How to find an Industrial Internship?

In the following you find a selection of information designed to help you in finding an internship placement. (All information is gathered with greatest care. However, liability for the correctness of the information cannot be assumed.)

Finding an internship placement (advertisements)

The database of the alumni initiative of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen is your first address to look for internships and job offers. All offers coming to the Faculty of Engineering are advertised here. You need to get a member login in order to view all offers.

http://alumni.uni-duisburg.de/

The job market of the University of Duisburg-Essen advertises more than 200 new job and internship offers per months:

http://www.uni-due.de/stellen/

http://www.foerderverein-iw.de/stellenboerse/praktika/

AIESEC - international student organisation

Below you find a list of career portals which offer the opportunity to search for internship placements and jobs. Some are specialised in engineering:

Even more career portals and search opportunities are listed under following link:
http://www.bildungsserver.de/zeigen.html?seite=827

International internship portal: http://www.globalplacement.com/

Career Guidance

If you need support with your application for an internship or job you can contact the career counsellor of the ABZ – Akademisches Beratungszentrum (Student Counselling and Academic Career Service):

Andrea Podschadel
Office hours: Monday 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. & Thursday 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. or by appointment

University of Duisburg-Essen
ABZ Career Service, Campus Duisburg
Room SG 063 - Geibelstraße 41 - D-47057 Duisburg
Tel.: 0203/379-3654
Fax: 0203/379-3660
Email: andrea.podschadel@uni-due.de
http://www.uni-duisburg-essen.de/abz/a_podschadel.shtml

Preparing your application

Most of the career portals listed above also include advise on career planning and information that help you to write your CV and cover letters as well as to prepare for an interview.

In addition, you can also get free publications on how to prepare your application and related topics in the entry hall of SG 094 (Geibelstr. 41, 47057 Duisburg).

Further links:
Guidelines to find an internship and examples of cover letters and CVs:
https://www.uni-due.de/ise/internship.php

One of the best English speaking career portal. Here you find career advice on all relevant issues, including examples of cover letters and CVs. For those of you who do not feel fully comfortable with German yet, this might be a good web page to start exploring your job search skills. Yet, you should make sure that you are aware of the differences of application formalities in Germany and the UK.
http://www.prospects.ac.uk
Link to “Job & work”

Detailed information on career-related issues, including information especially focused on engineering students and graduates.
http://www.karrierefuehrer.de

Staufenbiel’s career advice
http://www.staufenbiel.de

The number of further career advice providers is about unlimited and as an engineering student you will not have any problems in finding information especially designed for your field of study.

The best advice to you for finding an internship placement is to start your search well in advance and to be prepared to invest a considerable amount of time in preparing your application and research internship opportunities. You need to learn to present your skills convincingly to companies and convince them that it is just YOU they need to hire for an internship. That is not always easy when it is the first time that you go through the application process. However, you always should think of the fact that all the time you invest in your applications and internship search is worth it as you are gaining valuable skills that will eventually help you to find a job after your graduation.

Finding an internship placement (speculative application)

A large amount of internship and job positions are not formally advertised. Some companies largely rely on applicants who apply speculatively without referring to a job advertisement. In fact, such applicants are valued as they show own initiative and a specific interest in the company they apply for. Why not discover these hidden opportunities yourself? An advantage of the speculative application is that you compete with fewer applicants than in response to an internship advertisement. A disadvantage, at first look, might be that you have to invest time to research the companies you can apply for.

The links cited under “Preparing your application” give also information on preparing speculative applications.

The first step is to find companies that fit your profile and aspirations; the second step is to draft an application which convinces your future employer about you fitting in the respective companies. Some useful links are listed below that will help you to find the appropriate companies. In order to use these databases successfully it might be helpful that you analyse internship advertisements for key words on your subject area and profile.

Links for company search:

http://www.firmenverzeichnis.de/
http://www.firmendatenbank.de
http://www.firmendatenbank-nrw.de/
http://www.branchen-info.net

http://www.jobanzeigen.de/

http://www.ingenieur1.de

http://www.jobkurier.de

http://www.ingenieurscout.de/

http://www.locanto.de/Stellenangebote/J/

http://www.meinpraktikum.de/

Career fairs

Career fairs are a good opportunity to get into touch with potential employers - whether you are looking for an internship placement or a job.

Preparation before visiting a career fair:

• Check out which companies are there and list the companies which are most interesting for you
• Check out if it is possible to contact the companies before the career fair in order to leave your CV and ask for an appointment
• Bring sets of your CV as well as a full application portfolio (Bewerbungsmappe) to the career fair (some companies like to have the full portfolio, some are happy with the CV only)
• Prepare for the career fair as if you were going to an interview. In fact, if you take it seriously going to a career fair is like going to many potential interviews in just one day.

Miscellaneous

Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI)

Environmental Job

Absolvanta