I have had a lot of interviews over the past two years. Some went great. Some crashed and burned. But every single one taught me something that made the next one better. Here is the full story, every interview, every mistake, every win, so you can skip the learning curve I had to go through the hard way. Interview 1 — IKO Glass Fiber | The One That Started Everything My very first interview ever. A materials engineering co-op at a glass fiber plant in South Carolina. I showed up dressed to the absolute maximum. Suit, gelled hair, clean shave, everything. When I met the interviewers, Jeff, a senior engineer in a Star Wars hoodie, and Sherrie from HR dressed plainly, they immediately noticed. Jeff actually commented on it. I told him I wanted to take it seriously. That moment set the tone for the entire interview. Before a single question was asked, they already knew I came with intention. Here is my honest take on dressing for interviews: always dress up more than you think you need to. Not because it guarantees you the job, but because it immediately communicates that you respect the opportunity. When someone comments on it, own it. Tell them exactly why you did it. The interview itself followed my resume. Jeff asked about my landscaping job. I told him I had done it every summer for five years, that I had gotten fast at it, and that I was used to working hard in brutal conditions. He asked about my factory job, which I had for two months, 12-hour shifts, working landscaping at the same time. I explained it plainly. He didn't say much, but I could tell it landed. Then he asked about my robotics club role as construction captain. I told him the story of building the arena obstacle from wood found under the building, coordinating with others to get it done under constraints. When he asked about my ceramics knowledge, I was honest; I had covered it in general materials classes but hadn't taken a dedicated ceramics course yet. When he asked about XRF spectroscopy, I talked about my lab experience at NCSU without pretending to know more than I did.

Most job fair advice sounds the same. Dress well. Bring resumes. Firm handshake. Smile. That advice isn't wrong, it's just incomplete. I'm going to tell you about two real conversations I had at the same job fair — one that went nowhere and one that got me an interview offer — so you can see exactly what the difference was. First, let's talk about appearance quickly I wore a blue striped cotton shirt, white pants, and a black belt. Nothing extreme, nothing close to a suit. Here's my honest take on dressing for job fairs, the benefits of dressing well are real but pretty low. What actually matters more is that you don't look bad. Baggy shirts, sweatpants, oversized hoodies, and dirty shoes will hurt you. Looking clean and put together won't make you stand out, but it removes a reason for someone to dismiss you immediately. Don't overthink the outfit. Just don't look like you rolled out of bed. The Conversation That Didn't Work The first booth I approached was a construction company looking for interns. The representative asked about my experience and what I was interested in. This is where I went wrong. I started talking about my nanomaterials class. Then my lab coursework. Then I started explaining concepts we were being taught in class. Looking back, I was rambling about things that had nothing to do with what she needed. She probably thought I was smart, but she told me I wasn't the right fit for a construction internship. And she was right. I never mentioned my landscaping experience. Never brought up the 12-hour factory shifts I had worked. Never showed any genuine interest in construction or field work. I just talked about what I was currently doing in school without connecting any of it to what she actually needed. The lesson: Knowing your own skills isn't enough. You have to connect them to what the company in front of you actually needs. If I had said "I've worked 12-hour factory shifts and done physical outdoor work, I'm comfortable in demanding environments", that conversation goes completely differently.

Most students open Epack, get overwhelmed, and close it without applying to anything. I did the opposite. Here's exactly what I did to turn Epack into my primary source of interview opportunities — and how you can do the same. Step 1 — Filter Immediately, Don't Browse The first thing I did was filter everything down to internships and co-ops only. No full time jobs, no part time work. Just internships and co-ops. This sounds obvious but most students waste time browsing everything and applying to nothing. Narrow your focus immediately so you're only seeing relevant opportunities. Step 2 — Change Your Goal This is the most important mindset shift I made. My goal wasn't to find the perfect job. My goal was to just get a job. When you're looking for the perfect opportunity you talk yourself out of applying to things constantly. When your goal is simply to get experience, you apply to far more and your odds go up dramatically. Don't wait for the perfect listing. Apply broadly and let the interviews tell you what you actually want. Step 3 — Build 3 Versions of Your Resume Instead of having one resume I tried to fit everywhere, I built three: - Process Resume — tailored toward process engineering roles, emphasizing anything related to manufacturing, operations, or procedures - Field Resume — tailored toward hands on field work, lab work, and technical work - Long Resume — a comprehensive version with everything I'd done, regardless of length, used as a master reference When a job posting came up, I'd read the description and ask myself which resume fit best. If one clearly matched, I submitted that one immediately. Step 4 — Use AI to Fill the Gaps If none of my three resumes was a strong match, I didn't give up on the application. Instead I took the closest resume I had, copied it into ChatGPT along with the job description, and asked it to modify my resume to better emphasize the skills the job was asking for. This took maybe 5-10 minutes per application and significantly increased how relevant my resume looked for each specific role.

One of the biggest mistakes I see engineering students make is saying "I don't have any experience" when applying for internships. The truth is you probably have more skills than you realize. You just don't know how to identify them yet. Here's a simple 5 step process to figure out exactly what you bring to the table: Step 1 — Look Backwards, Not Forwards Most students think they have no skills because they're looking forward at what they haven't done yet. Instead, look backwards at what you already have. Ask yourself: - What classes have I taken and what did I actually do in them? - What labs, projects, or group work have I completed? - What jobs have I had, even non-engineering ones? - What do people regularly ask me for help with? That last one is important. If your classmates come to you for help understanding a concept, that's both a technical skill and a communication skill. Step 2 — Separate Hard Skills from Soft Skills Students almost always only list hard skills on their resume and completely ignore soft skills. Employers care about both. Hard skills are technical and teachable: - CAD software - Lab techniques - Data analysis - Materials testing - Coding Soft skills are behavioral: - Working independently - Communication - Problem solving - Time management - Adaptability Write out both lists separately. You'll be surprised how long each one gets. Step 3 — Mine Your Class Projects Engineering students do significant work in classes that never makes it onto a resume. Go back through your coursework and ask yourself: - Did you design anything? - Did you test or analyze anything? - Did you present findings to a class or professor? - Did you work within real constraints like budget, materials, or time? Every single one of those is a real, resume worthy experience. Don't leave them off just because it happened in a classroom. Step 4 — Ask Someone Who Knows You Sometimes other people see your strengths more clearly than you do. Ask a professor, classmate, lab partner, or former supervisor what they think you're particularly good at.

One ChatGPT strategy that helped me with internships: I used ChatGPT to tailor my resume to each job description without lying or adding skills I did not have. Here was my process: 1. Copy the internship job description into AI. 2. Ask ChatGPT to identify the most important skills, tools, and responsibilities from the posting. 3. Paste my current resume into AI. 4. Ask it to compare my resume to the job description and find where my real experience matched the role. 5. Have ChatGPT rewrite my bullet points using stronger action verbs, measurable impact, and keywords from the job description. 6. Review every bullet and remove anything that sounded exaggerated or inaccurate. 7. Save a new version of the resume for that specific company. This helped me turn the same experience into a resume that actually matched what each employer was looking for. This helped me turn the same experience into a resume that actually matched what each employer was looking for. The biggest lesson: AI should not create experience for you. It should help you explain your real experience better. If you’ve used ChatGPT for resumes or internship applications, I’d love to hear what worked for you. And if you haven’t tried this strategy yet, give it a shot on your next application.