Immediate deadline - Northern VA Summer Internship

[ferrari77]

Has anyone gotten a reply back yet?
I was not sure if they were still deciding or if they simply forgot to post the results here.

[JohnFogarty]

The person was chosen over a week ago. They were in the process of scheduling an interview for me when suddenly all communication ceased. I emailed the recruiter and she called back informing me of the descision.

Was a really odd experience. It's closed nonetheless.

[gblake]

Hey folks,

It's Friday (again - Yikes), and I haven't updated this thread - That means I'm further behind on the progress update I said I would post here.

The process has completed. We selected our top 2-3 candidates, then offered the position to one, then waited a bit for them to accept, then made sure everything would truly work out (all required government and/or DSC paperwork filled out successfully (there is more involved than just saying "Yes".)), etc.

That took some of the time between my last post and this one, and the rest is simply me staying busy. I apologize for the "me staying busy" part of that time.

This year was unusual, in the sense that I was able to influence our summer hiring plan at the very last minute to shift one position's focus onto robotics skills. On our end this radically compressed our normal timeline and procedures for filling an opening like this.

Depending on our needs (and a zillion other factors) we might be able to open another intern position next year (and regardless of that, because of our growth we are constantly bringing new full-time employees on-board).

If we do open another intern position emphasizing robotics, I'll try to get a notification posted here well in advance of the deadline.

If (when) you are a graduate interested in precision 3D long-range identification of moving people, check out the company web site.

Blake

[gblake]

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

The person was chosen over a week ago. They were in the process of scheduling an interview for me when suddenly all communication ceased. I emailed the recruiter and she called back informing me of the descision.

Was a really odd experience. It's closed nonetheless.

John,

I need to walk a fine line here as I fall on my sword a little bit; and as I offer some advice.

DSC definitely works very hard to ensure applicants' interactions are positive experiences; and our recruiters have processes/procedures they follow that keep things on the right path.

That said, I introduced a good idea (focus one position on VEX/FTC/FRC robotics skills) into those processes at literally the VERY last possible point. Combine that with the very strong response we received from many well-qualified candidates, and things got a little hectic. Sort-of like when a team gets a great idea, a few days or hours before they have to ship or bag their FRC robot, or play their first VRC/FTC match.

Separately, I learned during my recent personal job search (that led me to choose DSC) that your experience pursuing this position isn't unusual. More than once I had recruiters go silent for a month or so, and then suddenly contact me again. As an applicant it can be unsettling or even frustrating; but it happens constantly because the agile companies doing the hiring are dealing with shifting internal plans.

As an applicant, to deal with this, one thing I learned was to avoid any tendency to submit applications to only one or two possible employers at a time. Initially, I was making that mistake, and when I got a promising response to one, I would almost stop searching for where I would send my next one(s). That was slowing me down greatly.

Let me wrap up by repeating myself a bit. We received many strong applications for this summer's opening(s). That reinforced my belief that soliciting applications from the VRC/FTC/FRC communities was an excellent way to connect with a talent pool filled with well-qualified, high-achievers. I wish I/we could have said "Yes" to more than one of those candidates.

Blake

[gblake]

I'm going to insert one more piece of general purpose advice here.

Because I know what it means to be a strong contributor to a student-robotics team, I was able to translate an short phrase like "FRC drive team captain" or "award-winning VRC notebook" into the sorts of candidate attributes employers look for.

But, not everyone reviewing job applications (the vast majority in fact) knows how to translate those short phrases. In applications, you/we/I need to convey what those mean, both in terms of talents we possess and in terms of accomplishments we achieved.

So, take a look at your resumes, your LinkedIn profiles, and anywhere else you want to make an impression on a potential employer; and make sure that you are telling your story well enough for folks *outside* this community to know how valuable your can be to them.

Blake

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by gblake

I'm going to insert one more piece of general purpose advice here.

Because I know what it means to be a strong contributor to a student-robotics team, I was able to translate an short phrase like "FRC drive team captain" or "award-winning VRC notebook" into the sorts of candidate attributes employers look for.

But, not everyone reviewing job applications (the vast majority in fact) knows how to translate those short phrases. In applications, you/we/I need to convey what those mean, both in terms of talents we possess and in terms of accomplishments we achieved.

So, take a look at your resumes, your LinkedIn profiles, and anywhere else you want to make an impression on a potential employer; and make sure that you are telling your story well enough for folks *outside* this community to know how valuable your can be to them.

Blake

Seconding this. One of the biggest issues I have at work is explaining to higher ups why something is important. I can talk to the folks I work with directly about how I created a new d3 visualization for the provider view. Means pretty much nothing to someone who is in upper management. So my supervisor has started stressing the need to answer the question, "What was the impact to the sponsor?".

So, for folks putting FRC Drive Team Captain... what is the impact to your team? Why is that experience relevant? Perhaps talk about decision making under pressure, thinking on your feet, analyzing a problem. Give it to them in terms they understand and can apply to their problem. When I'm hiring an intern "Award Winning VRC Notebook" isn't applicable. But "Award winning technical documentation" sure is.