Why Having Hands-On Experience Will Get You More Job Interviews

There are some universities that believe the only way to learn something is to do it. Schools like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo have this idea plastered on every page of their website and wall in each classroom, “Learn by Doing.” If your university focuses more on the theoretical side of learning, that is ok. This post will talk about some strategies to help you get your feet wet applying your knowledge to real-world problems.

This article is dedicated to the students who are concerned about how their skills will transfer to their future careers. You are more capable than you think you are and you have a lot to offer. While you are at your university, take advantage of everything you can to build up your resumé.

Create, Build, Destroy, Test, and Do It All Again

“You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." --Richard Branson

So why can hands-on experience be more valuable to hiring managers over theoretical knowledge of topics? The answer to this question has a lot to do with the specific industry, but for this article we will assume we are talking about manufacturing and product design. Below are some tips to get you moving in the right direction if you want to get more experience building and creating things.

Learn How to Prototype

In product development, the only way to know if a new product being developed is going to work is to prototype it and test it. Programs like SolidWorks, CATIA, ProE, and others are incredibly powerful tools. They are an invaluable resource for taking ideas for a product from your mind and putting them into a 3D object that you can manipulate (virtually).

In the days before CAD, engineers would have to sketch these ideas out by hand, and work with a prototype machinist to test the idea. With the many CAD programs available to you now, this process can be done in as little as a few hours with the use of a 3D printer.

The problem some young engineers and designers have is assuming the CAD assembly they are looking at on their computer will behave the same in real life. This can literally be a fatal mistake depending on the application of the product.

The only way to truly know if a part will function the way you intend it to is to prototype it. Having the skills necessary to understand how to prototype a part, whether it be 3D printing, machining, making it out of wood or cardboard, or any other process will be seen as an invaluable skill to hiring managers.

In the product development and manufacturing industries, managers are looking for candidates who understand how to tinker with things. They want employees who aren’t afraid to pull something apart to see how it works. They need team members who test things and break things in the lab so those failures do not occur with the customer.

Think about this when you are selecting your courses for the next quarter/semester. If you your university does not offer a lot of hands-on courses, consider joining a club that prototypes, tests, and builds stuff (like rockets, cars, bridges, boats, etc.). The experience you will get from these clubs is exactly what these companies are looking for.

Problem Solving Through Trial and Error

Real-world problems do not have solutions you can check in the back of the book like you might see in your math classes. When a company releases a product to its customers, they have made their best effort to ensure the product will function as intended. They have tested it, broken it, certified it, and in some cases installed pilot projects with it.

Even with all of these precautions, they will never know with 100% certainty if it will work in every situation (this is why product recalls and safety factors exist).

The process of designing, prototyping, testing, and redesigning is a continuous cycle that is necessary to create amazing products. Hiring managers want to hire people for these design positions who have experience with this process.

If you take a course on product design, you will gain experience with this process. If you take a manufacturing class where you get to build things yourself, you will get some experience with this process. If you join a club where you build things for competitions, you will also gain experience with this process.

If you do not do any of things and you leave school with only a theoretical understanding of product design, you are going to have a much harder time landing interviews than your peers for the jobs that require it from their employees to be successful.

The Short of It

If this is all you read from this post, here are the key take-aways:

• Sign up for courses that offer hands-on learning (lab work, machine shop work, or other)

• Join clubs that build things (rockets, cars, etc.)

• Start hobbies that require you to build stuff (robotics, etc.)

• Mention all of this during your interviews and make sure it is well-documented in your resumé

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