The Bridge - Issue 3, 2020 - 24

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What Did You Do During the Pandemic?
Karen Panetta, Epsilon Sigma

This is a question that will become
an important interview question from
prospective employers. The pandemic
has created a unique generation of
engineering graduates that have had to
deal with extraordinary challenges. Thus,
employers are going to want to know how
young professionals managed to survive
and thrive through this crisis.
An individual's response to this question reveals
their ability to deal with unanticipated scenarios and
their adeptness in overcoming adversity. The more
successful candidates will show the impact they
have made and the strengths they have gained
from the experience.
Many young people are responding that they "took
a gap year waiting for things to return to normal."
Unfortunately, there will be no "normal" after the
pandemic and a response like this shows naivete and
a lack of economic realism. For instance, while hiring
in many companies has ramped down or almost
halted, students who assume they can just find a job
until the germs go away and die, need to re-evaluate
their plans. These students will be in competition with

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millions of more experienced workers that have lost
their jobs and are aggressively seeking permanent
full-time opportunities rather than a short-term
opportunity for someone to fill their time while they
wait for life to return to the way it was.
Employers are seeking innovative and positive people
that show that the individual is prepared for anything
and will be resourceful.
They are also looking to see what personal actions
and community involvement students participated in.
For instance, in IEEE-HKN honor society, hundreds of
HKN student members were the first offering online
tutoring for kids whose parents needed help with
home schooling their children while they struggled to
balance working from home. Other great examples
include the students who have engaged in using
their engineering skills to 3d print PPE for local
nursing homes and other at-risk populations through
IEEE-SIGHT (Special Interest Group for Humanitarian
Technologies) projects.
Every engineering student comes out with technical
skills, but the ones that used them in ways that
demonstrated their compassion for humanity will be
the ones that companies will jump to hire.

https://asegrad.tufts.edu/engmasters https://asegrad.tufts.edu/engmasters https://asegrad.tufts.edu/engmasters https://www.hknx2020.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/ https://hkn.ieee.org/

The Bridge - Issue 3, 2020

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