Hajim Spotlights
Eric Weidman
Class year: 2020
Major: chemical engineering
Where did you intern?
Galata Chemicals in Southbury, CT.
What work did you do as an intern?
I worked with a manager in the corporate office to calculate cycle times for a product unit at the company's plant in Louisiana. My second project involved creating a tool in excel using visual basic to help identify changes in purchasing/profit patterns for each customer and each product.
How did you obtain this opportunity? What was the application process like?
I sent my resume to the company and they reached out to me in March. I had 3 rounds of interviews: 1 initial with typical interview questions including technical and situational questions. The next was a discussion with the CFO mostly about items on my resume, what I was looking for in an internship and logistics. The third was a discussion with my direct manager to ensure we would work well together. From there I spoke again with the CFO about an offer letter.
Did you work with anyone to help find and/or pursue this opportunity?
I worked on my resume with the career center.
What did you gain from this experience?
I got a good insight into how the company is run. As a smaller company, I saw people filling multiple roles, often including ones they did not go to school for initially. I gained some knowledge about the business side of the engineering world as far as order placing, rationing limited inventories and scheduling pickups/deliveries.
I applied some engineering knowledge in analyzing the batch reactors used in the plant and calculating the cycle times for the product unit. I also learned Visual Basic in Excel, which is something I had not experienced before.
Any particularly memorable experiences?
There was a cake for every birthday over the summer!
Any advice for other students who are interested in pursuing an internship?
Connections are key. Both my internship experiences were initiated by introductions through connections I had with experienced individuals that had relations with the companies I worked for.
Questions? Ask Eric!