Am I unemployable? 1

[tofukid]

Hello all, I am new here.

As an engineer, I have made some bad career choices. Here's a little background info, I graduated in '08 from a mediocre school with BS in both mechanical and electrical engineering. I got hired by the patent office, worked there for 1.5 years, decided I was not interested in IP so I left. Now I have been searching for a job for almost 1.5 years.

I am having a lot of difficulty finding entry level work. The interviews I get are far and few in between. My question is that, am I unemployable now? I have this 1.5 year employment gap that may scare employers away. Nobody seems to be interested in me. And doing that double major seems to have worked against me as I couldn't get too many specialized courses in either ME or EE in order to graduate on time. Sorry for rambling, but I don't really know what to do anymore.

 

[fegenbush]

I think it would be helpful if you said what it is that you do want to do.

 

[KENAT]

You left a job with no immediate prospect of an alternative?

Well that was, shall we say, brave.

Have you applied for any internships or similar to get some more relevant experience?

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[dvd]

You don't actually have to list both degrees. Just talk about the degree which is relevant to the situation. Don't provide too much information.

 

[GregLocock]

You are getting to interviews, that's actually the hard bit, statistically.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[MikeHalloran]

You know that one friend you have, the one who would help you bury a body, and not retain a clear memory of having done so?

Have that friend conduct a mock interview with you, and tell you all the things you're doing wrong and saying wrong.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[corus]

Leaving a job because you didn't like it would scare most employers off as you might do the same with them. Recruitment is a costly business and they don't want to waste their time and money recruiting you if you're going to leave. In the interview say that the reason you left the last job was because you had to look after a family member who has now fully recovered. If you have no family then say it was a little puppy dog. Try and tell the story with a lump in your throat but avoid openly bawling in tears as you might come over as being neurotic. Avoid grinning inanely for the same reason.

 

[MintJulep]

You can write coherent sentences and use punctuation properly.

That's better than many people with engineering jobs can do.

Sounds like you just need a better job search method.

 

[josephv]

I agree with fegenbush, the important question is, "what would you like to do?"

To quote Joseph Campbell, "When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else."

 

[SomptingGuy]

Does "Sounds" need a subject in that phrase?

- Steve

 

[dvd]

Does "Sounds" need a subject in that phrase?

Seems like it might.

 

[brandonbw]

I don't think it matters too much on your school and degree as much as it matters how well you can think and problem solve.

You could always come up with a really good reason you took 1.5 years off. I know it's common right now to talk about doing some kind of long vacation trip. But you want to come off as believable. I could even buy that you went to school and worked for the IP. Realized it wasn't what you went to school for. And decided you wanted to take a long break while you are still young to just relax before going full on into the right job.

B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil and Structural Engineering

http://bwengr.com

 

[oldfieldguy]

Two questions, one of which has been asked:

1) What do you want to do?

2) WHERE do you want to do it?

Some areas are better for jobs than others. Further, the places and requirements change quiet quickly, What was hot a year ago is now cooled and something (and someplace) else is hot.



old field guy

 

[moon161]

Say you're into method acting too, and are working on a 1 man show about einstein, it just got out of hand.

Commodity skills are good when it comes to singing for your supper. Self projects are good to break in (design & build of a heat pipe for me). Had a hard time breaking into ME field after 6 year detour through call centers, laid off as a QA Tech, after 4 months, hired on in FDA compliance/validation, 11 months contract. The place was converting to solidworks at the time, borrowed the training manuals and a personal edition (NLA) of solidworks and ground through them over the summer. I will start the 4th job where 3D modeling is an essential part of feeding me and mine in a week or so.

In this last transition, one thing I had to tell recruiters is that I could draw pipes, but did not know ASME pressure vessel & piping code, another commodity skill.

If you are leaning towards electrical, PLC or ladder logic skills are needed in industrial controls, plenty of arduino projects to be found on instructables.com.

So develop a marketable skill in addition to your more abstract degrees, do a few neat things with it, document them and say 'there, now I can....'.

Too bad so many neat things you've seen are now covered by patents, eh?

 

[moon161]

Commodity skills, because employers don't care who you are, just that you can 'X' for a few months on contract. Don't expect to get rich right away, although it will be a step up from unemployment.

A frequent speil given to engineers unable to find work in their field is to manage something in the meantime (mcdonalds, shift at best buy, etc.). 09-11 unemployment in particular is covered under the 'big suck' umbrella, because hey, you were one of millions out of work going for the same jobs.

 

[moon161]

Finally, 2009.5 was a good time to hold on to any job, perhaps even one cleaning out private booths in an adult video store, though I have no way of knowing. But you figured that out.

One more bromide, perhaps the most useful result of my contact with the Navy's recruiting arm, is this: If you say you can't, you are correct. If you say you can, all natural laws still apply, but if you say you can't, you are correct.