October 19, 2023
Areej Mohsin, a sophomore data science major, was a little unsure of how to navigate the SCI Career Fair the first time that she attended the event as a first-year student.
“I had absolutely no clue what I was doing,” Mohsin said. “I remember I just entered my name, entered my major, got my nametag, and walked in with a handful of copies of my resume, just like everyone else.”
While searching for an internship at the Fair, Mohsin struggled to find employers who recruited first-year students as interns.
“Every time I visited one of those companies, they asked me what year I was, and I said I was a [first-year student], and either it was like, ‘Oh you can get an internship, but we don’t prefer [first-year students],’ or they would just reject me completely. They’d be like, ‘Sorry, we do not take [first-year students],’” Mohsin said.
When it came to CGI, however, things were different.
“The first thing I noticed is it was actually a really long line, so I thought that this must be a popular company to apply to,” Mohsin said. “So, I talked to the campus recruiter. My first question to her was, ‘Do you offer internships to [first-year students]?’ And she said ‘yes.’”
The recruiter also mentioned that Mohsin could apply to mentor for the CGI IT Girls’ Challenge, a challenge in which high school girls create a mobile app. Mohsin served as a mentor for the program, which ran from March until June. Around April, she received an email from the campus recruiter, asking her if she was interested in a software development internship.
During the internship, Mohsin worked on an internal project that involved automating statistics reports and working with data and using Structured Query Language (SQL).
“Although we didn’t finish the project, I definitely got a lot of experience,” she said.
The internship helped Mohsin clarify her own professional aspirations.
“Before this internship began, I wasn’t exactly sure if I wanted to work as a backend developer, or as a data analyst,” Mohsin said. “But after my internship, I found that I prefer backend programming.”
She also emphasized that CGI was “super accommodating” of her faith.
“[CGI] was respectful of my religious values, which I think is so important,” Mohsin, who is a Muslim, said. “Going into a company, you want them to not only provide you with the best work experience, but also value your religious beliefs. And they definitely excelled at that.”
Mohsin encourages first-year students to attend the SCI Career Fair even if they are hesitant.
“I would advise you to just go for it,” Mohsin said. “Go to the career fair, and even if you don't get an internship, at least getting that experience interacting with campus recruiters from different companies and gaining an insight as to what a day-to-day work life will look like is valuable.”
--Daniel Beresheim