Where do I find graduates who want a job?
Discussion
jamieduff1981 said:
We must be living in a bubble here because we’re always looking for graduates and experienced professionals. Those without degrees are basically useless to us because as an engineering company our employees are required to have a level of technical understanding that you only get from university. Some of our project controls people don’t need degrees, but those who do have degrees in management etc are of little more use than those without degrees. The best of our project controls people are those with a technical and management qualification to their name, as you might expect.
In general in our industry, the value of experience starts to wear off above around the mid-late 40s as our personnel get financially too comfortable and frankly lazy. Our best people are generally in their 30s – enough experience to stand on their own two feet, but still young and hungry enough to care.
Study something useful (like engineering) and you can’t go wrong really. I’d always prefer a graduate to a school leaver all else being equal, but some degree courses are pretty useless. What university does teach however is resourcefulness. A graduate will generally be able to work out where to look for information than a school leaver, because irrespective of the course subject, that’s what all degrees have in common.
We are currently looking for one, maybe two multi disciplined Project Design Engineers to join our thriving Engineering company (located in Macclesfield, Cheshire) and using the services (or not as the case maybe) of 3 well know recruitment companies, with very limited success. In general in our industry, the value of experience starts to wear off above around the mid-late 40s as our personnel get financially too comfortable and frankly lazy. Our best people are generally in their 30s – enough experience to stand on their own two feet, but still young and hungry enough to care.
Study something useful (like engineering) and you can’t go wrong really. I’d always prefer a graduate to a school leaver all else being equal, but some degree courses are pretty useless. What university does teach however is resourcefulness. A graduate will generally be able to work out where to look for information than a school leaver, because irrespective of the course subject, that’s what all degrees have in common.
According to one of the recruiters, a new poll has suggested that people looking for jobs in the engineering industry may not be putting themselves forward enough.The research was carried out by the Engineering Employers' Federation and found that three-quarters of firms are struggling to find staff with adequate skills.
Is their a job shortage??? I'd say a skills shortage - do you know of any good, enthusiastic engineers with AutoCAD and projecting skills? Please do let me know!
Graham
GPM3D said:
We are currently looking for one, maybe two multi disciplined Project Design Engineers to join our thriving Engineering company (located in Macclesfield, Cheshire) and using the services (or not as the case maybe) of 3 well know recruitment companies, with very limited success.
According to one of the recruiters, a new poll has suggested that people looking for jobs in the engineering industry may not be putting themselves forward enough.The research was carried out by the Engineering Employers' Federation and found that three-quarters of firms are struggling to find staff with adequate skills.
Is their a job shortage??? I'd say a skills shortage - do you know of any good, enthusiastic engineers with AutoCAD and projecting skills? Please do let me know!
Graham
I have nothing to add...except...nice Speedster! According to one of the recruiters, a new poll has suggested that people looking for jobs in the engineering industry may not be putting themselves forward enough.The research was carried out by the Engineering Employers' Federation and found that three-quarters of firms are struggling to find staff with adequate skills.
Is their a job shortage??? I'd say a skills shortage - do you know of any good, enthusiastic engineers with AutoCAD and projecting skills? Please do let me know!
Graham
GPM3D said:
We are currently looking for one, maybe two multi disciplined Project Design Engineers to join our thriving Engineering company (located in Macclesfield, Cheshire) and using the services (or not as the case maybe) of 3 well know recruitment companies, with very limited success.
According to one of the recruiters, a new poll has suggested that people looking for jobs in the engineering industry may not be putting themselves forward enough.The research was carried out by the Engineering Employers' Federation and found that three-quarters of firms are struggling to find staff with adequate skills.
Is their a job shortage??? I'd say a skills shortage - do you know of any good, enthusiastic engineers with AutoCAD and projecting skills? Please do let me know!
Graham
have you tried the big design and engineering unis? According to one of the recruiters, a new poll has suggested that people looking for jobs in the engineering industry may not be putting themselves forward enough.The research was carried out by the Engineering Employers' Federation and found that three-quarters of firms are struggling to find staff with adequate skills.
Is their a job shortage??? I'd say a skills shortage - do you know of any good, enthusiastic engineers with AutoCAD and projecting skills? Please do let me know!
Graham
I left uni with the skills to fill your role and so did most of my faculty, we were often sent jobs through the course office who would then collate interested grads and send the cvs off in bulk direct to the employer
I'm assuming that it's the wrong time of year to approach the Uni's as last years grad's are already (hopefully) in employment, and next years leavers studying hard to get a 1st!
As Jamieduff noted - the best (read keenest) people will probably be in their 30's, with qualifications and experience; but I'm open minded. Just need applicants!!
G
As Jamieduff noted - the best (read keenest) people will probably be in their 30's, with qualifications and experience; but I'm open minded. Just need applicants!!
G
z4chris99 said:
have you tried the big design and engineering unis?
I left uni with the skills to fill your role and so did most of my faculty, we were often sent jobs through the course office who would then collate interested grads and send the cvs off in bulk direct to the employer
Most of the interviews and offers I got were through my Uni careers website. Strangely, the job I decided to take in the end came from a recruitment agency. For what it's worth, I graduated in July, and am in my 6th week of work for my company now in my field of study. I left uni with the skills to fill your role and so did most of my faculty, we were often sent jobs through the course office who would then collate interested grads and send the cvs off in bulk direct to the employer
I graduated with a 2-1 Masters in Civil and Structural Engineering.
When I was in the UK I ran a design department in the Midlands. We looked for a number of product designers through the local press and recruitment firms but they never produced anything / anyone reasonable at a reasonable rate.
By far and away the best thing we did was to phone the design departments at the local universities.
We interviewed half a dozen Coventry Uni students and any of them would have got the job if they were the only applicant from the university. They were all very well presented, had clearly learned a lot at uni and were all keen.
In the end it just came down to who I thought I could work with best.
The lad had moved from Hertfordshire to Coventry to go to uni and then moved to Staffordshire to work for us.
By far and away the best thing we did was to phone the design departments at the local universities.
We interviewed half a dozen Coventry Uni students and any of them would have got the job if they were the only applicant from the university. They were all very well presented, had clearly learned a lot at uni and were all keen.
In the end it just came down to who I thought I could work with best.
The lad had moved from Hertfordshire to Coventry to go to uni and then moved to Staffordshire to work for us.
z4chris99 said:
Being a pedant you can't get a 2.1 in a masters, it's pass merit and distinction...
Undergraduate degrees are graded with the First - Pass system
It was an amalgamated BEng/MEng so even though I was doing my Masters I was still an undergrad. That's how they said they graded it anyway and what it says on my certificate. Did exactly the same modules as the MSc students though and the course length was the same.Undergraduate degrees are graded with the First - Pass system
Edited by Steameh on Tuesday 4th December 06:11
z4chris99 said:
Being a pedant you can't get a 2.1 in a masters, it's pass merit and distinction...
Undergraduate degrees are graded with the First - Pass system
it could have been an MEng i.e.oneo f the 4 / 5 year undergraduate degrees with the finalyear at NQF 7 increasingly needed to get full exemption from the academic bits of CEngUndergraduate degrees are graded with the First - Pass system
jamieduff1981 said:
We must be living in a bubble here because we’re always looking for graduates and experienced professionals. Those without degrees are basically useless to us because as an engineering company our employees are required to have a level of technical understanding that you only get from university. Some of our project controls people don’t need degrees, but those who do have degrees in management etc are of little more use than those without degrees. The best of our project controls people are those with a technical and management qualification to their name, as you might expect.
In general in our industry, the value of experience starts to wear off above around the mid-late 40s as our personnel get financially too comfortable and frankly lazy. Our best people are generally in their 30s – enough experience to stand on their own two feet, but still young and hungry enough to care.
Study something useful (like engineering) and you can’t go wrong really. I’d always prefer a graduate to a school leaver all else being equal, but some degree courses are pretty useless. What university does teach however is resourcefulness. A graduate will generally be able to work out where to look for information than a school leaver, because irrespective of the course subject, that’s what all degrees have in common.
Relevance to the OP?In general in our industry, the value of experience starts to wear off above around the mid-late 40s as our personnel get financially too comfortable and frankly lazy. Our best people are generally in their 30s – enough experience to stand on their own two feet, but still young and hungry enough to care.
Study something useful (like engineering) and you can’t go wrong really. I’d always prefer a graduate to a school leaver all else being equal, but some degree courses are pretty useless. What university does teach however is resourcefulness. A graduate will generally be able to work out where to look for information than a school leaver, because irrespective of the course subject, that’s what all degrees have in common.
einsign said:
We would like to take on and train a couple of graduates in customer services and sales/marketing roles
Pothole said:
Even more laughable is the term 'graduate calibre'. WTF?
Perfectly reasonable term especially say in engineering where you have IEngs who depending on their age could have anything from a HNC to a BEng -reflecting the minimum qualification needed for academic exemption from the EngC.also doesn't put off people with HNDs or a Desmond /Richard
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