Engineering Grads start up advice 3

[Eithan.T]

Hey Everybody,

I recently graduated as B.S Industrial Technology Engineering and currently seeking a position within manufacturing Engineering. Most of them require a lot of year experiences and I did not have any engineer's experiences besides school projects. I did a few research and notices positions of Engineering Technician which paid as a technician and that way I can gain some engineer's experiences before get into my academic careers. I don't know if it will be the right path to apply for Engineering technician then finding manufacturing engineering, or should I keep on trying for my academic career and apply for manufacturing engineering.
Any advice on what I should do? Any advice will help me right now and I appreciate all of it.
Thank you.

 

[RVAmeche]

If you find an interesting job, apply anyway. The posted requirements are more like the absolute ideal position. If it's an entry level position that sounds interesting and they're asking for 5 years experience, just apply anyway.

Don't lie on your resume or in interviews. As a new grad, you're not expected to know a ton; everyone knows you're straight out of college.

In your cover letter mention specific aspects of the job posting that click with you personally and explain why. I think it's best to avoid the cliche stuff unless you really have anything to add.

And note, due to the pandemic and election year shenanigans, I'd expect a long time window to find a job unless the industry you're applying to is particularly booming now.

 

[EnergyProfessional]

The ideal candidate doesn't exist and they will settle on whoever comes closest. Never don't apply because you think you don't speak all the 6 required languages, and have the required 20 years of experience and a PhD at a required age not older than 25.

In my employer's organization I have been observing the job descriptions and compared to who they actually hired. I came to the conclusion that if they they don't find someone who meets all the criteria, they also hire someone who meets not a single one.

 

[phamENG]

Apply for the job you want - and a few that will pay the bills if you don't get the dream job.

I was 4 months out of school when I sent my resume to an engineering firm advertising a position for a senior engineer (licensed, 15+ years of experience, etc.). They interviewed me and I convinced them that they needed new ideas, not old experience. They went for it and I got the job.

Of course, there were a couple "entry level" positions I applied for that came back saying I didn't have enough experience...

 

[Eithan.T]

thank you everybody for your great advice. It frustrated when I applied over 40 companies and most reply with "we found a candidate that matches our description but we would like to keep your profile for the future open job" But I'll keep on searching and apply, I set my application submission to 100 and see if I reach that number before I can get a job of engineering. My current application submission are 40.

 

[phamENG]

How wide are you casting your net? I don't know of any engineering sectors that have too many people, but some regions may be less active than others. Don't be afraid to send your resume to the East Coast or Mid-West. Somebody, somewhere is probably looking for you - you just may find each other in an unexpected place.

 

[RVAmeche]

I'm more surprised you're getting feedback.

Every time I go job hunting, 90% of the applications result in no response/feedback whatsoever.

 

[Eithan.T]

@RVAmeche the news had spoken. Some new grads had an interview with the news KRON4 and mention that companies ignoring applications that created frustration to new graduates. A week after, I got bunch of replies with rejection from each company that I applied.
@phamENG I live in northern California and been applied throughout the northern counties which include Fremont, Santa Clara, Milpitas.

 

[IRstuff]

Well, the bottom line is that your timing is highly unfortunate, coinciding with Covid-19. Have you had your resume reviewed? Did you do any internships, regardless of duration or scope? Did you do any projects that can be expanded upon to show off your skills/talent?

The jobs report yesterday was very encouraging, suggesting that the economic rebound might have a chance of being V-shaped, albeit, it's bound to be less steep than the original decline.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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[phamENG]

I live in northern California and been applied throughout the northern counties which include Fremont, Santa Clara, Milpitas.

That could be part of your problem. I'm on the East Coast, so I'm not familiar with the size, population, or industry in those counties, but I do think that sounds like a pretty narrow window.

I understand the desire to stay close to home - sometimes it can be a requirement to care for sick loved ones or other reasons - but it may come down to choosing between home and your dream career. If they aren't hiring close to home, start sending resumes out further. You never know, you may find you love the desert, or the Bad Lands, or a tropical beach, or something else entirely. There's a reason that "going back home" is a common theme in B-rated movies where the protagonist, after a successful first few years of their career, comes home to see his high school buddies working dead end jobs and going nowhere even after going to college.

IRstuff brings up a good point, though. The timing could just be terrible. Did any of the response letters indicate that the pandemic is the reason for turning you down? If so, you may choose to wait a bit - though nobody knows how long that will really be.

 

[RRiver]

IRstuff, Unfortunately once the errors in the job report were corrected nothing suggests any improvements. Just the opposite.

 

[IRstuff]

I was referring to actual non-farm employment numbers, which rose by 2.5 million, which is net of any additional layoffs, particularly government employees, that also occurred.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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[RRiver]

That's just it IRstuff, you're not.

""The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that puts out the monthly jobs reports, said it was working to fix the problem.

“BLS and the Census Bureau are investigating why this misclassification error continues to occur and are taking additional steps to address the issue,” said a note at the bottom of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report.""

It's unfortunate but there are news and financial networks that are well aware of this, it's no secrect, but don't correct the facts or perception the misclassification error has created. Some go beyond indifference and even promote the erroneous perception.

A similar example is with a recent WHO report on mask use for Covid. The WHO report said medical masks are only needed when working with Covid patients. The news network conveniently disregarded there are medical covid masks, medical non-covid masks, surgical masks and respiratory masks and intentionally misled viewers to think the WHO is irresponsible and this was an example of why. The facts were the WHO was only making a change to a particular mask in specific situations. They made no changes to the rest of their ongoing mask wearing policy.

Trust by verify.

 

[IRstuff]

You are conflating two separate surveys.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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[mfgenggear]

@Eithan.T

I am retired, over 40 years in the business, my suggestion is to apply for a apprentice machinist or mechanical assembly position, as an apprentice, the fact you have a degree you will find a promotion within a company.
try to obtain as much training and learning as possible from the lead tradesman as possible, don't jump in to fast in that desk job, do it for at least five years.
there will be openings for leader ship roles in the future. just do these suggestions, work hard, ask a lot of questions, learn as much as possible.
jump ship even if you have go to an other company, it's expected. for better pay and or position.

 

[RRiver]

IRstuff, Don't mean to hijack the thread but I'm not conflating anything. The survey of 5 June you've cited was corrected on June 6 for the misclassification errors. The corrected numbers show unemployment went up and job creation went down. The release of the original survey was a surprise to a lot of people and unexplainable. The surprise was gone and everything explained on the 6th. As I said though some organizations stuck with the original reporting knowing it was wrong and to no ones surprise, so did someone else.

Actually even the original report had a small buried note at the end acknowledging the error that reported about 3 million unemployed from being laid off as employed but absent from work. The corrected numbers show things got worse, not better.

 

[IRstuff]

Again, there are two separate surveys, one, called the household survey, for unemployment, which was probably incorrect, the other, called the establishment survey, for the employment, which has not been reported anywhere as being incorrect. If this is not correct, I'd be interested in seeing the source material.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm[/URL]]
| In the household survey, individuals are classified as employed, unemployed, or not |
| in the labor force based on their answers to a series of questions about their |
| activities during the survey reference week (May 10th through May 16th). Workers who |
| indicate they were not working during the entire survey reference week and expect to |
| be recalled to their jobs should be classified as unemployed on temporary layoff. In |
| May, a large number of persons were classified as unemployed on temporary layoff. |
| |
| However, there was also a large number of workers who were classified as employed but |
| absent from work. As was the case in March and April, household survey interviewers |
| were instructed to classify employed persons absent from work due to coronavirus- |
| related business closures as unemployed on temporary layoff. However, it is apparent |
| that not all such workers were so classified. BLS and the Census Bureau are |
| investigating why this misclassification error continues to occur and are taking |
| additional steps to address the issue. |

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

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[Eithan.T]

thank you everyone for the great advice. I don't mind the debated, I learned more from you guy
@mfgenggear I guess I don't need to apply for an apprentice because I been working in manufacturing for a while, but I have to be switch to my academic career which is engineering field.

 

[CWB1]

I would keep applying for manufacturing engineering positions. A technician's position is a needless step down from your goal, and likely to set you back significantly while making future employers wonder about your competency. I also agree with the suggestion to widen your net by applying in other areas. Engineers tend to be nomadic as we are paid for our experience and knowledge, which is typically gained through experience traveling to work at different companies. Unless you're in THE major city for your specific industry (Detroit for automotive, Dallas or Houston for oil&gas, etc), odds are good you will be settling for a lousy, poorly paid position or need to move. As to experience, whether right or wrong, many HR folks will put 3-5 years experience for entry-level positions due to the fact that top students today have internships/co-ops most or all of the time they're in school (3-5 years). Even if you dont have this, I'd apply anyway and be sure to cater your resume toward the job posting. Most HR folks today use software to scan resumes in bulk for keywords from their job posting, if not enough are found in your resume then a human never sees it and you get an automated "thanks but no" email.

Good luck regardless.

 

[Eithan.T]

@CWB1 I live near the Silicon Valley located near San Jose / Fremont area and they well know for manufacturing. While searching for Job, I see a lot of opening come from those areas. The only thing that set me back is the requirement experiences from the poster. But after saw your advice, I will keep applying until the automated software recognizes the keywords of my skill set.