<p>Catch-22!</p><p>I understand your frustration and even pain. Many newbie or recent grads experience this. Typically it is due to the hiring function within companies big and small. An engineering manager or human resources person must, in making a hiring decision, provide good earned value to the company. Earned value is a euphemism for return on investment or bang for your buck. Managers like to bring people in as a response to an immedate need on a program or as a response to an impending need such as a recently landed contract that will require support. A hiring manager likes to recruit people who can immediately provide good earned value and productive work. Increasingly they are reluctant to hire in newbies who don't have experience because they would have to train or mentor you. Contrary to popular myth and corporate propaganda aside, they don't really want to do that. It would not provide good value.</p><p>This is not meant to discourage you because your degree is valuable and your fortitude, commitment, and intelligence to enter a very tough field is to be commended. Indeed, not everyone chases engineering and you have to be tenacious. This already says a great deal about you and is of value whether you hold a degree or not. </p><p>Well, a few courses I might suggest:</p><p>1. If you are still in school look into a co-op program or internship. Colleges such as Norheastern in Boston
http://www.northeastern.edu/neuhome/index.php and RIT in Rochester
www.rit.edu have programs built around co-op. It takes 5 years, but students gain solid work experience while off-setting tuition.</p><p>2. Consult faculty or staff. </p><p>It is hard to get into large companies, even if you are diligently filing away on-line applications and resumes, etc. Many companies, such as Boeing, work via intersocial networking. Intersocial networking is a euphemism for "Dad or Aunt Jane got me the job." So in Seattle you typically encounter a disproportionate number of Boeing engineers who grew up in Wichita where either mom or dad worked at the Boeing B52 plant. It's just a comfort thing on the part of the people hiring and is not to be fully critiqued. Those Boeing engineers have a leg up and get good jobs and do good work. You or I might do the same for our kid.</p><p>Also, companies tend to have a set quota of new grads they will "intake" in a given year. Many companies hire regionally. By this I mean if MegaCorp Aerospace Division in say, Huntsville, is hiring this spring they will typically look no further than UA-Huntsville. Again, its a comfort thing. Those hiring managers have had success with that practice in the past, are comfortable with local people, and it provides good earned value.</p><p>If you can talk to the faculty and staff at your school. Give them your resume. They may have connections at XYZ Division where you want to work. They may serve as consultants or even work there themselves. <strong>Also ask them for a reference.</strong></p><p><strong>3. Also, does your college host job fairs?</strong> These are good sources for employment and actually going face-to-face with an employers representative.</p><p><strong>4. Are there professional societies that you could network with? </strong>These could be student chapters like AIAA, ASME, or AIChE. Also, some cities have enginnering societies that host all engineers, not just one discipline. They are typically quite welcoming to new grads. Here's an example from Rochester, NY:
http://www.roceng.org/</p><p>5. Work with a faculty member or staff person on some project. This could help your resume.</p><p>6. Consider working as a technical temp. Agencies such as Kelly Technical
www.kellyservices.com and Burns Personnel
www.burnspersonnel.com frequently hire newbies for seemeingly menial tasks, but that could provide experience. Also, some companies will bring in a proven and qualified temp worker into their fold before advertizing for a new employee. Also, try
www.monster.com for employment listings. Remember, a solid and consistent work record (ie time on the job) plus a degree from a local college can mean more to a potential employer than a degree from a famous university.</p><p>7. If you are considering the military and are still in school consider ROTC. They would provide a scholarship to offset tuition. If you have already graduated and want to enlist, please remember that you can defer student loans, but the military will not pay them off. The military option is good to get experience. They will also pay tuition if you are able to continue in say graduate school.</p><p>8. If you are interested in aerospace as a career, where are the contracts going? Sure NASA is building Project Cancellation, er, Constellation, but who is actually bending the tin? A good source for aerospace news big and small is Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/ If you can't afford the mag's subscription rate go to your school's engineering library. They will likely have it. It follows business trends in the industry. You could target your resume to whatever company has new work and is hiring.</p><p>9. What are your personal interests? Could this be turned into a business? A degree plus a solid business plan could help secure a small business loan or investors. Many commumity colleges offer free seminars for business plan building. Look into that.</p><p>10. Also, remember, the engineering degree does not define you. You do not need to be an engineer. Many engineering graduates go on to teach, or study other fields. Engineers can do other things and find good job satisfaction.</p><p>Also, on any job hunt keep your filters up. Many companies will bring engineers in, especially new engineers, with a lot of proselytizing. Many new engineers are then dismayed to find themselves in a place with a lack of teamwork or find themselves trapped as paper pushers, never touching hardware or working on a project that interests them. Also, many companies no longer provide engineers the professional benefits they once did. Companies no longer provide tuition assistance without the engineer having to prove and justify it as securing good earned value. Also, companies don't always provide the training, mentoring, or even support an engineer's membership in professional societies or attendance at professional conferences. Also, training these days comes down to: "Here's the manual. Now you're the expert!" This has been the trend since the late 80's. Be sure you know what you are getting into.</p><p>Also, big companies are not always better. A small company could give you a lot more experience as well as responsibility. That would be good in that small company or if you wish to go on to the bigger outfits.</p><p>Good luck with your job search!</p><p><br />
<img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/15/8/9fccb84a-992d-4d29-a803-e2968b5c1cd8.Medium.jpg" alt="" /><br />a new engineer on the job</p><p> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
Basic Error: The accelerating Universe conclusion - reason
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