Question about job hunt (in US)with a foriegn degree

[bhabte]

I got a question, with an engineering degree from South Africa, I have found it hard to get a good job here in the US. Is there any one out there that would advise me as to how I should go about getting a good electrical job? I am now currently studying to take the EIT exam, while working an entry level job in the state of Illinois information agency. The South African degree is IEEE accredited.
i am thinking the PE and some experince might be helpfull!
Thanks

 

[ziggi]

What Univ is your degree from? Univ of Stellenbosch and UCT are still fairly well respected in North America. My other suggestion would be to work on getting a Master's degree in North America or some sort of post-graduate certification.

 

[bhabte]

My degree is from University of Pretoria.
the course work is the same as here in the US. thanks for the follow up though!

Bruk

 

[ziggi]

You're right, the course work is the same and it will be the same for nearly every program in the world, however most univs are regarded by their reputations and calibre of student. I probably learnt the same thing as some nerd from MIT however my profs were not nobel prize winners and my fellow students were not some of the smartest/nerdiest/well off in the world. The problem with most South African and non-North American univs is that there is little way to gauge the level of their graduates.

BTW what part of Pretoria are you from, I grew up in Pretoria East.

 

[Ashereng]

It is also familiarity.

We tend to knwo about schools in our own country, and not so much outside our country.

Even if your school is perfectly excellent, the fact that I don't know much about it means I probably am biased against it.

From your posts, it seems you are also a recent grad? If so, that compounds your problem of getting a job.

If I am hiring, I would probably hire a recent US grad (from central statename here) than a recent grad from out of country.

Not saying this is fair, but then again, life isn't.

You seem to be thinking correctly. A US PE and US experience will help you get the job you want.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[henri2]

After you pass the FE/EIT exam you should have better luck.

 

[bhabte]

Ziggi,

I am not from south africa myself, i am from Ethiopia. But i went to school overthere, i was leaving in campus first but moved to hatfield area. Good memories of SA.

Anyway, i was hoping to hear from engineers with degrees from overseas, that have somhow manged to get in to the US job market with out any help(from family ...)
it's been hard out here.
thanks

 

[flch95]

do you have permanent residency?? that's the biggest obstacle but if you have it, you'll have less problems after you pass the EIT.

 

[TheRaptor]

I have a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of New South Wales in Sydney and I have still not been able to get a job in the US.

I agree with flch95. Permanent Residency is a big deciding factor. Good luck.

 

[tripleZ]

How about I put the shoe on the other foot? Are there any engineers in here who were educated in the US who had a difficult time finding employment abroad? While I like living in the US, I would love the opportunity to "jump across the pond" for a few years (5-10) to experience living and working in other countries. Obviously, doing so with a US corporation would be preferable. But in case that route isn't open in my field (IE/Mfg/Plant Mgt), are there barriers, minus language, that I should consider? For example, how difficult is it to get work visas in various countries?

Just curious if there are any hints/suggestions out there from more worldly folks.

 

[Ashereng]

Many of my colleagues have made the jump to the middle east, in particular, Qata, Saudi Arabia.

These two nations anyways are LOOKING for US and UK trained personnel, working for US and UK companies for at least 15 years and up. They love ex-Shell,BP,Exxon engineers it seems.

I have been told that the pay is good, the compounds are nice, the food is western and they don't shovel snow.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[GregLocock]

Oz is still short of engineers, both in mining (predictably) and automotive (oddly). You get a visa by accumulating points, which are biased towards young professionals, or there is a scheme by which you can buy your way in (business migrant's scheme). Sadly the old method,stealing a loaf of bread in the UK, is no longer an option.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[ziggi]

Greg,
I've already run the numbers and do qualify to go to Oz, but is it worth it? What's the avg pay for a junior engineer over there?
I also hear that alot of young professionals are leaving b/c of a lack of work.

 

[GregLocock]

Depends on the field. I don't know about mining, they generally pay lots, say 50-100% more than manufacturing jobs (they earn it). In general Australian engineers get paid the same number of dollars as USAn ones, but our dollar is only worth 75 US cents, and our cost of living is slightly higher, and our taxes are sickening. There are compensations.

In automotive a graduate engineer would start on 50k, an experienced senior engineer would be on 80-105k. Toyota, Ford and GM are hiring engineers at the moment. I can't believe that /good/ engineers can't get work over here, if they are prepared to move.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[KENAT]

bhabte

I'm from the UK originally. BEng in Aerospace Systems Engineering from University of Southampton (in the top 5 universities in the UK in my subject at the time).

I worked in aerospace/defence for about 5 years in UK before moving to the US to be with my wife (US citizen).

Without US citizenship this line of work is virtually closed to me in the US. Due to where I live in the US this is virtually the only engineering available.

Spent about a year working free lance (not quite full time) for my old company in the UK because immigration were real slow getting me a work permit. Once I got the permit I had to work another year at Rite Aid due to the lack of suitable engineering jobs locally (I mean within a few hundred miles).

Eventually got an engineering job 200 miles from home in the semi industry, purely because they used one of the CAD systems I used previously and it's not very common in this part of the states. Pay is pretty good though cost of living is too high to move, so work there during the week back home at weekends.

Finally got my full green card just a few months ago.

So it can be done but it isn’t easy and takes time.

Getting your EIT will probably help a lot and having permanent residency will probably help too. Citizenship should only be a major problem in defence and related fields but I may be wrong.

 

[prost]

How can passing the EIT help you out if you were educated in foreign university, unless you are looking for job in construction industry (Architectural/Engineering)? EIT and PE are useful only in this industry because of requirements to have registered professional engineers sign off on construction designs; in every other industry, the engineers are exempted from the professional engineer licensing laws. If you have experience otherwise; that is, that you were educated in a foreign university, came here as citizen of another country, passed your EIT and/or PE exam, I'd love to hear your experience. The biggest, sometimes insurmountable, obstacle is still the work visa or the green card. All other obstacles to working in the US pale in comparison!

 

[KENAT]

Prost,

I say EIT because it came up in a few of the many jobs I looked at while taking my sojourn at Rite Aid.

I agree it primarily seems of relevance in Civil/Structural/Architectural but it did come up in a couple of job postings I'd have otherwise been qualified for.

Maybe I over emphasized it though with hind site, it will perhaps only help a little as your specialty wasn't civil.

(And of course according to a couple of recent threads if you don't have PE you're not an engineer, sorry couldn't resist)

I had a work permit and it still took over a year to find an engineering job, so though a major stumbling block for many it's not the only one.

 

[prost]

Taking and passing the EIT and PE will never hurt, however it doesn't appear to me from your description that it will help much either. I would dare venture that most if not all of the job postings with EIT you have seen _imply_ that you have the permanent right to work in the US. If the work permit you had was of finite duration, this would stop almost all employers from even considering your qualifications. Even though most people don't hang around most employers too long, employers still persist with the fantasy that new hires will be with the company a long time.

Definitely take the EIT if the jobs you have seen requiring it appealed to you. There's no reason not to take it, really. You open some doors that were closed without the EIT, and don't close any doors that don't require it.

As far as your 'crack' about PE and being an engineer, by law in most states, you cannot call yourself an 'engineer' and offer your services to the public unless you have the PE license. Every state has manufacturing exemptions which let most working engineers off the hook. So just because you don't have a PE doesn't mean you aren't an engineer, it just means you can't call yourself an engineer. Not that anyone will care--the whole licensing system stinks, relying completely on engineers ratting out other engineers.

 

[KENAT]

Prost,

I think you're right about the work permit. While the fact was because of my situation I was 99.9% guaranteed permanent residence before my work permit expired I'm sure it put at least some companies off.

Out of people who actually responded to my applications however, the number one reason for not taking me was because I wasn't a US citizen, but these were aerospace/defense companies.

In fact on jobs that listed residency type issues I seem to recall the most common requirement was citizenship. LPR came up occasionally but most just said equivalent of 'right to work' or nothing.

If you're fairly fresh from academia or just better at academic stuff than I it looked like EIT would be fairly simple/cheap, that's partly why I brought it up. Also as I posted elsewhere I thought it might 'Americanize' your qualifications some.

Sorry 'bout the crack, personality flaw that will one day cost me a job no doubt. Your summary was more or less how I understood it, some people (including me occasionally) get worked up about it though.

bhabte, out of interest what is your immigration status, do you think this might be an issue?

 

[prost]

You probably realize that unless you are some hot shot engineer or scientist whom a company specifically requests, because you lack citizenship you will always be shut out of many aero/defense jobs because of security clearance requirements. If the job requires a clearance, most companies won't even bother looking at your application because you aren't a citizen. It's frustrating certainly. I recall a conversation with a Brit at Lockheed a number of years back; he came here after WWII, had trouble getting a clearance, though a former Nazi Luftwaffe officer also came to Lockheed at the same time, right after the war, got his clearance right away. If they need you badly enough, anything can be done; most of us of course are not in that enviable position.

No need to apologize about any 'crack', didn't take it personally. Most of us have thicker skins than that.