Campus Professional Resources

At Virginia Tech, we’re not only surrounded by mountains of beautiful trees and nature, but also mountains of opportunities–it’s just a matter of finding them!

Engineering is already a very competitive and demanding field, and being a woman in engineering can sometimes feel like an extra challenge. This brings us to SWE’s main mission, to help empower women in engineering and engineering-related fields.

SWE has so many great events and open windows, like Evening with the Industries-where you get to meet corporate representatives-and the National Conference, where select members get to network and take in professional advice. You’ll get to connect with wonderful people in person and on LinkedIn! Networking is so important, you never know who might come through with an unexpected job offer when you least expect it.

Outside of SWE, Virginia Tech hosts career fairs every semester for all sorts of engineering majors, like the CS Fair, Aerospace Fair, Biomedical Fair, Construction Fair, and many more. Make sure to show up with your resume and elevator pitch ready to meet recruiters from many different companies. It can be an intimidating environment, but every moment when you’re out of your comfort zone is a moment to learn and grow from these experiences. Events like these require formal clothing, like blazers. If you do not have access to this clothing, or simply forgot it at home, no need to worry! Center for Career and Professional Development near McComas has business clothing for anyone to rent for free around the time of the fairs!

To find out which companies will be attending the engineering expos, you can check Handshake. This platform will be your best friend for making appointments with advisors to brush up on your interview/resume skills, finding more companies, and applying for internships. Applying for internships can be a daunting process: people usually apply to over dozens before landing their first one. But don’t worry! It only takes one acceptance to change everything, and once again, the lengthy experience becomes one worth going through. Below, I will link some websites that provide tips with resumes, elevator pitches, extracurricular opportunities, applying to internships, and more! And don’t forget, upperclassmen, advisors, and even your professors can be more helpful than you know. They’ve been through it all and are only here to help you. To find any other information about campus professional resources, you can simply search up Virginia Tech Career and Professional Development on google, and many helpful links (like some I listed below), will show up. Don’t lose heart, and take advantage of the resources provided by VT.

Academic Advising | Engineering | Virginia Tech (vt.edu) (LINK)

Checksheets | Office of the University Registrar | Virginia Tech (vt.edu) (LINK)

2023-2024-career-planning-guide.pdf (vt.edu) (LINK)