Charitianne Williams
1801 University Hall,
601 South Morgan Street,
Chicago, IL. 60612

Annie Chen
SRH 520,
1933 West Polk,
Chicago, IL. 60612

Dear Charitianne Williams,

Over half a semester within English 160 has given me the necessary skills required to be successful in this class. I present an eagerness to learn and a hard working nature that have contributed to my insight and ability in showing strong evidence and support when writing an analytical essay. In the interview assignment, I have demonstrated the ability of using quotes correctly, organizing and connecting ideas, and staying focused on one topic in each paragraph.

Among the things I have improved in my interview analysis are:

- Taking out the needless part of the quotes that may confuse readers. For example, in second paragraph, taking out the sentence “German companies such as Bosch have the reputation of treating employees well,” and just left with “Bosch pays me $17.25/hr…”

- Citing quote sources correctly.

- Arranging the sequence of my ideas so that topic does not jump back and forth.

- Staying focused in each paragraph and support thesis. For example, taking out the Malaysian women worker topic, as it can be misleading and confusing for the readers.

My qualifications and accomplishments speak for themselves and indicate that I am a great student that will be successful in your class. The enclosed copy of my interview assignment is an example. Thank you for your time in reading this.

Sincerely,

Annie Chen

Enclosure: Interview assignment

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Future Still Looks Bright for College Graduates

Shin-ing Chen is currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She was probably one of the rare international students who decided to major in Electrical Engineering (Double E). She went to the University of Michigan for college and graduated in three years. She has had several intern jobs throughout the three years of college, but deciding that what she learned in college was not enough, she plans to finish graduate school in University of Michigan.

The following is an interview on the internet with Shin-ing Chen about her job experiences after college. She never had any full time jobs since she went to college as a full time undergraduate student and only works during the summer. She has had a couple of interesting jobs. She started her first internship during her sophomore year in college. She went to Taiwan in the summer and worked at a company called Philips for two to three months. She complained about the low pay and how small her working area was. She had three more intern jobs after working at Philips. Currently she is working at a German company called Bosch. It is the best job she has so far—high pay and nice treatment toward employees. She agrees that it is still difficult for new college graduates to find jobs today, but said that if people work hard on looking for jobs, eventually they will find a good, decent one.

Q: How many jobs have you had in total?
Shin-ing Chen: Four.
Q: What were they and what did you do at your jobs?
SC: I was an intern at engineering companies. In general, I assisted engineers on their projects. My first internship was 3 years ago at Philips Semiconductors packaging and testing facility in Taiwan. I was programming in C for testing machines (“tools” as they call them). My next one was WaferTech, a daughter company of the Taiwanese Semiconductors Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in Washington State. WaferTech is an IC (Integrated Circuits) foundry dedicated to 0.15 (micron) or above technologies – geared toward older IC technologies. I was inspecting our product defects. Then, I was a research assistant in a laboratory in my university. I was starting a new telecommunication team for our project – a satellite. Now I am working in a German company called Bosch, which is known for its electronic components in automobiles. I am in the boy electronics engineering helping circuits engineering with whatever they don’t have time for.
Q: How did you feel about your jobs? Did you like your jobs? Why or why not?
SC: It all depends on the people you met in the company. Most work I had were interesting, but I enjoy working in certain companies a lot better because of how I was treated and the company’s culture.
Q: Which job did you enjoy more? Which job did you enjoy less? Why? What didn't you like about it?
SC: So far my jobs are basic internship, and so it can get really boring at times. I enjoy jobs a lot more when my boss and co-workers care about me - treat me like a friend and introduce me to what they do. I never had to complain. : Was there anything that interfered with your jobs?
SC: I don't think so.
Q: How do your jobs affect your life outside of work?
SC: When I have a job and no school, I get more exhausted in the afternoon. But then I don't have hw and have lots of time to sleep well, meet friends, and do what I don't have time for during school. However, after awhile, if a person isn’t motivated, he/she will end up only hanging out and meeting new people every day after work - more "friends", more trouble in life.
Q: Are your friends majoring in engineering too? So you’re saying that college students going to engineering field today have a hard time finding jobs?
SC: Yes and yes. Job market today is difficult still.
Q: How much did they pay you? Do you think they should have paid you more?
SC: It also all depends on the company’s policy. Companies who consider interns as future investments will pay more. Companies with Asian cultures tend to pay intern very little – I had less than US$3.00/hr with Philips in Taiwan and US$10.25/hr with WaferTech. Universities usually pay students very little – I had $500 for a semester and I put in 10 hrs/wk. German companies such as Bosch have the reputation of treating employees well. Bosch pays me $17.25/hr, and I think, finally, for once I am overpaid.
Q: Were you paid less than male employees in the company?
SC: No, since companies group all interns together, and have only one policy for them. But it doesn’t mean that they pay their female employee same as the males.
Q: How do you feel about the fact that in this country, women usually get paid less than men?
SC: I think it is unfair. If a company considers 2 people both qualify for the 2 same jobs and hires them, the 2 employees should then receive the same pay.
Q: Do you think this fact has changed over time? Do you think women are being paid more or less now?
SC: I think woman are showing their abilities very well today. They are in all professions. They also fight for their rights and I believe they are paid more than a decade ago. However, it still does not mean that they are paid or treated equally at work.
Q: How were your bosses and co-workers? How did they treat you?
SC: I try to maintain good relationships with my bosses and co-workers. And most of them do the same too. In a good company, most people know that it is very important to treat each other with respect and have a great time working together.
Q: Have you ever been sexually harassed at your jobs?
SC: I have not been seriously harassed, but in my opinion the situation is inevitable regardless of my gender. Co-workers are also human beings and sometimes get attracted by you, but maybe you don’t have the same feeling. There were co-workers who would like to see me often during or after work. I always let them know clearly that I don’t date co-workers, and they usually understand after awhile.
Q: Have you ever faced any discrimination such as sexism and racism at work?
SC: I myself have not experienced either. Most people I work with are really nice and open. However, I do hear about cases within whichever company I work for.
Q: Do you think you were underemployed? Or, did you get the job and the position you expected to get after earning a bachelor degree in college?
SC: I think I am underemployed. I graduated college but I didn’t have any job offer. That’s why I decided to go to graduate school. Most of my friends have the same problem – they graduated but can’t find a job. Yet, the funny thing is that male engineers are usually the ones underemployed. Most female engineers I know, even though not the best, get the guys’ dream jobs.
Q: What are the guys' dream job?
SC: Different major have different dream jobs. Usually I mean cool companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, JPL, Motorola, GE, Google, Microsoft, Apple, investment banks.
Q: Why do you think the girls get them and guys don't? Is it because there are fewer girls majoring in engineering than guys, or because of other reasons?
SC: I think girls get dream jobs just because they are girls. Companies need to fill their employees with certain amount of female engineers so they have "diversity" and don't get sued, but not really because the girls are better at this job.
Q: What advice would you give to students readying themselves for the job market? Is there anything that would be of interest to them?
SC: My advice is know what industry you want to get in first. If you are not a genius and have 4.0 GPA in college, I'd say go spend time getting to know older/same-age people who are heading into the same industry. When they get a good job and remember you, you get a GOOD job VERY easily!
Q: What jobs are you thinking about applying for next? What’s good about the job that makes you want it?
SC: I am studying a lot more about engineering in graduate school in hope of a full-time position in Bosch, Germany. From my co-workers, Bosch’s headquarter in Germany receives most interesting engineering research development projects, and offers much better benefits to its employees.

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Finding a job has been a huge, common issue for college graduates. The interview with Shin-ing shows that many college graduates are having difficulty finding jobs, but those who have some job experience should be able to find a job they like and earn a decent amount of pay. In the article For This We Sent You to College, Meredith also talked about the fact that after graduating college, many people became underemployed, or even worse, without a job. Meredith, however, gave a false impression that college graduates have no career future. Not all college graduates ended up underemployed or without a job, shin-ing is an example; she overcame that problem by applying for several jobs, getting job experience, and prepared herself well before she graduated.

Shin-ing’s job experience showed that it is possible for people to graduate from college and get an overpaying job right away. Shin-ing said she was underemployed in the three intern jobs she had, however, her salary began to increase after each job. She applied for her first job during her sophomore year. She was getting paid very little with a company called Philips in Taiwan – less than US$3 per hour. She was earning this much because “companies with Asian cultures tend to pay intern very little” (Shin-ing). Nonetheless, on her second intern job, she was paid US$10.25 per hour with WaferTech at Washington State, which is more than three times the salary she got from her last internship. During the summer after just graduated from college, Shin-ing got a job at the German company, Bosch. “Bosch pays me $17.25/hr, and I think, finally, for once I am overpaid,” said Shin-ing. Even though Shin-ing earned less than she deserved during her first three interns, she still took those jobs because they gave her great working experience. All that experience helped her in getting her overpaying job at Bosch. Shin-ing started out with some negative; however, as she gained more experience with each job, her career outlook became more and more positive. If Shin-ing can overcome this job-finding problem, it makes anyone wonder why other college graduates can not.

As we can see clearly, if college students can not find a job after graduating, it is because they neglected many factors that lead to getting a high paying or high position job. First, everyone knows that most people complete college, so there should be fierce competition when finding jobs because there are many others who also want the job you have your eyes on. Second, compared to a college graduate who has no job experience at all, companies are naturally more likely to take another college graduate who has prior working experience. Third, many people want to get their dream job right after graduating, and ignoring many other job opportunities they could have gotten. Consequently, when college graduates did not get their dream job, they end up with nothing and became unemployed. And then they complain why they did not get a job after completing college. In the end, they just blame their failure on their college for not preparing them for job after graduation, when it is actually their own fault. College students need to stop dreaming of getting their dream job right after college. They should think realistically and start preparing themselves for the real world before graduating. And since there are many job opportunities out there, college students should keep their mind open, even to jobs that are not in their field of study. Although many available jobs are not in your major, the most important thing when getting a job is not the pay, but the experience you get from working, as it will become useful in the future when you go out to find another job.

After the interview with Shin-ing, I found out that in order to get a high paying and high position job right after graduation, it is essential to have some working experience throughout college. Meredith’s articles can be misleading, since it portrayed a negative picture. But the truth is: there are still some positive outlooks for people who are graduating from college. College graduates should have no problem finding a job if they are open to every opportunity out there, and had some working experience throughout college. Should college graduates end up getting jobs that are lower than their educational level, they still have the chance to be promoted to a higher position, if they are willing to put in hard work and determination. Or, they can keep looking for other jobs, since there are still many other opportunities out there. In conclusion, the future still looks bright for the college graduates.