Name: Katie Williams
Major: Chemical engineering
College: University of Tulsa, Ok.
I knew that I needed at least one internship with a company before graduation, so I started looking the fall of my junior year. I had lots of interviews, both in person and over the phone; I even was flown to Houston for a second interview, but never got a single call back. By March of 2011, I had pretty much given up.
I was actually on the plane back from my interview in Houston when I got to talking to one of my fellow passengers. Turns out he was an engineer as well! I thought I had exhausted all my options for companies, but he rattled off a whole list of them that I hadn't even considered.
Over the next week, I basically spammed the Internet with my resume, including Honeywell's career website. About two weeks before the end of my junior year, I received a call from Honeywell, asking me to do a phone interview then and there. I got the job.
About halfway through the summer, I was encouraged to apply for a full-time position within Honeywell. I finished my internship in early August of 2011, and around the end of the month I received a phone call saying that I got the full-time position I had asked for. I was the first person in my graduating class to find a job. I am going to be working as an energy engineer at the Honeywell plant in Hopewell, Va.
NEXT: Turning part-time into full-time
