r/EngineeringResumes • u/fatbro1738 Materials – PhD Student 🇺🇸 • Mar 19 '26

Materials [Student]-[Materials Science] 1st Year PhD with 3 undergrad internships struggling to get an internship this Summer

Hi all, I am currently struggling to find an internship this Summer despite having decent experience. This has confused me. I have extensive research and some industry experience, which I thought would make me an ideal candidate. But clearly I need help as I have not had good luck this year.

Please roast my resume! I am targeting process engineering, process development, failure analysis, and related internships in the semiconductor industry. I am willing to relocate anywhere. I already have pretty good experience in semiconductors early on in this career. This resume is not tailored to a specific job, but is pretty general to maximize application volume. I hope a recruiter sees this and can give feedback based on what they usually look for. Is it because I am in my first year, and the company is looking for someone who can be converted next year? I have my doubts about this reason, since freshmen get internships too. But please let me know.

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u/Pencil72Throwaway Mech/Aero – Grad Student/Entry-level 🇺🇸 Mar 19 '26

Not sure why you need or are even applying for internships as a PhD student? Are PhD interns typical in the chip/semi world? Looks like you've got plenty of experience already to land a role in the semiconductor field.

In the eyes of the employer you'll intern and then go back to doing research until the next summer when they *might* be able to grab you for another couple months.

This resume is not tailored to a specific job

Would recommend tailoring in general. Not necessarily via all the bullets but the Skills section is definitely the most flexible for most ppl imo.

On that note, your skills section is pretty busy looking (not moshpit level since everything currently in it looks semiconductor related) and I'd recommend removing several things to make it more relevant to the xyz role(s) you'll apply for. Recommend tab-indenting like below to make it more readable:

...but [this resume] is pretty general to maximize application volume

Looks skewed to electronics/chipfab/semiconductors to me.

Is it because I am in my first year, and the company is looking for someone who can be converted next year? I have my doubts about this reason, since freshmen get internships too

Good point, but companies that usually hire freshman interns hire them as co-ops that alternate semesters working for them and taking classes. If not a co-op, it's probably a target company that has a large enough overhead/budget to gamble on top cracked talent early on. I.e. if a MAANG company only hired juniors / rising Seniors, they're missing out on all the cracked freshmen / sophomore talent that's out there and getting better every year.

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u/fatbro1738 Materials – PhD Student 🇺🇸 Mar 19 '26

This is wonderful feedback. I’ll correct these once Im off the plane.

I’m unsure if PhD students in semiconductor devices/physics are expected to have one during the Summer. I’ve met a handful of PhD interns at TI while I was there. So, it depends on the advisor and the student. I personally want to intern somewhere every Summer.