Aspiring Engineers Face Recruiting Challenges

For Harvard's engineering students pursuing employment in their fields upon graduation, there are fewer University-offered recruiting services compared to those provided by more technical institutions, according to Robin Mount, director of the Office of Career Services.

Unlike Harvard, which has an On-Campus Interview Program for undergraduates that predominantly features opportunities in finance and consulting, MIT has a slew of internship programs catered specifically to those interested in mechanical, electrical, biomedical, and environmental engineering, among other engineering fields.

The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences  “would really benefit from having an internship coordinator or a funded internship program,” Mount said.

The University aims to build upon its programming in this area, according to Anthony J. Arcieri, the director of undergraduate career advising and programming for the College and SEAS.

This past November, Harvard co-hosted with neighboring institutions an “Engineering Boutique Night” that showcased several engineering companies. In addition, engineering students can participate in career fairs jointly held with MIT as well as participate in MIT’s equivalent of the On-Campus Interview program.

While having fewer structured recruiting resources can make the search for internships and employment more difficult, some engineering undergraduates said that they struggled to land positions over their counterparts from other institutions because engineering recruiters are less interested in Harvard students.

“Coming from the Harvard engineering program, you are not as competitive as someone from CalTech or MIT, so a lot of larger companies don’t recruit here,” said Mateusz J. Kulesza ’15, an electrical engineering concentrator who will be working at an intellectual property law firm.

“Companies are not aware that there are a lot of good engineers at Harvard,” said Nikhil Mehandru ’15, an electrical engineering concentrator. “I think that’s the main problem. When you think of Harvard, you don’t think of engineers.”

But Mount said many recruiters do not travel to Harvard to interview because of a relatively low number of interested students. She pointed to Harvard’s liberal arts model, which she said prepares “thought leaders in the field.” As a result, Harvard’s engineering students might pursue non-engineering opportunities through OCS, she said.

With a liberal arts focus, Harvard’s engineering program provides less hands-on training for its engineering students compared to other top engineering programs, Mount said. In addition, there are fewer on-campus recruiting opportunities in the engineering field because large companies have fewer entry-level engineering positions, according to Mount.

But as SEAS continues to grow in funding and scope, students said they are confident that more opportunities will be available for those aspiring to become engineers.

“When I hear of the new initiatives, I wish I came here a few years later when the department will be more mature,” Kulesza said.

—Staff writer Michael V. Rothberg can be reached at michael.rothberg@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @mvrothberg.

—Staff writer Zara Zhang can be reached at zara.zhang@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @zarazhangrui.