recent college grad with no job prospects

[willsee]

Every morning, out the door at 0730, resumes, cards and a map in hand. Go pound on every door that is even close to what you want to do. Practice the elevator speech, be nice to the receptionist, the goal is to get the resume in the hands of someone other than the janitor.

do you mean literally drive door to door to engineering companies? a phone call won't do it? (gas's expensive these days)

@kephart: point taken, yeah i was talking to a senior eng. at a local city, he recommended also applying more towards private firms, since the govt jobs lag the economy by about 1 to 2 years.

this thurs. im going to an ASCE meeting in the bay area, to network and pass out my resume

i also just applied to grad school for a masters in Civil eng. as a backup in case i can't find a f/t job by fall.

thanks for the help guys, appreciate it

Phone calls are easy to ignore.

Good luck

 

[envirotex]

Every morning, out the door at 0730, resumes, cards and a map in hand. Go pound on every door that is even close to what you want to do. Practice the elevator speech, be nice to the receptionist, the goal is to get the resume in the hands of someone other than the janitor.

do you mean literally drive door to door to engineering companies? a phone call won't do it? (gas's expensive these days)

i also just applied to grad school for a masters in Civil eng. as a backup in case i can't find a f/t job by fall.

Gas is expensive? Grad school is really expensive...That's why you need the map.

 

[solomonb]

Dude-- No the PHONE CALL will NOT DO! Don't even think about it. Yeah, gas is expensive, so is unemployment. Remember, what I said, this is HARD WORK, however, if you don't work hard now, you will never find a job-- trust me here.

Send me your resume if you want some unvarnished feedback. Note I said unvarnished-- I am not going to beat you up, I am going to help you find a job in your chosen profession. We all want to help you be a real success in this profession. However, what we are suggesting are techniques that indeed do work, unfortunately, for many of you, you have not been exposed to them. OK, no worries, we'll get them exposed and get you on the road.

Now, the trip planning question. You need to find 4-6 firms in a general location, map your route and begin. Same thing in the afternoon, another 4-6 firms. As somebody else mentiond, the phone is easily ignored, as is a random email. You will probably have only about 3 days of actual field work each week, the other 2 days are web research and preparation days to be damn sure that you know what the firm does, what they build, etc.

If you find some place that you may wish to interview, find one of the vendors that sells to that firm. See if you can find the salesman who calls on that firm. He/she may be able to get you in to visit with the hiring offical of the company.

Another idea that I have very successfully used is think about joining a service club in your area. Rotary, Lions, Exchange, Boys and Girls are all ideas. Here, you are hoping to not only join the club and do something, but also make some contacts that may be of assistance to you.

It is best if you could get 2-3 sets of eyes on your resume-- the more eyes that see it and help you polish it, the easier it will be for the hiring official to take you when he/she does not know which resume to select out of all that are essentially equal caliber.

OK, next question?

 

[ALBin517]

Every morning, out the door at 0730, resumes, cards and a map in hand. Go pound on every door that is even close to what you want to do. Practice the elevator speech, be nice to the receptionist, the goal is to get the resume in the hands of someone other than the janitor.

i also just applied to grad school for a masters in Civil eng. as a backup in case i can't find a f/t job by fall.

thanks for the help guys, appreciate it

Masters in civil? You sure?

I have been in civil / surveying consulting for 15+ years now and have known one person who got a MS in civil. It did absolutely nothing for him, that I could see. Plus it cost him a year and several thousand dollars. Unless somebody wants to go into teaching and maybe pursue a PhD then I don't know why they'd go that route.

From the little I know about you, it sounds like you want to get into management. What I would recommend for the fall would be to consider taking some undergrad business classes. Undergrad classes cost less. The business classes would help with the GMAT or whatever it is for business school, which is another (usually high-cash) option. And if you decide to continue grad school thereafter, you will have your collateral classes out of the way to go the MBA route... which like I said, is a degree that is almost guaranteed to produce more cash than the MS in civil.

Worst case, you find a job in the meantime and have taken some extra classes in accounting, economics and administration ... which is never a bad thing for anybody who might want to get into management.

Also, I don't know anybody in government hiring who would not consider you for an "MPA required" job if you have an MBA. But the MBA is much more desirable on the private side than the MPA. I would compare it to a civil bachelor's versus environmental - civil majors are considered for environmental jobs but not usually the other way around.

 

[Road Guy]

check AECOM's website, they seem to have a decent amount of jobs available throughout the nation.. ..

 

[californiadude]

so i went to an ASCE meeting to network yesterday. it was ok, free food and asked a bunch of advice of working engineers. got some cards, ill follow up w/thank you emails and probably add them to my linkedin on monday.

i got an interview lined up nxt tuesday for an internship with the public works department of a local city. he said he's going to test me on construction management plan reading. what is that?

how should i prepare for that? i've never taken a course on plan reading. are there any books at barnes & nobles or borders on this that i can learn and prepare from in 3 days?

i got another email today asking if im still interested in an assistant engineer position at another county. i emailed back saying yes, and am free to meet whenever's convenient.

there's another ASCE meeting ill be going to locally in a week to network some more.

so if nothing pans out within 1 or 2 wks, ill be doing solomonb's recommendation of going door 2 door.

 

[Road Guy]

const mgmt plan reading:

basically can you look at a set of plans and tell what certain things mean, if its roadway, then what does this catch basin mean, where are the Super elevation callouts, does the typical sections show full depth asphalt replacement or just milling and overlay...can you ready the quantity sections and check them versus whats called out on the construction plans...

if you dont have a lot of experience with plans you may want to find someone you know that works somewhere that does plans and have them give you a crash course on them, they can be confusing when you first look at them, basically there a big pile of crap that us engineers spend years on hoping that the contractor can make sense of them and build something...

 

[californiadude]

const mgmt plan reading:
basically can you look at a set of plans and tell what certain things mean, if its roadway, then what does this catch basin mean, where are the Super elevation callouts, does the typical sections show full depth asphalt replacement or just milling and overlay...can you ready the quantity sections and check them versus whats called out on the construction plans...

if you dont have a lot of experience with plans you may want to find someone you know that works somewhere that does plans and have them give you a crash course on them, they can be confusing when you first look at them, basically there a big pile of crap that us engineers spend years on hoping that the contractor can make sense of them and build something...

hmmm, that's going to be a problem, i just relocated to northern california, but i graduated in southern california. so i dont know anybody who can teach me those things up here. do you know of any internet resources?

also, i just got another interview set up at another county but it's for a traffic engineering internship next wednesday. The engineer i spoke to over the phone said they can start me off pretty much right away on the internship because the current engineer quit today. both of these internships are unpaid initially.

should i be worried if i get offered a spot on tues, but then possibly get offered another spot on wed at a different county and have to renege on the first offer?

 

[snickerd3]

unpaid? really an engineering internship that is not paid...never heard of that before

 

[willsee]

unpaid? really an engineering internship that is not paid...never heard of that before

Not to mention he's already degreed.

I had never heard of unpaid internships (all of our Co-ops at Uni are/were paid) until I met my wife and she was on an unpaid internship.

 

[snickerd3]

even our states's intern postitions get paid...not much but they still get paid.

 

[Road Guy]

we had two guys that came to work for us for free to get job experience, one of them we ended up being able to hire, the other went back to school

but yes they were both engineer grads looking to get some work experience in this job market.. its a weird weird world

calidude - I would just seem very willing to learn anything when you go to meet with them. Good Luck!

 

[solomonb]

Dude-- OK, we are making forward progress. I would not take either job until I heard about both jobs. The world is real tough out here, so we need to use some strategy to move forward.

I too am unfamiliar with unpaid internships, however, might be a way to begin; however, I would establish a "free" cut off date, say 90-120 days-- if at that point, your work and contributions as a team member are satisfactory, then you need a salary. I would do some checking on the NSPE web site to see what 2011 CE's are starting at, about $60K, or so said the web site.

I would not take a position and then 2 days later walk-- better to drag your feet for a week and see what happens. However, if you take an unpaid position and get a paid offer, take the paid offer-- you have loans to pay back!

Thank you notes-- note the generation of the folks that you talked with-- if they are Gen Xers or Boomers, send them an WRITTEN note-- not the email variety. Email will work for Gen Y and Millenials---

Don't tap dance around what you don't know. If the drawings appear to be chinese to you, tell them that is not where your strong suite is-- of course, they will be able to tell if you know what they are or not-- you probably have had some exposure to this in class, if you were paying attention and not worrying what you were going to do with your girl friend!!

You can do this-- I continue to have great faith in your skills-- have self confidence and go.

I am still waiting for your resume for review, my previous offer still stands.

 

[californiadude]

about the construction plans, i asked a friend who's a mechanical engineer who says he can show me how to read them.

Interview #1 on tuesday (5/3/11): a local city's public works department. interviewer says i should study up on how to read construction plans for the interview questions. (unpaid)

Interview #2 on Wednesday (5/4/11): a local county position for intern as a traffic engineer (unpaid). it seems like she's willing to start me right away. apparently the current traffic engineer just quit today. she also told me about a position for a paid assistant engineer opening in a month and be expects to hire someone within 2 months. I'm assuming this unpaid intern is probably good way to get my foot in the door for an eventual paid position with this county.

my senior year, i took a graduate course in traffic engineering, as well regular undergrad in highway design. i actually did not like traffic engineering with the traffic modeling and signal optimization stuff. found it kind of tedious, but tolerable. i found highway design to be a little more interesting. i also liked hydraulics too, but never took any courses beyond that. in other words, i suspect the career opportunities are broader in transportation with respect to public works (unsure) than traffic engineering. but if traffic engineering offers a paid position say in 2 mths, is it worth it to take that and then maybe change jobs laterally? or am i thinking too far ahead?

solomonb, what's ur email or how do i send u my resume?

thanks

 

[solomonb]

Dude-- I would not think too far ahead. You may find that what you did in class and what they do in the real world are different. You need to be as open minded and malable as you can-- in other words, if the job is in civil engineering, be very open to exploring it and seeing where it may lead.

Your real education is about to begin-- nothing to take away from school, however, now you are going to put to use that which you learned in school. I think that you may be very plesantly surprised at what the opportunities are for you!!!!

Take all of the options and explore them-- there is a lot to learn-- you can never tell what may happen!

I sent you a private message on how to get ahold of me with your resume. We'll see how it looks.

Good Luck!

 

[SSmith]

I would take a motorcycle trip as far as I could go. Find a part time job when cash gets low and repeat.

There'll be plenty of time down the road to get a desk job to pay down your mortgage and support a family...

 

[californiadude]

Today I had my interview at a local city with the Public Works department. Its population is just under 100k. It was for an unpaid internship. There were 3 engineers (senior, inspector, …) that asked me questions about my school projects, explained to me what I would be doing if I got hired. They also gave me a 30 minute test on reading a construction plan that was totally different than the HVAC drawings my mech eng. Buddy prepped me for. I was given a plan based on the construction of a trail along a highway (about 90 sheets long) I told them this was my first time reading a construction plan and only could answer the questions via logical reasoning not fully on experience or classroom knowledge.

These were the questions http://i.imgur.com/GU24g.jpg

They said there were 3 other fresh grads applying for this same unpaid internship.

They said they mostly check the progress and if the work that contractors do is according to standard. They handle the bids, field measurements etc… not much design, mostly construction management. I asked them about any future fulltime job openings with the city for entry level engineers. They said they don’t know of any coming up, but if it does, as an intern I’d get priority. I’ve taken highway design and surveying in college, I found it fairly interesting.

Tomorrow, I have an interview at a different county, population of 700k. They’re looking for a traffic engineering intern. (unpaid) They’ll probably ask me about Synchro and other traffic simulation software. From the classes I’ve taken, I found it kind of tedious and boring. I’m prepping for the interview by going over the traffic engineering textbook. The county will be hiring a full time assistant traffic engineer within 1 month, and I assume if I get hired and do a good job as an intern I’ll have priority and advantage over other applicants for the full time spot.

My question is, say I get offered the unpaid intern spot at both agencies. Which should I choose? I suspect I like Dept. of public works stuff more than traffic. However traffic eng appears to be more likely to offer chances of a f/t job? How easy is it to transfer to different aspects of civil engineering once working for a county?

I’m also thinking dept. of public works stuff is more broad and diversified and offers more job opportunities rather than a specialized niche such as traffic engineering. i.e. dept of public works guys with that construction inspection background can easily go into the private sector or other public agencies.

 

[picusld]

Today I had my interview at a local city with the Public Works department. Its population is just under 100k. It was for an unpaid internship. There were 3 engineers (senior, inspector, …) that asked me questions about my school projects, explained to me what I would be doing if I got hired. They also gave me a 30 minute test on reading a construction plan that was totally different than the HVAC drawings my mech eng. Buddy prepped me for. I was given a plan based on the construction of a trail along a highway (about 90 sheets long) I told them this was my first time reading a construction plan and only could answer the questions via logical reasoning not fully on experience or classroom knowledge.
These were the questions http://i.imgur.com/GU24g.jpg

They said there were 3 other fresh grads applying for this same unpaid internship.

They said they mostly check the progress and if the work that contractors do is according to standard. They handle the bids, field measurements etc… not much design, mostly construction management. I asked them about any future fulltime job openings with the city for entry level engineers. They said they don’t know of any coming up, but if it does, as an intern I’d get priority. I’ve taken highway design and surveying in college, I found it fairly interesting.

Tomorrow, I have an interview at a different county, population of 700k. They’re looking for a traffic engineering intern. (unpaid) They’ll probably ask me about Synchro and other traffic simulation software. From the classes I’ve taken, I found it kind of tedious and boring. I’m prepping for the interview by going over the traffic engineering textbook. The county will be hiring a full time assistant traffic engineer within 1 month, and I assume if I get hired and do a good job as an intern I’ll have priority and advantage over other applicants for the full time spot.

My question is, say I get offered the unpaid intern spot at both agencies. Which should I choose? I suspect I like Dept. of public works stuff more than traffic. However traffic eng appears to be more likely to offer chances of a f/t job? How easy is it to transfer to different aspects of civil engineering once working for a county?

I’m also thinking dept. of public works stuff is more broad and diversified and offers more job opportunities rather than a specialized niche such as traffic engineering. i.e. dept of public works guys with that construction inspection background can easily go into the private sector or other public agencies.

Pick the one closest to your house. But if had to do it again, I would have gone traffic.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I would take a motorcycle trip as far as I could go. Find a part time job when cash gets low and repeat.

Along Came Bronson was the name of that show, right?

 

[wilheldp_PE]

In your position, I would definitely take the job that had a reasonable chance of getting me a paid job. Then again, I wouldn't even be applying for unpaid internships.