research into the benefits of each company and narrowed in on the best packages.
Of course, company culture is extremely important as well. However, that wasn’t something I could consider until the interview process. That part is more important for choosing which offer I am going to accept. Speaking of, I got my first job offer last week! I know I only applied to three companies which could feel risky for people but it paid off. I felt confident in these choices so I was okay with the small number. But anyway, one job offer down and two more in the works.
The first offer gave me a month to decide (so about three more weeks). I made it clear in my other two interviews that I had an offer with a deadline. This is actually a good thing to do because it shows you are competitive. Don’t be afraid to be honest about what you want and how you plan to get there.
A lot of jobs will do two rounds of interviews which take a while to finish, so making your deadlines clear is key. I am hoping to have all offers and rejections by the beginning of December and make my decision from there.
I don’t really have any advice on how to pick which offer to accept because I haven’t gotten a second yet so we are still waiting. Hope this offered some insight into what the process for me looked like!
