Switching Industries? 3

[bradpa77]

In a nut shell, I'm looking at my options for my career right now. Here's my basic qualifications.

BSME
PE Certified
7 years experience
Turbo-machinery Industry
High level of ANSYS exposure and experience
High level of Pro/E exposure and experience
Design and analysis experience

I've been browsing jobs and it seems like a lot of the jobs that are around the 7 years experience range ask for specific industry related experience. For example, a job says they want "7 years of experience with nuclear naval design". Should I count those jobs out or do you think I can make an industry shift right now? If I do make an industry shift, should I be expecting to take a "step back" in responsibility and pay? Should I be considering jobs with 3-5 years experience and a lower pay scale when considering an industry change?

I had 2 interviews that didn't end up working out. They were both in the mining industry. I was wondering if my current salary was too high for them to hire without industry specific experience. Is that a possiblity or is it more likely that they were just not a good fit like they said.

 

[KENAT]

Well, you can apply for anything, if they don't find their ideal candidate maybe you'll be close enough.

However, if they really need the industry specific experienct, you may not get quite the compensation they advertise.

After 5 years I shifted industries. I couldn't work Aerospace for a while so applied to all kinds of places. A lot of the places that wanted specific industry experience basically told me they weren't interested, not enough of my skills were transferable. However, I eventually found a place that could use my skills, and didnt' take much of a hit in pay.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[JLSeagull]

E&C companies hire when they need someone. Within the engineering and construction business, when hiring one might specify what they want on the HR requisition. HR sends resume's for everything with any word on the requisition and even more. The manager does a few telephone interviews and brings in some folks and hires someone. The person or people hired rarely match the requisition description. Other business models may work differently.

 

[PSE]

I would concur with Kenat that you can apply for whatever position may be of interest. What I would recommend is when you do so, try to make "links" apparent between your skills and what is apparent in the position requirements. While the hiring manager makes the decision on the transferrability/applicability of skills, they may miss something that you might think apparent.

I have been fortunate in my career in that I have been able to make transitions between "industries" without taking a hit in salary (or perhaps I have just been underpaid all the time). At one of my interviews, the engineering (design) manager took me about and picked up an item (later identified as a current transmitter) and asked me what it was. My answer was "A component which has specifications on how it needs to perform and a location within the final product. My job is to get it into the final product so that all specifications are met." The answer was not what he had expected (which was how a CT worked) but he then realized that from my answer, I was less concerned about the individual parts (unless they did not meet specs) than the completed product. I got the job.

Regards,