Quote :

"Is your field just dried up right now? I had the hardest time finding the job I ended up getting and it sounds like (based on the emails and the fact that people were lining up to interview with this company after i showed up) a lot of people wanted that one too."

It's mostly my geographic restrictions at the moment: I'll find jobs I'm qualified for, but they're not in the area. People are getting back to me, but it's going a little slower than I expected, that's all.

[Edited on July 13, 2008 at 3:09 AM. Reason : .]

7/13/2008 3:07:42 AM

if any one is interested in moving to the west coast, Brammo is hiring engineers in Oregon. That's the company that was producing the Ariel Atom in the US, apparently that market has dried up and they're working on an electric motorcycle.

Tesla Motors was in the process of replacing their entire staff a couple months ago. I'd imagine they still have some spots available. They have an electric sports car they are bringing to market. I think they are ~1 hr ~50miles south of san francisco, but don't quote me on that.

7/13/2008 11:52:08 AM

http://rim.jobs/

(yes, it's a real link, and it's safe for work)

7/13/2008 6:50:13 PM

I'm working with the DOT for the summer in Utilities Engineering. There is way too much work for the guys working here to handle (10 engineers handling well more than a thousand projects over the next 3-4 years). If they aren't hiring they damn well should be.

The work is creating plans for the moving/replacing/upgrading water and sewer mains in conjunction with any highway rennovations and telling othe utilities (gas/power/telephone/cable) where they can put their stuff. They use Microstation and GeoPak for everything, which are very easy to learn if you don't already have experience.

7/14/2008 8:15:54 PM

yea check the NC job website, the DOT and other agencies are always hiring different types of engineers. You wont get paid as well as in the private sector, but you can put in your 40 and go home.

7/14/2008 10:47:45 PM

my company currently holds DOT contracts with NC and is in talks with a few states surrounding us for Bridge Inspections

I actually go out there and take pictures of what's wrong and measure the entire bridge and its foundation, not bad

i think we're getting ready to hire, keep checking the website

http://www.fdhengineering.com/home/

7/14/2008 11:27:18 PM

Mid-Atlantic Crane & Equipment has an opening for an engineering intern doing drafting GC 120 -type stuff for $12/hour. PM me if you're interested.

7/15/2008 4:27:18 PM

Accepted a position today with a firm just north of Durham. They do boiler feedwater systems, de-aerators, and condensate recovery systems.

7/17/2008 8:48:04 PM

hey gratz.

7/17/2008 8:55:02 PM

^^^^link doesn't work.

^^awesome! good luck!

[Edited on July 17, 2008 at 9:10 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on July 17, 2008 at 9:10 PM. Reason : can't count]

7/17/2008 9:09:00 PM

^^^ Sweet! You're free to come back to the RDU area now.

7/17/2008 9:56:40 PM

Yes I am. I'll be starting my new job on August 11th.

I still have a lot of work to do before I move back. Already have a house to rent, and I didn't bring much stuff down here, so I don't have much to move. I'm looking forward to this.

7/17/2008 10:17:32 PM

sent out about seven resumes so far, and not one call back

7/17/2008 10:34:51 PM

I'm a ME looking for a job too. I just finished reading the thread. I'm having a tough time finding anything entry-level myself. Jamie, you're working at Fluor?

7/17/2008 10:48:08 PM

Drovkin, I've sent out about 40 resumes and I've only gotten about 4 calls/emails.

[Edited on July 17, 2008 at 10:52 PM. Reason : ]

7/17/2008 10:51:42 PM

I was gonna say, you're gonna need to send out more than 7.

And you need to keep plugging. Get some resume advice from friends, professors, professionals, etc. Do NOT leave one stone unturned. Keep refining it...remember, in this day and age, it's presentation that gets you in the door. And that resume, especially with the rage over career sites and such, is your "For Sale" sign. Do you want one of those cheap-ass two-dolla signs they sell at Walmart? On the other hand, too flashy or misleading is just like having to sit through a bad infomercial. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE, YOU'D BETTER BRUSH UP ON 'EM.

Once you start getting calls, you may or may not get interviews. When you do, that's your moment to shine, to sell yourself. Be truthful, but don't be self-deprecating. And always follow up with a thank-you email, call, or letter to the person(s) with whom you interviewed.

For the record, I found my job on craigslist. They are there, you just gotta keep plugging.

7/17/2008 10:58:21 PM

zx, how long after you submitted your resume did it take the company to respond? I've found that it is taking HR departments a very long time to respond.

7/17/2008 11:00:42 PM

some took longer than six weeks. A few contacted me within several days.

7/17/2008 11:06:14 PM

Another thing: Make sure to send out a cover letter.

You don't necessarily have to completely re-write your cover letter for each job you apply to. Let's face it, you're finding most of these jobs on a website and sending an email to them, and you don't know very much about the company you're applying to. The job descriptions you read may be really similar, and each one will probably seek a lot of the same characteristics. There will be a few things that are different from job to job that you can change in the cover letter to make it seem a little more personalized. If a real human being made the job post (and it's not just a post on behalf of so and so company, you've got the name of a recruiter to address the letter to), then put their name down in the greeting (Hello Mr/Mrs Vaginasauce,). Make sure that if there are any keywords listed in the job posting that you put those into your cover letter if you have that skill.

Do not over-embellish your resume or cover letter. Don't put anything on there you can't back up in some way, as if you're asked to prove that experience after you're hired and they find out you're lying they will likely fire you on the spot. Just be honest and put down everything you've done. Don't be afraid to talk up something a little bit, but don't lie straight through your teeth (for example: it's ok to say that you were asked to put something together for a meeting and present it, even if you didn't really contribute to what was going on in the meeting and just sat there (having already presented your data)).

Don't be afraid to be honest with an employer about why you didn't go back to a previous company if it was left on favorable terms. If you don't want to be honest about what happened (and there are plenty of reasons for this, like if you just don't want to say your boss was a jerk) then come up with a valid reason that you can give them without delay (I left because I needed to work more on school my senior year, or I left because working retail was too stressful for me at the time). Make sure to tell your employer if you were regularly training new hires (at most jobs you probably have done this without realizing it), or if you were doing anything that would've been above and beyond regular job duties. Talk about what that job did for you that was useful (like in retail you can certainly say you built up some communication skills and learned to be patient and how to deal with customer service problems).

I figure most people have the interviewing skills part down, but I really have found that if I just go in there and talk with my employer casually and comfortably about my work experience and answer their questions in a straightforward manner (while making sure to avoid a lot of fumbling pauses and to avoid saying things that make me sound like an inbred jackass) that they are usually pleased and want me to come back. Before I tried this I just tried letting the other person feed me the questions moreso and asked a few simple questions about the company and what they did. That didn't go over too well and it was as awkward as if I had just farted (or, dare I say, sharted).

Oh yeah, the one page resume rule seems to ring true for graduates, in my opinion. I got very few replies when sending out my two page resume (I used a bullet format that made the thing longer), but when I condensed it down to one page by replacing experience bullets with one section listing the skills and things I learned at each job and another section for each job with a two or three sentence summary I got more replies and got an immediate offer for an interview after I applied at one job. I did send out a customized cover letter with this job that offered me the interview. I went in for the interview, followed the "keep it cool and keep talking" guidelines I wrote about above and they canceled the other interviews and sent me an offer letter the next business day after they told me they wanted to hire me. Granted I am a bit overqualified for the job, so to speak (it's a CE intern position and I already have a degree), it was more of how I presented and carried myself in the interview that got me that job (not being a cocky bastard but explaining honestly why I wanted to work there and what my intentions were impressed them towards the end of the interview, and I think that sold them on me).

So yeah, that's my bit (10,000 words) of advice. I'll try to condense it down more if people have more specific questions. Also, if you're really concerned that your resume or your cover letters suck for the jobs you're applying for, just post the text here (with the important bits removed for privacy, if you like) and I'm sure people could give you some pointers. It took me until just this summer to find out a working formula of a resume that actually got decent replies, and I've been revising it a little bit every month for several semesters.

Hopefully more good news will pop up in this thread soon!

[Edited on July 17, 2008 at 11:50 PM. Reason : god damn i make some long posts]

7/17/2008 11:50:09 PM

Quote :

"I'm a ME looking for a job too. I just finished reading the thread. I'm having a tough time finding anything entry-level myself. Jamie, you're working at Fluor?"

Yes I am. Been here a little over a year now.

7/18/2008 4:14:18 AM

Quote :

"I was gonna say, you're gonna need to send out more than 7."

Sorry, I meant I've only found 7 openings in the Greensboro area

I just bought a house here, so yes, I am stuck here and I'm not willing to relocate

7/18/2008 8:31:51 AM

Wow, there is really nothing biting at all in Greensboro

At least for MEs

7/25/2008 1:32:09 PM

Guess I got pretty damn lucky. I consider myself so anyway.

7/25/2008 2:52:06 PM

Drovkin, how is the job hunt going? I'm having terrible luck with recruiters.

7/28/2008 5:09:29 PM

Same

a few recruiters contact me, but then fall through

I'm just gonna keep pluggin along at my current spot until something pops up I suppose

7/28/2008 9:38:07 PM

Just thought I'd post an update here about my first day at my new job. I work at RMF engineering now, and they are an electrical/mechanical/civil design firm that designs a lot of different things. My department (civil) mostly deals with steam tunnels and utilities hookups for urbanized areas like university campuses and such. Should be a sweet internship that will last into the fall, and I got all my nifty corporate things today (I was amazed that within two hours of starting my job I had a key to the office and an electronic pass-card for the building).

So far it looks like I'm helping put out a few fires that have been developing at the company, as they were running a little shorthanded today. I love the environment and the people that work there are pretty damned awesome. It's in RTP, pretty much, and the working hours let me get to/from work when there isn't a ton of traffic. The work itself should also be pretty interesting, too. The company has something of a niche market for the work they're doing right now, and they are doing a bunch of work in the area. For example, the gigantic pile of dirt at the vet school was their doing. Just posting some good news to boost the spirits in this thread. There's jobs out there, you just have to keep plugging away.

You all are holding intermediate jobs in the meantime, right? Is anybody just floating along on savings, inbetween jobs?

7/28/2008 10:00:22 PM

Yeah, I have a job right now, but unfortunately the company is not doing well, and about 2 weeks ago the president said in our weekly meeting "most other firms in our situation would probably be laying people off right now"

not a good sign

I am the third engineer, and honestly I think they could probably very effectively get by with two, or probably even one with the work load. So I'm looking pretty hard, being proactive.

I have a feeling though that it looks like I'm a jumper on my resume. Worked at my first job just over a year, and I've only been here 9 months, but I refuse to just "stick it out" and hope for the best, and end up getting laid off because of budget cuts.

We have unpaid bills to suppliers (upper management's solution is "find other suppliers"), we haven't paid our rent in three months, and some of the upper level people are having to put off their paychecks when the 1st and 15th roll around, because there's no money.

fantastic.

7/29/2008 8:32:04 AM

Drovkin, what places have you been lookin at in Greensboro? Have you interviewed at any? I was trying to get a job at Volvo and the recruiter I contacted told me that for the position I was lookin at won't hire you unless you have Pro-E experience. I have Solidworks experience and have completed classes but they wouldn't take a second look at my resume.

7/29/2008 9:28:55 AM

Michael, I remember you from ME at State. Are you looking in Greensboro for a job too?

7/29/2008 9:46:29 AM

^are you Chris? I knew that I should remember who had this SN but I couldn't figure it out.

7/29/2008 9:49:32 AM

I've mostly been looking at manufacturing firms. I started in manufacturing, moved to consulting, and think I enjoyed manufacturing more. There's more contact when you're an engineer in a manufacturing firm, and you get to actually see what your designing being fabricated. Plus, most of the time, warehouse workers are awesome to talk to, lol.

Seriously though, I haven't had any interviews, and not one call back either. I'm not desperately sending out my resume to every single job posting on CB/Monster/CL yet, because I want this next job to really stick. I really want to accrue some vacation time, move up in the ranks, and really become an "expert" somewhere. The problem with mechanical is that it's SO broad, you've got to find a niche and stick with it. I've gone from heat transfer manufacturing, to HVAC consulting design, and now I'm trying to get back into manufacturing, and it's won't be at my first job, so it won't be heat transfer again.

I also am lacking in Pro/E experience, but I'm very interested in learning. Actually, coming out of state, SolidWorks was the only program I had worked on. Here I am working in AutoCAD, but only 2D (top down planning for buildings), and Pro/E is of course 3D product design mostly. I'm going to have to find a company that's willing to invest some time in me to train me properly on these programs, and I have a feeling that's not the attitude right now.

Plus, because of the financial situation at my job now, I doubt very seriously we will see raises next month (August to August year), and I'm not someone that expects a raise, but I would like my salary to at least keep up with inflation. And the way that food and gas have gone up, no raise at all is really going to hurt the wallet. Luckily the wife just got a new job with about a 24% raise, so that's helping us out now.

7/29/2008 9:50:14 AM

Yep, it's me Jamie. Chris with the weird last name

7/29/2008 9:50:18 AM

haha cool. Hope the search goes well for you man, I know it is frustrating. If there is anything at all coming through our career center I would look there if you are not already. I got some good leads from that.

7/29/2008 9:51:37 AM

Thanks Jamie. Drovkin, I've noticed a lot of positions wanting Pro/E experience also. I feel shorted coming from NC State where all we learned was SolidWorks. That should be changed in the curriculum to make State grads more competitive. With the way the market is, I feel like no one wants to spend the time or money training a newcomer in Pro/E.

7/29/2008 9:53:55 AM

Basically, as an engineer, all college does is teach you how to work through a problem.

Everything you actually learn has been researched a million times, and programmed into a button you click to do the calculation. About 80% of the things I did in my ME class has now been made pointless. Sure, I understand the method behind the calculation, but I didn't need to do 100s of problems with those formulas for any reason.

But, gotta have that paper, or else it's even harder to get your foot in the door anywhere.

7/29/2008 9:57:03 AM

^ Very true.

7/29/2008 9:57:51 AM

Quote :

"If there is anything at all coming through our career center I would look there if you are not already. I got some good leads from that."

Can't you only use that as a student?

7/29/2008 9:58:41 AM

thought you still could for 6 months or something. Could be wrong though. I could still log into it after I graduated for awhile, and if I could log in I don't know why I wouldn't have been able to sign up for a slot

7/29/2008 10:01:25 AM

oh, well I graduated 2 years ago, so that's not much of a help, lol

I didn't mean using it for onsite interviews, I just didn't know if companies still posted jobs to it or not

7/29/2008 10:02:06 AM

Mindstorm, I don't have a job right now. I'm job searching full time. It's hard waiting around all day for phone calls/emails.

[Edited on July 29, 2008 at 10:03 AM. Reason : ]

7/29/2008 10:03:11 AM

And about Pro/E, it really just depends on your area of work. I don't think I'll ever have to touch Pro/E unless I change industries. What kind of areas are you looking at Chris?

7/29/2008 10:05:46 AM

^^ Did you just graduate? Or did you have a job and lose it by one means or another?

7/29/2008 10:06:35 AM

Design, manufacturing, testing. I'm really open to anything. I've had a few interviews, but they didn't go very well.

7/29/2008 10:07:06 AM

Drovkin, I stayed an extra year after I graduated in ME to try and get a second BS degree, but my finances kind of fell through with loans and such, so I moved back home with the parents. So here I am now.

7/29/2008 10:08:29 AM

Ah ok, yea I could see that kind of software being used a lot there then. I was more interested in Power/Utilities/HVAC etc. - ie thermo side of ME. I am not that familiar with companies out there in the stuff you were looking for. GE here in greenville, sc does that with Turbines.

7/29/2008 10:10:16 AM

Ah, that's unfortunate, sorry to hear about that.

Yeah, I used a recruiter and had him send my resume out to about 5 or 6 companies the week before the 4th of July, and I haven't heard a peep out of any of them. And I've applied to some on careerbuilder as well, with not a sound.

I agree, it's very frustrating.

7/29/2008 10:11:08 AM

I'm logged in to ePack right now. Not much is going on in the way of jobs for MEs to be honest.

7/29/2008 10:11:18 AM

Drovkin, sorry to hear about your situation. I know that must be scary to hear about lay-offs at work. I am just fortunate that I have parents that allowed me to move back home because there is no way I could afford rent right now without a job. I'm considering just working up at an automotive repair shop for the time being to just make some money.

7/29/2008 10:14:11 AM

Hey Chris. Yeah I've been looking in the Greensboro area. I had an interview with an company last week and I'm hopefully going to hear back from them this week. I've been looking for about 2 months now. The company I work for got bought out and my position has changed. I've been on a couple of other interviews before this one. I interviewed with the Shaw Group in Aiken SC and got actually a really good offer, but didn't take it. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I know Shaw has alot of positions open in the Carolina's if that might be something you want to look at.

7/29/2008 11:39:25 AM

What company in Greensboro do you have an interview with if you don't mind me asking?

7/29/2008 11:46:24 AM