Where to find engineering internships and attachments
Engineering placements are advertised in several places, and many are never advertised at all. Searching listings and approaching employers directly work best together.
Published . Written by the UPNEXT Careers team.
Internships and attachments
An attachment (industrial attachment) is usually a placement that a college or university course requires, arranged for a set period while you are still studying. An internship may be for students or recent graduates and may or may not be part of a course. Each listing says who may apply; check whether it needs a letter from your institution.
Search UPNEXT Careers
- Browse Internships & Attachments and search for your discipline, for example “civil”, “electrical”, “mechanical” or “mining”.
- Engineering jobs collects open engineering listings of every kind, including graduate posts.
- Graduate Trainee Programmes often include engineering streams for people who have finished their studies.
- Save the listings you want and note each closing date.
Other places to look
- Your institution's attachment or careers office, which often keeps lists of employers that have taken students before.
- The careers pages of engineering firms, utilities, manufacturers, mines and contractors in your field.
- Lecturers, past students and professional bodies in your discipline, who often hear of placements first.
Approaching an employer directly
A short, specific letter works better than a general one: say which course and year you are in, the dates you are available, what kind of work you can do and what your institution requires. Attach your CV (see how to prepare a CV) and the institution's letter if you have one. Follow up once, politely, after a week or two.
A genuine placement never requires you to pay a fee to be accepted. If you are asked for money, read how to apply safely and avoid recruitment scams.