First Entry Level Job 11

[nathmechy]

Hi guys,
This is my first post on the forum and feels like a pretty big decision.
I graduated last year and have recently been offered a position at a small engineering firm that mainly deals with clients in Oil & Gas.
I'm hesitant to take the job as I would rather not be in the Oil & Gas field. Furthermore the location is in a relatively small country town and I'm not huge on the idea that I may be spending many years in a small country town.
Would it look bad to future employers if I was not in my first graduate job for a long time, say roughly 1 year?

 

[moltenmetal]

Getting a ton of other offers?

Really want to work as an engineer? Or at least to have the option to work as an engineer until you no longer feel like it, or can't find the right kind of work?

Fresh grads are in the absolute worst peril of losing their profession right after graduation. Don't get a first job in engineering, you've likely lost engineering as a career option- for good. After a first job away from engineering, it'll take a really rare, or really desperate, engineering employer to make you worth the risk relative to hiring a fresh grad who probably wants less money than you do anyway. And fresh grads without meaningful work experience are, frankly, a dime a dozen.

Take that with whatever measure of salt you wish- it's the truth.

 

[SandCounter]

Sounds like a great opportunity to me, especially starting out. Jump in, make contacts, get mentored, learn the business. Could be Oil and Gas is better than you expect.

I used to count sand. Now I don't count at all.

 

[tempeng]

As sandCounter mentioned above, small companies can offer a great opportunity to learn; whatever the industry. They'll give you valuable site experience, contact with the contractors/operatives who'll go on to build your future designs and will take the time to explain why things are done a certain way etc. Math is only about a third of the job (approx). And lets be honest, until you've wracked up about 10 plus years of experience, you can't afford to be fussy.

 

[jari001]

You can always look for a job while your on the job, it'll be like having two jobs.

Take the job, it will be easier to justify how your experience is transferable than explain why you have no experience!

That being said, if you really find that you don't see yourself developing professionally the way you want to, don't sit at this job. Take a year to get an idea of what this job is and what you have to look forward to. You can also research the industry you currently want to join. Also, as a recent graduate you should join the professional associations related to the industry you want to join and the Oil and Gas industry. Build your network ASAP. Don't waste your life doing work you don't like, but don't write off work that you don't know because you think you won't like it.

 

[Panther140]

Don't job hop through a small business like that. They have enough to deal with aside from putting training resources into you only to have you walk out of the job the day you might actually become a productive member of their team. 1 year? You're barely out of training at that point. You would be a net-loss for them. Zero ROI if you quit after 1 year.

You're going to teach that business that they can't trust fresh graduates. You would be screwing that business over and you would be screwing fresh graduates. Let that job go to somebody who actually wants to be part of that company and be part of that community.

Take a contracting job somewhere else.

Sorry if I sound like an asshole, but you're coming off as inconsiderate to that business and community. Go back to your city life and do whatever you guys do in cities (Seems to mostly consist of honking at each-other in traffic).

"Formal education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed." ~ Joseph Stalin