Built For What's Next
In today’s competitive employment landscape, Maryland’s Engineering Career Services offerings are designed not just to help students secure an internship or a job, but to excel in it.
In addition to a robust array of traditional career services opportunities, such as networking events and career fairs, students can also book time with a pro to craft a LinkedIn profile or hone an elevator pitch, says Engineering Career Services Director Veronica Perrigan, or to learn how artificial intelligence (AI) can—and can’t—be used effectively in job searches and applications.
The larger goal, says Perrigan, is to ensure that students can translate their experience at Maryland in ways that will help them excel beyond it. (Her office will even help students negotiate compensation once they’ve landed their dream job.) “Students are really thinking about their return on investment, and we know that it’s not enough just to take those physics and calculus classes—they have to have the ability to identify and articulate the skills they can bring to a role,” she says. “We’re here to help them with that.”
In-Person Career Help
In a world increasingly propelled by AI, Engineering Career Services still offers plenty of real human support. For example, students can drop in any weekday during business hours to get advice and work through challenges.
“Applying for jobs and internships can be overwhelming. We provide an atmosphere where students can speak with a real person and feel supported,” says Perrigan. “Every student has their own story, skills, and strengths, so we don’t have a cookie-cutter approach.”
And nothing’s more satisfying than getting a real high five—not an AI-generated congratulatory note— after a success.
It Takes a Student to Know a Student
As a peer assistant in Engineering Career Services, Jimmy Yates ’25 helps students frame their coursework and extracurricular activities to employers to help position them for a job or internship.
“I’ve taken classes and participated in the group projects that nearly every first-year and sophomore student includes on their resume and their elevator pitch,” he says. “I understand how students develop collaborative and real-world skills through their internships, classes, and group projects.”
That experience gives him the tools to help fellow students highlight their strengths in interviews, cover letters, resumes, and online profiles to demonstrate the value they can bring to an employer.
As a UMD engineering student, Austin Kendall ’17 was leader of Terps Racing’s Formula SAE team.
The Future in Action
Austin Kendall ’17 has always loved cars. Terps Racing, an organization whose team members design, build, test, and race formula racecars and baja-style off-road vehicles, was a primary reason he chose Maryland Engineering.
It also proved to be a starting line, so to speak, for Kendall’s future success. By his junior year, Kendall was team leader for a crew of 50 students, overseeing a $50,000 vehicle budget for the club. “I was managing team members, coordinating project deadlines, creating Gantt charts, and even giving tours to executives that would come in and want to see the facility,” he recalls.
While the work was intense, sometimes consuming as many hours per week as a full-time job, it has paid significant long-term dividends. The skills and mindsets he honed in Terps Racing are the same ones he has used to excel in engineering positions linked to autonomous vehicles at Ford, and in his current job as a global business planner at Aptiv. “Open-ended problem solving, taking ownership, thinking critically, even public speaking—these are things that have been important in every position I’ve been in,” he says.
The degree Kendall earned in mechanical engineering has been critical to his career success. The traits he honed through Terps Racing have also been essential as he’s flourished in the years since graduation. He expects they will continue to serve him well no matter what path he takes in the years ahead.
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