How to Recruit as a Biomedical Engineering Student

In this episode, we're joined by Daniel Li, a junior at WashU studying Biomedical Engineering. Daniel previously interned at Northwestern Medicine and is an incoming Supply Chain intern at Johnson & Johnson. He shares insights from his journey as a BME student, offers practical advice on navigating the recruiting process, and breaks down the key steps BME students can take to land the internships they're aiming for.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Career Exploration series hosted by the tech, data, and engineering side of the Center for Career Engagement. If this is your first time listening, thank you so much for joining us. My name is Shivu Manengi. I'm a junior studying computer science and business, and I've been a student intern at the Career Center for the last two years. Today's episode dives into the ins and outs of recruiting as a biomedical engineering student. We are joined by Daniel Lee, a current Wash U junior studying BME. He has prior experience at Northwestern Medicine, WashU Research, and also will be working at Johnson Johnson this upcoming summer. Daniel, thank you so much for being here. For those of you who don't know you yet, can you introduce yourself and also walk us through your journey as a BME student at WashU?

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, so my name is Daniel Lee. I am majoring in biomedical engineering, as Shivi said. I have two minors, one in Olin, Supply Chain Operations and Technology, otherwise known as Scott. And my other one is in Arts and Sciences, Psychological and Brain Sciences.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah, awesome. Thanks for introducing yourself. So you've had lots of different experiences. And what that, when did recruiting start to feel real for you as a BME student? And how did you approach it differently once it did?

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, I'd say it definitely started feeling real sophomore fall. Freshman year, I think I was so caught up in kind of joining my clubs and kind of getting used to Washi U. I wasn't particularly focused too much on career. It was more so kind of getting my footing. So stepping back onto campus sophomore year after a full summer of like contemplating my career and um what I wanted to do with my time at Wash U, it all of a sudden felt like I felt a ton of pressure to kind of find a job for a sophomore summer. Um and I guess I became more proactive in a sense compared to freshman year, where I was kind of hoping like something would fall into my lap. Sophomore year, I was a lot more, um, I was a lot better about reaching out to other people, cold emailing, talking to upperclassmen who um were also BME, talking to Wash U alum. Um, and ultimately a lot of things ended up falling through. Um I was very lucky to get a role at Northwestern Medicine for that summer, um, where I was, I kind of did more of a um coding role, creating medical scripts for the company that shortcutted the treat treatment planning process. Um I worked specifically in the radiation oncology department there and um happened to run into the happened to get connected with the manager at the time who was looking for a student to kind of help with their scripting. So very fortunate to have that opportunity. And then on the side, I was also able to apply some more of my more familiar engineering background um through CAD or computer-aided design projects.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah, awesome. Um so you've again you've had different processes recruiting for different types of roles, but overall, seems like BME recruiting looks very different from traditional tech recruiting, like in fields like sweeter product management. So, what does the timeline and process typically look like for BME students?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

So I would say the process the process typically opens around fall of the semester of the before the summer, you're looking to um work in that role. So uh this past year, for example, um, I started networking in the summer before the process opened to kind of get a feel for um different companies and different roles within those companies. So um I started reaching out to uh Washu Alum first. Um, Washu has very many opportunities for you to connect with their alumni. So one of these events for me was uh Abbott's Info Session, which is one of the leading companies in MedTech. And I had a few friends there who who are older who actually worked um at Abbott past in this past summer. So they were very helpful in connecting me with um current employees there. Um and through past events, I've also happened to get some of their emails. So started off by cold emailing here and there, and then um at the end of those coffee chats, I would kind of ask for more people they recommend I reach out to. And from there, I was trying to do maybe at least three different chats um a week over the summer. Uh, and then by the time I got back to campus, a lot of these, I guess, processes were opening up. Um and to be honest, I think I got rejected by a majority of the things I applied to. I hear back occasionally, um, but I noticed that with the people I networked to, um, I tended to have a better chance hearing back from them um for an interview or at least like an assessment to move on to the next round.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, absolutely. Um, and with that, it seems like it's a really competitive process within BME. Like you said yourself, there's tons of roles that you might not not not not have heard back from. Um, so for the ones that you did work out in, like in Johnson and Johnson, how did you position yourself for those specific cycles and what do you think made your application stand out?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Yeah, one thing for me is coming into Wash U, I knew I always wanted to kind of diversify my academic background as much as I could, which is why I ended up picking up a minor in Olin, a B school minor, and as well as an arts and sciences minor. So I know after talking to a bunch of upperclassmen, that um BME industry, which is what I'm looking to go into, tends to focus a lot on operations, which is part of the reason I picked up that Scott minor. Um, and after talking to a bunch of employees at these companies, they're all they're they're all really encouraging in terms of like continuing down this path and kind of diversifying your portfolio. So um this summer I'll actually be working in a supply chain role um at Johnson ⁇ Johnson. And I think my head recruiter was a BME, who is also now working in supply chain. So I think just having any other, I guess, avenues to kind of uh complement your major and your career aspirations is very important. Um, my recruiter also told me that um if I hadn't reached out to her, then it my odd my chance of getting the role um would have been a lot lower. So um again, this is like very I was very fortunate to have sent her an email um and kind of discussed my academic background, how that differs from like their normal candidate, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah, I think that's a great example because in our previous podcasts, a lot of our amazing guests have talked about different types of experiences or projects that they've built out, but I think this is a unique example of things in your coursework that can stand out, like picking up something not um within McKelvey and Olin and Arts and Sciences. Um, and with that, I'm sure you had lots of interview prep that went into the cycle. Um, so were your interviewer, were your interviews more conceptual, behavioral, project based, and or hands-on? And how did you just overall prep for interviews?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah, I'd say um from my experience in talking with people, it's major it's only been um behavioral. So a lot of kind kind of seeing how you interact with other people. I think within engineering, um, everyone go kind of goes through it in school, and it's more like I think being able to get through the curriculum itself is already an indicator of how successful you can be as an engineer. It's more so of how you can work with the team that you're applying for a role with. So um it was very behavioral focused. I think for um going into, I was very fortunate to uh talk with a lot of my friends um through one of one of the clubs on campus, Delta Sigma Pie. Um they were very eager to help me interview prep after going through a bunch of also difficult interviews, um, recruiting for banking, consulting, and all of all of that stuff. So uh a lot of technical rehearsal. Um I remember speaking to myself in the shower, like like how I would introduce myself at the start. Like, hi, my name is Daniel. Like I had that unlock after. Um yeah, so a lot of understanding what I've done in the past, kind of knowing how to word my past accomplishments without sounding cocky, but also making sure I get the message across. Um yeah, just a lot of rehearsal.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah, um, I think it's interesting that you mentioned how there was a lot of like focus on behavioral interviews. Um, and I think that just shows that there's so many smart students applying, but where you can stand out from is those soft skills and those team-based skills. Um, so for anyone listening, I think that's a huge um sort of thing that you can work on in your application. I think you could have the most cracked like application with tons of projects, but if you can't communicate how you work in a team or how you've had handled prior experiences, it's unlikely to get the role. So I think that's some really awesome advice. Um, and a lot of BME students that I've spoken with that are especially under underclassmen have mentioned that they don't feel like they have enough real engineering experience or experience to set them up, set themselves up for these roles. Um if you take yourself back to being an underclassman, what kinds of projects, classes, research, or hands-on work would actually move the needle for them?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Um, yeah, so I think it's more like like you mentioned earlier, those soft skills. Um the BME curriculum itself has a ton of built-in um technical skills. So a lot of group-based lab work, um, emphasis on the group-based, so you're always working with other people to kind of complete like a common goal. Um most of the time, to be completely honest, I had no clue what I was doing in these labs. Um, they're very technical and use a lot of big words, and then um a big part of these labs is also like making sure to read the procedures ahead of time. So you kind of knew what you were doing going into it. So I think in terms of not having like or feeling like you don't have enough real engineering experience, um, I would take a step back because I think what you're doing in these labs is a lot more than you give yourself credit to. Um, for me, for example, working at Northwestern Medicine, I was I was really concerned. I had basic coding experience from taking um CS131 or the intro Java course offered here at WashU and very basic MATLAB proficiency. Um, so I was very concerned about that. And then also with CAD, um, my my computer-aided design projects, I was scared I didn't have enough experience with that. But through the labs offered through WashU, like I felt very comfortable. I ended up feeling very comfortable with my own skills after kind of learning more about the project I was assigned to and realizing that I was definitely qualified and capable of including those projects.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's cool that you took like those soft skills away from a very technical um, I guess, field, like being in those labs for a lot of the work, I'm sure, is lots of hours. Um, so I think that's a cool takeaway that you took and encourage all sophomores or underclassmen looking to apply into this industry to find similar experiences. Um, and I know you mentioned that you spoke with your recruiter before, and that was a big sort of factor into your application. Um, but how important was networking overall in your process? And did referrals or alumni outreach play a role, or was it do you think mostly application or like the merit of your application that helped you stand out?

SPEAKER_01 11:33

I would definitely say networking's probably the most important thing you can do as an engineer. Um, for me, majority of my interviews were um that I heard back from were all about uh all people who I'd reached out to previously or at least sent an email to. Um, and I think one thing with networking is it's so easy to get discouraged, like you're going to get ghosted. Not everyone's gonna respond, people are busy, but when it when you are able to set time and kind of demonstrate your interest in the role, like people love sharing about themselves and love when people are interested in what they are interested in. Um so just by kind of demonstrating that you are you care about like I guess the company, the workplace that you're applying to goes a long way. Um, for me, actually, with this Johnson ⁇ Johnson role, I did cold email, uh did not hear back, but later when I was getting my verbal offer, um my recruiter was like, Yeah, like we noticed you also emailed us, which showed great demonstrated interest. Um, and that was a huge factor in um what pushed my application forward. So I would say definitely network if you're gonna take anything away from this. Um, merit's also great. I don't think for me personally I had like a crazy strong resume or anything like that. Um so if for any reason you feel that way, um, I would definitely encourage networking.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah, absolutely. Um I think it's I think what you said is really relatable about maybe people not feeling like the I'm sure you had a great application, but people like not feeling um maybe the most confident in themselves going into these processes, but like that a ability to show who you are in those networking calls really goes a long way because everyone there's so many smart kids out there, but the ones that um can I add something real quick?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um I also wanted to say that um Washiu alum from from like the ones I've chatted at least, like they love to reminisce as well about their times at WashU. So if you're looking for a place to start in terms of networking, it'd be great to kind of scroll through LinkedIn who who who have your professors connected with, um, to kind of go on LinkedIn and be like, who's working at this company who also graduated from Wash U. Oh wow, they're being me, that's super cool. I'll shoot them like a an email or a request message on LinkedIn or something like that. Um I think people, especially Wash U alum, are more um it can seem intimidating, but they're they're pretty open to sharing about their experiences. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

It's like that pay it forward mindset. Yeah, because when they were going through these similar cycles, they all reached out to people above them, and it's just a cycle that keeps going. I think it's what makes Washu's community very like specific to Wash U. I think that's what makes it really special special, the amount of people that are just willing to help you. Um, for sure. But Daniel, you also had tons of different commitments on campus. So you're involved with CSA, doing research, DSP, um, and you were able to balance recruiting for internships with these commitments. So, overall, how would you say that you were able to manage your time during recruiting season without burning out and with BME just being one of the most difficult curriculums that Wash U offers?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah, so I think for me, um it's very helpful kind of diversifying what I was doing outside of classes. So um classes are obviously um tough at times. Um, but for me, like I had I'm in club volleyball as well. So um setting aside time to kind of focus on just um hitting a ball as hard as I can for like two hours can do a lot for um to reset like how you're feeling. Um and then Google Calendar was my best friend, I'd say. Um always like throwing anything I had on there to kind of keep track of assignments, events, um, commitments I had. Um, and just kind of being able to check off like a task after you've completed it was really satisfying. So it's all about like those little steps. Um, and then making sure to take like breaks. Um for me, food is always like a number one priority. I'm a massive foodie. Um, so always setting aside time to to eat and kind of um rest my eyes, rest my brain from uh whatever I'm doing to to refuel is was very important.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, absolutely. And I like how the theme there was taking care of yourself. Um, I think those are things that honestly will stand out once you're also re like interviewing, because when you go into interviews just feeling burnt out and sick of the process, that's gonna show you're just gonna naturally, naturally be less enthusiastic about what you're interviewing for and when they these need to feel like conversations, it's really hard to do that when you're burnt out. So I love how you talked about taking care of yourself and how important that is throughout such a difficult process. Um Daniel, the last question that I had for you is if you were a freshman um BME student at Wash You Again today and going through all the experiences that you've had so far, what exaps exact steps would you take, say in the next six months, to set yourself up well? Um, or just any other last pieces of advice for you know any interested BME underclassmen that are listening?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, um, I would say definitely be proactive about what you think you want to do. For me, that was joining a um joining a lab and starting research. Uh, I think ever since freshman fall, when my one of my roommates um started doing research, I'd always wanted to eventually do research, but I I kept pushing that off until the start of my junior year, actually. So um I think it was it's been a great experience so far. Um, but to kind of I think it would have helped a lot um for my resume for things I could have talked about um if I had started that earlier. Um and yeah, just kind of like rather than pushing things off for later, which I know it sounds super hard to do. I'm I'm still a chronic procrastinator. Um to see what you can explore earlier on, um, and at least like send a few emails, even if you don't feel like it. Um worst worst thing that happens is you get ignored. So um yeah, just I guess shoot your shot with like these research um labs, um with these cool companies, um, these people you you're interested in in terms of their roles or other as well, I guess. But yeah, um yeah, just try to be more proactive in what you're doing um and intentional about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, absolutely. And all you really need is one email to hit that gets you to one lab, and at the lab you could potentially meet someone that could connect you to another thing. So go into just a mindset that you might be feeling like you're sending so many emails or applying to so many different opportunities, but to set yourself up for the future, all you really need is one of those to come back. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

But Daniel, thank you so much for taking some time. I'd I'd encourage everyone listening here today to apply Daniel's great advice into your own um lives and just really be proactive about the opportunities that we as Wash U students have around us. Um and if you have any other questions, there's always a reminder that our amazing career coaches that are that are um some of them that are specialized with BME or other industries are always available to help with their free appointments. And me and Caitlin, who are the interns, also have um a calendar where you can book if you want to review your resume, talk about some of your applications, or just want general advice. Um, but yeah, good luck on everyone's recruiting journeys. And Daniel, thank you for being here once again. Thanks for having me.