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I'm an Electrical engineering student, and I want to start scouting out places to get an internship at in electrical engineering that I can leave my current Internship for by the next spring. The trouble is that most Internships that I see are for Software Engineering.

Being that EE internships are relatively rare, and certain conditions put me at a disadvantage in getting the job, thus I want to start looking and networking early.

In a general sense, when my target job market for internships is fairly uncommon how can I identify companies which are likely to offer internships in my field?

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  • There's also more internship for software because there's more jobs there. As more and more work is done in software and less in dedicated hardware, the number of EE jobs hasn't really been increasing all that much. The number of software jobs dwarfs it.
    – Gabe Sechan
    Jul 12, 2017 at 14:24
  • Also "A mistake in soldering a board" EEs don't do soldering boards. EE work these days is all about building models on the computer either as circuit diagrams or VHDL/Verilog, not about actually putting together circuits. Machines do 99% of that.
    – Gabe Sechan
    Jul 12, 2017 at 14:26
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    @GabeSechan "EEs don't do soldering boards" As an EE who has soldered boards in the past, I disagree. It really depends on the type of job you end up in. Yes, EEs in an electronics production job aren't going to do much soldering by hand, but engineers working in small shops, or doing R&D and prototyping still do a lot of things by hand.
    – David K
    Jul 12, 2017 at 15:43

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In a general sense, when my target job market for internships is fairly uncommon how can I identify companies which are likely to offer internships in my field?

Since you're a student, I would suggest asking your tutors/lecturers/professors. They have surely had students in a similar position many times before, and might know which companies took their former students for internships. They might even have a personal relationship or former colleagues with people at some companies and could put you in touch.

Similarly, you could ask people in higher years of your programme - they or other members of their cohort might have had internships.

You can also try contacting your university or department's careers office, if they have one- they might have suggestions, or contacts in the local area.

Finally, look at companies that you might want to work for full time one day, and check out their 'careers' page. Often they'll say whether they take interns or not. If they don't say, then it's always worth sending a short polite email with a CV to their recruitment contact asking if they would be open to taking you on as an intern.

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how can I identify companies which are likely to offer internships in my field?

Talk to your university's Placement Office. Their job is to help you find employment. Sometimes, they have folks specifically assigned to aid in finding internships.

Often, somewhere near the Placement Office (and sometimes near your major advisor's office) you can find notices of companies that are hiring EE graduates. Those are prime sources of companies who might be willing to bring on an intern.

In addition, talk to your professors, your friends, your fellow students, your family, etc.

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