You may have thought that an engineering degree would unlock the world, with countless exciting career choices suddenly laid out in front of you.

However, the reality is that the hard work building your career has just begun, and finding your first engineering job is more of a marathon than a sprint.

As a recent graduate, you have no experience operating in a real-world working environment. There’s more to a job than just exercising the hard skills you learned in the classroom, and hiring managers know this. To make matters worse, you’ll often be competing against experienced engineers for the same job openings.

Don’t let this reality get you down. Often, employers will consider an internship, major research project, tutoring experience or volunteer work as a substitute for on-the-job experience. You may be a little creative when it comes to passing academic duties as work experience, but if your credentials and interview performance are in place, many hiring managers will give you the benefit of the doubt.

All that being said, there are a few things you’ll need to consider to land that first engineering job.

Avoid resume mistakes

Your resume is likely the first impression you give a hiring manager, which means a resume mistake can immediately sink your chances. Even though you may not have a long work history or extensive sets of skills, make sure your resume is not cluttered up with unnecessary fluff. Also, be sure that your resume is free of grammar or spelling mistakes. It might help to have another pair of eyes review your work.

Your resume should be specifically customized to each business you apply to. You should be using keywords and phrases from the job posting. The reason for this is that human resources departments often use automated software to identify resumes that list certain skills or experience. You should be doing the same with your cover letter.

Avoid interview mistakes

While your interviewers are always capable of throwing you a curveball, you should still be able to prepare enough in advance that you don’t make basic interview mistakes.

Prepare to be able to tell the interviewer about yourself, why you want the job, your career goals, professional strengths, and weaknesses. When preparing your answers, avoid stock answers that seem clever, like saying your biggest weakness is that you try too hard. Instead, develop answers from your personal background that speak to the job description. For instance, if you’ll be working in a team setting, talk about your communication skills.

You should also research the job, the company and the industry, with a focus on recent news and developments. This research will allow you to connect to your interviewer through an informed and “real” conversation. Making this connection will help you make a lasting positive impression.

At Cornerstone, we help job seekers with every part of the searching and interviewing processes. If you are a recent grad in need of assistance, please contact us online today.