Post graduation internships

Dear fellow engineers,

This is my third post on this website and I thank you immensely for your support. I hope I'll be able to grow as an engineer and contribute to this great community. A year ago, I graduated from a foreign university in the middle east. I majored in Mechatronics Engineering. I moved to the US 4 months after graduation and I currently reside in Texas. I accredited my credentials, passed the FE exam and got my EIT certificate.

It has been approximately 50 days since my certificate arrived by mail, and I have been sending out applications ever since. The only experience I have is a 2 month training at an industrial automation firm back in my home country; which doesn't count for much here in the US, I assume.

Anyway, If it is hard to get a paid internship post graduation, I am in a position that would allow me to work for free for 3 months, if it's the only way to prove my competence. My question is,

How do I go about this? Should I mention this in my resume? Cover letter?

If anyone has any experience regarding internships post graduation, unpaid work or any other option that would benefit someone like me, I would greatly appreciate your input!

Thanks guys!

In my experience, it's unusual to get an internship after graduation (unless you are going on to grad school, etc). At that point, most companies are looking for a long-term entry level hire. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, if they could get an intern in the door and limit their hiring risk to only a few months (while deciding whether or not to offer a full time job), why not, right? But I didn't find a lot of companies that thought that way.

That said, if you do decide to take an internship, paid or unpaid, I'd certainly include that on your resume going forward (and you don't need to mention whether it was paid or not). It's experience either way.

Personally, I would not volunteer for an unpaid internship. In many cases in the US, companies are prohibited from offering unpaid internships, and the intern must also be a current/active student. This is based on interpretations of the

Fair Labor Standards Act, and the fact that most internships in a for-profit or private sectors will be viewed as employment.

Also, working for "free" will set a bad precedent - it may appear desperate to the employer, and can lead to you finding work at or below what would be considered an entry-level wage. Even more so if a work visa comes into play at any point.