How to find a job for a new engineering graduate
Discussion
The Chevalier de Recci said:
If anyone has any tips they would be hugely appreciated.
My son is graduating shortly and wants to find a job and I have no idea how to advise / help him. I've never applied for a job as my Dad got me my first nearly 40 years ago and I've always been quite happy to bumble along.
He has been fortunate to be blessed with his mother's intellect and has always been someone to who mathematics and exams generally were easy and will be graduating with a BSc in Aeronautics. He has been an A* student right through school and took his A levels early and then did some more. Stupidly he will probably end up with a 2:1 as he thinks he has messed up his last year project by following an interest rather than sticking to the brief and alienating his project tutor.
How can he get considered by some interesting companies. Should he just write to some or is it a case of looking at job adverts. If the latter then where is a good place to look. Do job agencies have any interest in fresh graduates or are they only looking for experience. Is it worth paying to have a CV written by a professional company even though there is not much to say as other than studying he just plays computer games.
What would get him noticed and invited for interview rather than just put in the maybe pile with hundreds of others.
It all seems very daunting and without any instruction manual.
Any insights welcomed.
\Can you pm me i work for an engineering company and we have roles we urgently need to fill, based in hungerford so about an hr from bristolMy son is graduating shortly and wants to find a job and I have no idea how to advise / help him. I've never applied for a job as my Dad got me my first nearly 40 years ago and I've always been quite happy to bumble along.
He has been fortunate to be blessed with his mother's intellect and has always been someone to who mathematics and exams generally were easy and will be graduating with a BSc in Aeronautics. He has been an A* student right through school and took his A levels early and then did some more. Stupidly he will probably end up with a 2:1 as he thinks he has messed up his last year project by following an interest rather than sticking to the brief and alienating his project tutor.
How can he get considered by some interesting companies. Should he just write to some or is it a case of looking at job adverts. If the latter then where is a good place to look. Do job agencies have any interest in fresh graduates or are they only looking for experience. Is it worth paying to have a CV written by a professional company even though there is not much to say as other than studying he just plays computer games.
What would get him noticed and invited for interview rather than just put in the maybe pile with hundreds of others.
It all seems very daunting and without any instruction manual.
Any insights welcomed.
The Chevalier de Recci said:
Unfortunately his uni careers department were not too helpful and so far have only issued an automated response saying they are busy and will get back to him when staffing levels increase.
My son is hoping to get in to Loughborough to do Automotive engineering -n they were at great pains to highlight the support offered to students both for placements and post grad employment.Your son's uni sounds pretty sh*t on that front - where is he?
Ranger 6 said:
My son is hoping to get in to Loughborough to do Automotive engineering -n they were at great pains to highlight the support offered to students both for placements and post grad employment.
Your son's uni sounds pretty sh*t on that front - where is he?
I think they all say things up front that they don't back up later in that regard.Your son's uni sounds pretty sh*t on that front - where is he?
The interesting thing was that another Uni, his second choice, quoted that a couple of years ago they had a graduate in every team on the F1 pitlane.
I would hope that with the reputations these places have they'd take some time to support their students in finding a decent job after graduation - after all they're measured on it.
I would hope that with the reputations these places have they'd take some time to support their students in finding a decent job after graduation - after all they're measured on it.
Ranger 6 said:
The interesting thing was that another Uni, his second choice, quoted that a couple of years ago they had a graduate in every team on the F1 pitlane.
I would hope that with the reputations these places have they'd take some time to support their students in finding a decent job after graduation - after all they're measured on it.
Exactly this, it should be an integral part of the ‘offer’. not here’s your certificate, go find some high quality employment, good luck!I would hope that with the reputations these places have they'd take some time to support their students in finding a decent job after graduation - after all they're measured on it.
Sporky said:
Ranger 6 said:
My son is hoping to get in to Loughborough to do Automotive engineering -n they were at great pains to highlight the support offered to students both for placements and post grad employment.
Your son's uni sounds pretty sh*t on that front - where is he?
I think they all say things up front that they don't back up later in that regard.Your son's uni sounds pretty sh*t on that front - where is he?
He did astronautics at Southampton.
Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. Gradcracker seems a goldmine of links and even where the actual jobs are not a good fit it gives him company names to work with etc.
The suggestions from others both on here and by pm are also looking good and have given ideas we would never have thought of.
He is going to be very busy writing cover letters and filling in applications for a few weeks now I think.
The suggestion given to actually get on the phone and follow up every application is also going to be used as I suspect with so many chasing the jobs every little nudge will count to get noticed.
Thanks
The suggestions from others both on here and by pm are also looking good and have given ideas we would never have thought of.
He is going to be very busy writing cover letters and filling in applications for a few weeks now I think.
The suggestion given to actually get on the phone and follow up every application is also going to be used as I suspect with so many chasing the jobs every little nudge will count to get noticed.
Thanks
RR has a graduate programme. Tough competition though.
There is also the nuclear grads programme - again tough competition.... Not just academic either. All the ones I've come across are highly competent and confident.
Most grad programmes look for life skills as well - academic prowess is a given and there's a lot of competition from clever grads.
There is also the nuclear grads programme - again tough competition.... Not just academic either. All the ones I've come across are highly competent and confident.
Most grad programmes look for life skills as well - academic prowess is a given and there's a lot of competition from clever grads.
That does sound poor at Soton. My own institution, which may well be Ranger 6 Jnr's second choice, does the following and most of it happened this year virtually:
- Regular careers sessions as part of the personal tutorial schedule in all years of study (CV checks, career path exercises etc.). Students can talk to their personal tutors at anytime about careers.
- Dedicated engineering discipline careers events with discipline specific companies coming along to promote themselves as an employer and deliver some generic careers presentations.
- Dedicated careers tutor in each Dept. to act as coordinators, first point of contact, and be the '...with a Year in Industry' course(s) leader.
- Dedicated careers team (5 people at the moment) for the Faculty who support students getting placements and grad jobs.
- Two skills weeks in 1st/2nd year with a strong emphasis on non-academic skills.
- Support as many extra-curricular engineering activities as we can.
- Plus the usual institution-wide general Careers Office support and careers events, and access to the careers support for a couple of years after graduation.
We certainly get good feedback from employers about all of this and we have a decent record of getting students placements and grad jobs in all the major engineering employers and many SMEs.
AFAIK Loughborough do a good job with this stuff.
- Regular careers sessions as part of the personal tutorial schedule in all years of study (CV checks, career path exercises etc.). Students can talk to their personal tutors at anytime about careers.
- Dedicated engineering discipline careers events with discipline specific companies coming along to promote themselves as an employer and deliver some generic careers presentations.
- Dedicated careers tutor in each Dept. to act as coordinators, first point of contact, and be the '...with a Year in Industry' course(s) leader.
- Dedicated careers team (5 people at the moment) for the Faculty who support students getting placements and grad jobs.
- Two skills weeks in 1st/2nd year with a strong emphasis on non-academic skills.
- Support as many extra-curricular engineering activities as we can.
- Plus the usual institution-wide general Careers Office support and careers events, and access to the careers support for a couple of years after graduation.
We certainly get good feedback from employers about all of this and we have a decent record of getting students placements and grad jobs in all the major engineering employers and many SMEs.
AFAIK Loughborough do a good job with this stuff.
The Chevalier de Recci said:
Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. Gradcracker seems a goldmine of links and even where the actual jobs are not a good fit it gives him company names to work with etc.
The suggestions from others both on here and by pm are also looking good and have given ideas we would never have thought of.
He is going to be very busy writing cover letters and filling in applications for a few weeks now I think.
The suggestion given to actually get on the phone and follow up every application is also going to be used as I suspect with so many chasing the jobs every little nudge will count to get noticed.
Thanks
Has he contacted his old tutor and/or final year project supervisor (or similar)? They might be able to help with getting access to the support services (and act as a referee, of course).The suggestions from others both on here and by pm are also looking good and have given ideas we would never have thought of.
He is going to be very busy writing cover letters and filling in applications for a few weeks now I think.
The suggestion given to actually get on the phone and follow up every application is also going to be used as I suspect with so many chasing the jobs every little nudge will count to get noticed.
Thanks
vaud said:
Ha I remember that course... which year?
First year it ran - 93 I think? I'd accepted a place to do MechEng at Loughborough but reconsidered during my gap year (I got onto the Year in Industry scheme for that). York had the Music Technology degree at the time, but you needed an instrument grade 8. I had a chat with someone in EEng and they mentioned they were considering an EE degree with audio related modules. I like to think I helped tip the balance... Sporky said:
First year it ran - 93 I think? I'd accepted a place to do MechEng at Loughborough but reconsidered during my gap year (I got onto the Year in Industry scheme for that). York had the Music Technology degree at the time, but you needed an instrument grade 8. I had a chat with someone in EEng and they mentioned they were considering an EE degree with audio related modules. I like to think I helped tip the balance...
Ahh.. I was there 95-99... more compsci but friends in physics and electronics. Loved my time there.The first question I would have is why he has a BSc and not a MEng or at least a BEng. If it is just a typo and he has a BEng then really he wants to do an MEng or at least an MSc in order to work in many engineering fields. An MEng or MSc is most common now for people having graduated in the last 10-20 years that want to work in engineering and it would set him at a disadvantage. I work in engineering consultancy and unfortunately we wouldn’t consider a graduate without a masters (only somebody with many years of experience in a useful field), although we used to only accept firsts and now consider 2:1 grades too.
I also don’t remember reading but if he’s graduating now then he will have missed the graduation recruitment phase for the majority of companies now for the year. It starts earlier in the final year.
He needs to decide what he enjoys. If he enjoys the practical side he could get an operational role (as a technician with an engineering degree) which could result in him making good progress as he understands the engineering behind the equipment. If he wants to be more of engineer then he is likely to need to get a masters in my experience.
I also don’t remember reading but if he’s graduating now then he will have missed the graduation recruitment phase for the majority of companies now for the year. It starts earlier in the final year.
He needs to decide what he enjoys. If he enjoys the practical side he could get an operational role (as a technician with an engineering degree) which could result in him making good progress as he understands the engineering behind the equipment. If he wants to be more of engineer then he is likely to need to get a masters in my experience.
pghstochaj said:
The first question I would have is why he has a BSc and not a MEng or at least a BEng. If it is just a typo and he has a BEng then really he wants to do an MEng or at least an MSc in order to work in many engineering fields. An MEng or MSc is most common now for people having graduated in the last 10-20 years that want to work in engineering and it would set him at a disadvantage. I work in engineering consultancy and unfortunately we wouldn’t consider a graduate without a masters (only somebody with many years of experience in a useful field), although we used to only accept firsts and now consider 2:1 grades too.
I believe the Aeronautics courses are BEng/MEng at Soton.Bristol is a good area to be in for a graduate scientist/engineer. As you are no doubt aware, you have Airbus, Rolls-Royce, MBDA, GKN, Atkins and Frazer Nash all in close proximity. Leonardo (Formerly Westland Helicopters) are in Yeovil.
Having done a degree in astronautics, it would be a shame for your son not to make use of the specific knowledge he has acquired. Have you and your son looked at the space careers website? Space Careers
Meeting and talking to people in science and engineering is a great way to find out what is going on and to make connections. Obviously Covid-19 restrictions will reduce the number of lectures going at the moment, however the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, (IMechE), Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) all have lectures (some on Zoom at the moment). I worked at Airbus Filton for a while, and regularly attended IMechE and RAeS lectures despite not being a member of either.
A list of space companies with UK sites can be found here: UKSpace
In addition there are companies such as Prismatic Ltd, which make high altitude UAVs, for which space knowledge is relevant. Most of their workforce is made up of recent graduates: Prismatic Ltd
Having done a degree in astronautics, it would be a shame for your son not to make use of the specific knowledge he has acquired. Have you and your son looked at the space careers website? Space Careers
Meeting and talking to people in science and engineering is a great way to find out what is going on and to make connections. Obviously Covid-19 restrictions will reduce the number of lectures going at the moment, however the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, (IMechE), Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) all have lectures (some on Zoom at the moment). I worked at Airbus Filton for a while, and regularly attended IMechE and RAeS lectures despite not being a member of either.
A list of space companies with UK sites can be found here: UKSpace
In addition there are companies such as Prismatic Ltd, which make high altitude UAVs, for which space knowledge is relevant. Most of their workforce is made up of recent graduates: Prismatic Ltd
Edited by GliderRider on Thursday 17th June 20:30
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