Qualcomm x FIRST Career Tips

FIRST® alumni interns from strategic partner, QUALCOMM™ joined new FIRST alum Namirah, to share how they leveraged the skills they gained on their FIRST teams to work at a Fortune 500 Company. They were also joined by Courtney Lach from the Qualcomm Talent Acquisition Team who shared an inside track on how to make your resume and interview stand out when looking for internships and employment.

• Be curious!
• FIRST is more than just technical skills
• Networking is as important as your resume
• Courtney’s Homework: Put FIRST on your resume

Malav Shah, University of Texas Austin, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Be curious. Be passionate. Talk in your interviews, not just that you were ON a FIRST team, but specifically about what you did. Elaborate on specifics, what you contributed to the team. Remember that your FIRST experience is also more than just technical skills. The soft skills that you learn are also important. My favorite part about working at Qualcomm, was how open they are to letting you explore your curiosity, to move around, to learn new skill sets. "

Shaina Mishra, University of California Santa Cruz, Computer Science and Game Design

Share your FIRST experience and its impact on you as an individual. I always include technical skills on my resume, but I make sure to contextualize the program through the soft skills I gained. I was a lead in manufacturing and that is so much planning, and so much time management and team building – I always include that on my resume. “

Jonathan Karr, University of Notre Dame, Computer Science

Don't forget about networking! Resumes and networking go hand-in-hand. My team had mentors were from a variety of companies, including Qualcomm. I reached out to that mentor to learn about what Qualcomm does and what they’re about. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people to ask them “Where do you work? What do you do?” it can lead to lots of opportunities. "

Courtney Lach, Sr. Manager, Talent Acquisition at Qualcomm Incorporated

Put your FIRST experience on your resume. It's your homework assignment. Do that now if it’s not already on your resume. We do look for that as a distinguishing feature.”

Bonus! Courtney's resume checklist

Depends on the role, but make sure you’ve got the basics down, add your FIRST experience, include (relevant) coursework, and any way that you’ve applied what you’ve learned in a real-world setting. "

Excited about internship or full-time opportunities with Qualcomm? Learn more and apply now!

For more career tips from these experts, watch a recording from the webinar below.