Initial Plan on Academic and Career Path

 

I started to concern about my Co-op during the second semester, knowing the fact that F1 visa students have limitations like CPT and OPT. I learned from my research that I have one year to work before graduation (CPT, curricular practical training), one year after graduation (OPT, optional practical training), and two-year extended OPT time for STEM students. This infers that I have one year in total allowed for Co-op, and three years allowed to work after graduation. However, one year only fills up to three Co-op semesters, and I am required to complete five to graduate, so I have three possible solutions.

​

1. Even though OPT should be spent after graduation, it is viable to be used before graduation, but this also means I have less time of employment after graduation, which I plan to use to consider perusing another degree or applying working visa (H1B visa has the during of six years).

2. Searching for a job outside USA is another solution. Apart from the fact that I can possibly find a position in my home country, UC also offers International Co-op Program (ICP) to Japan and Germany, which are the countries I would like to visit.

3. Working on campus in a research position does not count either CPT or OPT. Even though an undergraduate research student may not make large impact, but such experience working in a lab helps me to decide if I want to be in the academia field in the future.

 

Possible Co-op rotation starts at fall 2017 or spring 2018. Being aware that I lack both knowledge and technical skill compared to other students, I chose the later rotation plan. Fortunately, during last summer I participated in UC’s Protégé Undergraduate Research Program. By working in a research lab even before a Co-op, I gained a lot of useful knowledge and skills that I can put on my resume. It was also this experience that made me decide on which side of electrical engineering I want to choose for my career path.

​

Co-op Search Experience

​

Due to my interest in hardware more than software as an electrical engineer, the initial goal of my first Co-op goes into three ways: either engage in micro-electronic circuit design, or work on logic control systems, or explore more in the manufacturing industry. The ranking of companies on PAL system was based on the three goals. Though we were told to rank fifty companies “very interested” at first, I ranked ninety of them just in case. Those “very interested” companies receive my resume immediately. I had skim through all three hundred positions, and marked about a hundred positions as “somewhat interested.” Companies of this rank will not be sent with my resume, but since I was slightly interested in them, I could use them to create my second-trial ranking list later when the first trial ended a month later.

​

Career fair at UC on September 14 was the first event I committed a lot to my Co-op search, during which I made connections with plenty of good companies in different industries including electronics, robotics, manufacturing, and even greenhouse systems. For the following days I had heard back from two companies, Company X and Y, who would like to interview me. Company X was a very famous company making micro-processing devices. Company Y was a relatively small company making medical surgery devices. Though the medical surgery devices interested me a lot, Company X is in the industry I had been longing for, and I believe would had more impact on my resume, so I was extremely excited to work for Company X. However, I was told Company X could not give me a final decision until the end of November. Thus, for the following two months I had been in an awkward scenario – I had to keep searching for other job because I was not sure if Company X would give me an offer.

​

During these two months I had interviewed with about ten more companies, but did not achieve any offer letters. At the middle of October, I also went back in PAL to rank fifty more positions. Jergens Inc, the company that I will Co-op for, was one of the fifty positions. At the middle of November, I decided to email Company X for the status of my application, when I eventually found I was not accepted. My mind at this time quickly told myself that there was no time to be depressed or disappointed, since there are very few days left to find a job. I emailed two professors whose research topic interested me, thinking that research lab position could also be an alternative option. It was at this time Tim, Supervisor of Jergens Inc, interviewed me. Being aware that this might be my last interview, I decided to perform with the same enthusiasm as before and hoped I could get their appreciation.

​

To my surprise, Jergens ctually extended me an offer! They assigned me responsibilities related to my goal, so I quickly accepted an offer. Now I am already trying to find a housing in Cleveland and getting ready to work. That had made a successful ending of my Co-op search.

​

Challenges

​

Throughout my whole semester of Co-op searching, there were a few difficulties I have faced.

1. The effect of my citizenship. Due to many reasons, companies, especially large ones, usually think of international students as employees with very low return for the company. Students like me therefore got blocked away at the first step of the hiring process. To solve this issue, on my resume I wrote down another line below my name, saying “international student with 3-year extension working time in USA after graduation (and possible 6 more years with working visa)” This will clarify my eligibility of working in America for companies who think the stated time is enough to benefit from me.

2. The uncertain time scale of the hiring process. Different companies have different schedules for hiring. While some companies are able to tell me the final decision after a few days after the interview, other companies like Company X need much more time to proceed. Since I was looking forward to working at Company X very much, I decided to wait patiently for their response. In the meantime, however, I still needed to look for other companies because I was not hired yet. In addition, the idea that I might be employed by the famous Company X also affected me ranking other companies because I would have high expectation from other famous companies as well, therefore overlooking small companies that may also benefit me.

3. Lack of communication skills and experience. Since this is my first time looking for a job, I had no idea when I should follow up with companies after interview, and when I could expect to hear from them. Fortunately, this soft skill was gradually trained by having interview with companies after another.

 

Lessons Learned

 

Through my rough semester of Co-op searching, I had learned several lessons that are listed below.

1. It is good to be hired by a company of interested field, but that does not mean to reject other industries, which may surprisingly interest me. Company Y, for example, is a company making medical surgery devices, which I initially thought will be boring to me. However, during the talk with them I was shown with several high-technology electronic devices such as ultrasonic cutting, so I realized that I may actually grow passion about what I will work on in Company Y.

2. Different companies when hiring Co-op students may have different expectations. While it is true that some companies may make students start from very easy jobs like documenting, other companies will expect their Co-op students contribute much to the think tank, which often occurs in R&D positions. Therefore, when I do research on a company before interview, apart from understanding their background, I should also try identifying their expectations on me before they tell me. In addition, employers also value differently. Typical large companies like Company X look for specific skills (like specific programming languages), Jergens, the company that eventually hired me, values my general passion on electronic devices and systems. Company Y was interested in my technical skills and electrical intuition. Interestingly, they did not give me an offer, but instead, asked me to apply to them again after I gained enough academic knowledge. Most likely, they valued a solid academic background more than what I outstood in my resume.

3. It is fine to wait for a good company’s response, but I should also make a back-up plan. After I knew I was not accepted by Company X, I panicked and began to spam my resume to almost random companies on PAL. Fortunately, I was extended an offer by Jergens, but I would not be always that lucky. Now when I look back at the beginning of the semester, I may actually have a lot more chances to be hired by some interesting companies.