Lack of Leader: Is it time to move on?

[32romeo]

(Sorry that this is so long...thanks in advance for hearing me out.) I work for a large multi-discipline engineering firm with several offices. For over a year, my department has been without a senior engineer/manager/leader to direct and grow our staff. As such, we have seen our projects gradually dwindle with the market. This is because the staff consists mostly of non-registered engineers and designers who have to spend too much time on production work and/or are not qualified to put effort into marketing. Granted, we still have enough work to keep our remaining staff busy, but definitely not the load or the revenue that we would like to have. Up until several weeks ago, HR was actively looking for a senior for us. Now I have just heard from our office director that HR is no longer actively seeking a senior or additional staff because the projected revenue for our office doesn't justify it. In addition, there is noone in our department who is qualified to step into the top leadership position. We do have one PE, but he doesn't have the qualifications to be the department head. (We have been working under the part-time direction of a senior engineer (PE) in another office.) To make a long story short, I am basically happy with my job, but am frustrated with the corporate business model for my department and office.

So the question is this: Should I stick it out and wait until a new senior engineer is hired or start looking for employment elsewhere? There is also the possibility of transferring to another office that has a great senior engineer, but my requests to transfer have been rejected because it would leave my department short-handed (and also for political reasons). Any suggestions here? Thanks for reading all of this and for replying.

 

[epoisses]

Starting to look around wouldn't hurt. Meanwhile you could have a talk with your office director and ask him about his long term plans with your department and with the department head position. Record how many seconds he needs before he gives a politically correct answer.

 

[GregLamberson]

I agree. The best time to look for a job is when yuou have one.

It sounds like management has lost some perspective, on the surface, based on what you shared, the reason revenues are down is because there is no captain at the helm. Seemingly poor judgement. What happens next? You guessed it, revenues down, we gotta start cutting back. Hence the reason you are going to start looking around.

There is so much work out there, probably one of the reasons HR didn't find a candidate, so you shouldn't have any problems there.

A couple of suggestions:

http://www.worldwideworker.com

http://www.rigzone.com

On each of these (there are probaby more) you can tailor the jobs you are looking for into their databases and they will email you whenever a matchingt opportunity arises. They are free and discreet.

Greg Lamberson
Consultant - Upstream Energy
Website:

http://www.oil-gas-consulting.com

 

[32romeo]

Without a senior engineer to effectively market our brand of engineering, it seems like we are being left out of more and more projects...so essentially we are dying a slow death. The bad part is that one of my co-workers (one of the best designers I've met) even told the management that he was going to look for other employment. The response was that they would hate to see him go. No attempt to do anything to improve the situation or re-recruit as the saying goes. I guess I have been too swamped in the past few months to really put effort into a job search. Now that things are starting to slow down, though, I'm definitely going to start brushing up my resume and looking. Thanks for your input.

 

[rbulsara]

Move on! try to find a primarily engineering firm or one with large engineering dept. and not a A/E firm with a small engineering dept.

 

[whyun]

Do all the branch offices function like separate offices or as one large office?

Is your firm an A/E or strictly engineering consultants?

If A/E, inhouse architects can do the marketing. Once your group finds a leader, then you guys can market and consult for outside architects.

Senior staff from other beanch office may assume a leadership role until one is hired in your office. His presence at your location 100% of the time is not necessary.

In the meantime, it doesn't hurt to look at the grass elsewhere. There are many career paths for a structural engineer. This may be a good time to evaluate your goals and see whether you are headed the right direction.

 

[HVAC68]

I see a great opportunity here. If you believe you have the credentials and the capabilities to be a leader, it's "blessing in disguise".

Probably, you could be the next Senior Engineer/Leader !!!

In every adversity, there is an opportunity.

Good luck.

HVAC68

 

[32romeo]

Our firm provides strictly engineering consulting and the branch offices are all separate but act under the supervision of the corporate office. I appreciate all of your comments. Thanks.

 

[MedicineEng]

Why don't you take the step and propose to be the head?

 

[csd72]

Romeo,

I have encountered this problem before in big firms and this is the reason why I dont work for big firms anymore.

I worked for an acquisition design construct firm, when I went for an interview with a director for a PM job he demonstrated to me that he had no idea what acquisition did, what design did, and what the construction department did. I have no idea how he was running a company he knew nothing about, but I decided right there and then to only work for people who used to do my job.

The other thing to think about is your exposure. Your work is not being thoroughly checked by a senior engineer, if you make a big mistake then the crap is going to come down on you. Self checking only picks up so much.

Regards
csd

 

[whyun]

Without a discipline lead, who is the SEOR that stamps the jobs you and the crew produce? Anyone?

Being the head is inheriting a lot of responsibilities. In order to make it work, you not only have to possess enough technical background and great leadership traits but the firm also has to give you full authority over your group and adequate compensation.

 

[RDK]

If you think that you should be looking then you should.

In fact you should always be on the lookout for new opportunities. Remember that in today’s economy that the firm would not hesitate to dump you if it was to their benefit then you should always be ready to move ion if its to your benefit.

That doesn’t mean jumping ship at the first opportunity; it simply means always having your lifejacket handy and ready for use.

By all means look around, you may be pleasantly surprised and have an opportunity to better your situation. If nothing comes up then you are only in the same position that you are in now but with better information on the job market as it affects you individually.


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com