Does this count as OEM experience?

[clickster]

I have two years experience working for a company performing audits at manufacturing facilities. Through engineering calculations and analysis, we would determine ways for the facility to save energy, minimize waste, prevent pollution, and improve productivity. This could be anything from shutting of the lights when not in use to redirecting heat from the air compressor to redesigning their manufacturing process flow. We would provide the businesses with reports on how to go about making these changes and then just follow up a few months down the road. Apart from the calculations and the occasional redesigning, not much engineering was involved.

Would this/Can this be considered OEM (operations, engineering, and maintenance) experience?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mgtrp]

Are you sure about OEM being "Operations, Engineering and Maintenance". The only context that I've ever seen OEM is as "Original Equipment Manufacturer".

 

[jmw]

Ditto

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[patprimmer]

It sure sounds like Operations, Engineering and Maintenance experience to me, however I agree with the two previous posts. OEM normally means Original Equipment Manufacturer.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

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[clickster]

hmmm....

I know it normally means Original Equipment Manufacturer but I thought when it comes up on a job posting it usually means Operations, Engineering, and Maintenance (depending on context of course)

i.e.

Requirements: Minimum of 5 years OEM experience or MRO engineering.
(MRO = maintenance, repair and overhaul)

Thanks for the responses!

 

[IRstuff]

I wouldn't sweat it. Send in the resume, fill in an application. The worst thing that can happen is that they'll say, "Thanks, but no thanks," right?

TTFN

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[MiketheEngineer]

Or OTHER EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER.

Does it count for "engineering experience"?? I would say yes - turn it into the board and be ready to explain EXACTLY what you did - hitting heavily on the engineering work. I am assuming you are trying to get your PE??

 

[clickster]

I am trying to get my PE but this isn't for that.

It's actually for a job I'm applying to but before I can submit my resume, they ask some preliminary questions. One of them is whether I have 5 years OEM and/or MRO experience. I have 3.5 years of MRO experience, but if I can include my experience above I can say yes. The company uses a screening software eliminating candidates based on the answers to the questions.

I don't want to seem like I'm lying just to get through their system.

 

[jmw]

If they don't define the terms they use.....?
But that may be deliberate.
If you don't, for example, know what FMCG stands for, don't bother applying for anything in the retail trade.
The usual starting point for many candidates is to screen opportunities for salary then try and fit themselves to whatever jobs are still in the list.
It sometimes requires either a lower salary expectation or a more patience waiting for just the right job opportunity.
But you seem to think this is the job for you. You may be wrong but you need an interview to find out.

While the sort of work you describe has relevance to any operation, how relevant is it to what they want?
In an OEM operation they would expect the skills necessary to reduce component costs, labour rates, lead times and wastage etc. while still hitting a product specification target.

Does your work match that?
Or do you think the experience you have doing what you do demonstrates the right approach and that it is transferable.

In the end most job specifications are a wish list.
"We'd like a genius with experience doing exactly the job we want done, prepared to work an 80-100 hr week for minimum wage or less." (but with a touch more realism built in).
And most usually it is a description of what the current incumbent does (but rarely what he was hired for, more usually a description of the job he/she ended up doing because they no more matched the original job description than a man from Mars).

If you don't have the exact skills required or job history, and its a job you want and think you can do, you need to think about what it will take to get them to look at you.

This possibly means showing you are adaptable, a quick learner and a hard worker and a success at whatever you try and that you have "transferable skills". That is, the skills you have may not fit but they have enough similarities that they will believe you can do what they want just as easily as you do what you do all the rest of what you put in your application. Persuade them of the similarities not the differences.

So you may want to put in the expected answers and include a qualifying statement.
The computer/HR idiot may screen based on the yes/no answers but won't screen the qualifying statements anywhere near as closely.
The worst you can do is waste their time (i.e. HR's time).

If you take a look at some of the jobs recruitment agencies send you to, you'll think they haven't read your CV/Resume at all. It's as if Google were picking candidates - "engineer", well he's an engineer, he'll do. They just want to show they can send lots of candidates for thee client to choose from.

The objective is to get to the next stage - the interview.

Getting there may justify some artistic license, but it is the interview that counts and not being caught in any provable falsehoods.




JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[YoungTurk]

You list your field as aerospace. In aerospace, "OEM and/or MRO" is definitely referring to original equipment manufacturer (Boeing, Airbus, Cessna, etc.) and/or maintenance, repair, overhaul (of same). In the aerospace industry, these postings are looking for somebody with industry experience with aircraft. Not facilities maintenance and repair.

Possibly the definition is more liberal outside of aerospace.

On the other hand, and having read your other thread, I agree with IR. Take a shot at it.

I recall being very frustrated looking for aerospace work because every job posting, even seemingly entry level jobs, listed 5 years of relevant experience as a prerequisite. "How are you supposed to get 5 years of experience when every job requires 5 years experience?!"

 

[SomptingGuy]

I had a Summer placement doing similar, only it was noise inspections. The experience gained from seeing so many different manufacturing environments was immense, something I'm still really glad that I had. That kind of experience looks good on any resume/CV.

- Steve