Editor’s Note: Here’s a little bit about our author, Cameren Schaer. A brief little intro on me, I am a non-traditional student with a diverse work history involving automotive, durable medical equipment, warehousing and inventory specialist, high-end computer electronics and reverse logistics. Fortunately, I was still able to unite them all into on central focus of operations management. My work-related accomplishments exceed my academic performance. I worked while accomplishing my Associate’s Degree during which I attended three different colleges in three different states over the course of about eight years with multiple hiatuses throughout. I quit work to become a full-time student at the U. The U became the fourth institution I had attended.
During my first semester at the U and as a transfer student, I was given the assignment to create a 
one-page resume. At the time, I had a two-page resume in order to capture my previous work experience. I decided I was not going to do this assignment alone. I reached out to Business Career Services at the Eccles School and met my assigned career counselor for the operations management degree.
I also had an app on my phone that searched for job postings. I came across a posting from Boeing for their Business Internship Program (BBIP). The career counselor and I used the BBIP description as a template to cater my resume. We worked on it over the course of multiple weeks. My resume improved 180 degrees from what it was before. My counselor encouraged me to submit my new resume and cover letter to the BBIP.
I knew that I was just starting one of five semesters to complete my undergraduate degree; I was hesitant to extend my progress any further than necessary. Through consultation with my wife, extended family and some U faculty, my wife and I decided to put in my application with the understanding that we had nothing to lose in the situation. It was not until the following semester that I received a request to do a phone interview with Boeing (a Tuesday), which I felt went very well. It was on the following Thursday after the phone interview that I received an offer letter for the BBIP during a class.
I was shocked.
I am not a high achiever, academically speaking; I would attribute my offer based on my previous work-related accomplishments and my outgoing, assertive, and transparent personality that really resonated with them. I also acknowledge my personal strengths and weaknesses. My phone was inundated with phone calls form the BBIP recruitment team congratulating me on my receipt of the offer over the next 24 hours. I caught the Boeing fever quickly.
It was later that I learned I was one of 5,700 applicants.
In the Seattle area, they took 230 interns in their 2014 BBIP. The internship was extremely rewarding. I fit right in very quickly with my host team as a Supply Chain Analyst my first summer. I participated in every tour, informational interview, web seminar, networking and volunteer event I could during my 12-week internship. My goal was to have as many advantage points to glean guidance from as possible. I wanted to determine if I had a good future with Boeing post-graduation.
I was offered a second opportunity to intern with Boeing, but in another business capacity called Quality. I also learned that there were 8,000 applicants and 330 interns picked in 2015. Again, I was active in the same pursuits as the previous year, and the counsel was much the same with an increased understanding that even in an organization the size of Boeing, no two jobs are a mirror image of one another even though they have the same job title or code.
After graduation, I ended up receiving a full-time offer from Boeing, and I currently work there.
If I were to provide any guidance, I would say be tactfully assertive in any of your pursuits. From the Boeing Quality Executives: Have fun in what you do. Use Boeing “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense.”