I have a masters degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering University (GPA 3.4), a BS in Civil Engineering (GPA 3.8), registration as an Engineer-In-Training and OSHA training.
I did my bachelors in the best college in the city and my masters in the 20 ranked university in America. I have never ranked below top 4 in my class in the last six years. I have done numerous internships and worked part time as a full time student.
When I completed my undergraduate degree I had 2 jobs but decided to continue for my masters. I have been applying for jobs since January with less than five interviews.
I have really begun to lose hope and have been depressed & even suicidal for a while now, but for some reason I keep applying online. I tried monster, careerbuilder, many other sites and have even picked up phonebooks and emailed my resume with customized cover letters to all employers in more than 25 states.
Everywhere I look they are looking for people with 10 years experience, PE licenses and want to pay them $50,000/yr.
I m totally bumped out, I hate the Engineering community now. Not a day goes by when I don’t feel like ending it all.
What do I do? Am I doomed?
I have three years experience not ten
look in here
http://www.thingamajob.com/Job-Search-Results.aspx?searchType=4&domain=engineering
Guru
Posted on September 4th, 2009 by roy
Filed under: OSHA Training
You sound like a fairly smart individual. I want you to go away from this question (particularly, your posted question), and come back in three days. When you read it again in three days, you’ll see how silly you sound.
1. The current economy is such that you can have a dozen degrees and still you might not find a job.
2. I’m not privied to your job-hunting history. I don’t know where, when, and how have you been looking for a job. I will only say that many people I know, friends and acquaintances, are quite stubborn about what they believe they can or cannot do. Do you have blind spots in terms of your career goals? (Blind spots is defined as truths you refuse to accept.)
3. Based on my twenty plus years of experience in engineering, I must say that experience will trump alphabets behind the name any day! Having had ten years of experience puts you about three notches above entry level. Also, what type of experiences have you had in the past ten years? If you’ve worked on two five-year projects, the ten years means less than the guy who’s worked on five two-two year projects. If you’ve done water, wastewater, landfill, land development, federal, state, local, private sector projects, then you might have a legitimate gripe.
4. From my personal observation in the past year, as the entire world’s economy shrinks, the public works sector California has been sustaining and even growing a little. I just hired five people in the past six months. I’m the principal engineer for a small, 30-people firm. We went from 25 to 30 people since January 2009.
Keep looking. Change pasture to graze. Rewrite your resume. Attend professional lunches and dinners (ASCE, for example). Meet people.
Good luck!
p.s. I haven’t talked about my GPA since I graduated from college! People in the industry don’t look at your GPA, especially since you have ten years of experience already!!!
p.p.s. I misread. Since you only have three years of experience, then you are half a notch above entry level.
References :
look in here
http://www.thingamajob.com/Job-Search-Results.aspx?searchType=4&domain=engineering
Guru
References :
I agree with AVCe……whatever hisname is. experience does count.
I started changing careers about 6 years ago and now have a PE in Civil engineer. Guess what…the economy sucks right now….no one is job hopping any more.
The key to getting a job in the field you want…..is to move to where they are hiring. sometimes that means overseas, sometimes NJ. but if you want a career, you must start making the right moves. and the internet is a source of information and job prospects. not job applications.
if you want a job in a particular place, be willing to sacrifice to get there.
I starved in Paradise for 15 years, raised the kids….then moved to get the career I wanted. Its working, but not on my terms, you have to make the decisions that create options for you…..then choose the options you are willing to take.
good luck
wer
References :
try
http://www.Indeed.com or http://www.Monster.com
You will have to sign up ( free ) to look at the job market.
You can add or subtract key words and states or countries
Join the group; 10 % of the people are currently out of work due to the recession
References :