Advice for landing job after graduation with no engineering experience

[anoneng20]

Hello engineering society,

I graduated last year with bachelor's of mechanical engineering in Canada without any engineering work experince. I have been doing job search for last year and have only landed around 3 interviews with over 300 applications. In addition to online job applications (tailoring resume with online software), I have tried job fairs, recruiting agencies, phone-calling and emailing employers, contacting professors and friends... nothing has seemed to work. It gets difficult to get noticed when most job requisitions require some sort of work experience. I have also practiced interview questions, had discussions with job councellors and had my resume and cover letter edited several times. I am upgrading my skills, keeping up with Linkedin Learning, and reviewing engineering materials. Please let me know if there is any advice for someone in my situation.

Thanks

 

[drawoh]

anoneng20,

What did you do for a summer job?

--
JHG

 

[drawoh]

anoneng20,

Are you using the Job resources at your university? This is who people are going to call if they need a new graduate.

--
JHG

 

[TheTick]

I graduated last year with bachelor's of mechanical engineering in Canada without any engineering work experince.

That should be illegal.

 

[TheTick]

Every bit that raises your profile above the inexperienced masses is a plus.

Contract work is a good back door. Also find firms that are tributaries to any large firms you are interested in.

If you cant find engineering work, at least find something relevant. Work in a machine shop or as an assembler. Get you hands, eyes, and ears in a place where you can contribute learning.

 

[IRstuff]

Nevertheless, you should take advantage of your school's resources; in particular, resume review and mock interviews. I would suggest finding something closely aligned with your desired profession, even if it's at a lower pay.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[LittleInch]

See also this post

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=469883

and have a look in that forum as this question / comment comes up often.

It's not easy to get noticed above the crowd sometimes and with the CV-19 issue there's a bigger crowd.

If you've tried all that and nothings worked then you might need to go back a stage and try for some of the intern type posts or start offering to do a few weeks at virtually no pay.

Getting anything in terms of employment history is better than nothing as it shows you can hold a job down, get up in the morning etc. Is there even manual stuff like farm work, building sites, government programs to look at?

Do you have a particular industry or area in mind? Some critical research in those areas if you do can yield results or leads. See who has won the recent contracts, announced projects, new products etc.

Ask around your friends and alumni and make use of everything the university can provide - it doesn't look good for them to have grads not employed after 12 months.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[hydtools]

Here in the US I was able to enter the military as an officer and assigned to general mechanical engineering tasks. It worked out well for junior engineering experience.

Ted

 

[monkeydog]

Quoting LittleInch "Is there even manual stuff like farm work..."

We had a retired guy go back to working his farm, when he got a call asking to lead a team one of the managers found out he was working his farm said "if he is working a farm, then he is not afraid of hard work - hire him back"

 

[Strong]

I don't expect you to answer any of the questions in a public forum, but answer them to yourself:

What work did you do in the past 12 months?
What work did you do the last 5-years during summers and school breaks?
What hobbies do you have that in way relate to engineering, craftmanship, design, computers, etc.?
What kind of ME and type of business do you want to work?
Do you really want to be a ME and start a career or just go skiing?

Walt
BSME 1968
I Worked summers and breaks as a Draftsman, auto mechanics and farming.
I learned stuff and what hard work was all about!

 

[CWB1]

My only suggestions would be to remain open to relocation for a few years until you become established, do your best to tailor your resume to each ad's bulleted requirements using keywords from each, and make sure the resume looks good. IME folks often too much on fancy verbiage not found in the job ad, too much on a template/format, and their resume is neither clear nor flows well.