Mechanical Engineering Graduates: What's expected from us by employers (job application, applying, tips)

[Adi from the Brunswicks]

I have been consistently applying for job applications, and am doing the best I can to make the engineering giants like Boeing and GE aware of my skills, intrests, and achievements. However, I would also like to know what the employers in those companies expect from a mechanical engineering student who has completed his degree at Rutgers School of engineering in New Jersey with a 3.5+ GPA, engineering internship experience from India, and research experience within the university. How do I make myself distinguishable from others in a way that it would interest the employer.

[charlygal]

How about spending 2-3 years working at a non-giant engineering company to get some real world experience. Then you will have the evidence to show the giant engineering companies that hiring you would be a good idea.

[Golden_Monkey]

It might help to work backwards. Engineering giants tend to hire specialists, not generalists. I would look at the job listings at those companies, figure out what very specific skills they're looking for, and try to learn those skills.

I was an ME grad years ago. My first job was in Proposals, aka Technical Sales. That seems to be the way a lot of recent engineering grads start.

[Rambler123]

Mechanical Engineer here. Graduated 3rd in my class in 2000 from Drexel University in Philly. 10 years experience in the field of defense electronics.

With regard to your question, the key thing is to make it clear you have the skills they are looking for - skills that are often very narrow.

I'm not going to pull any punches here, so please do not take offense. The reality is that most companies use resume filter systems to weed out nearly everyone and are almost entirely focused on specific skill sets and experience. They want to find a square peg that *exactly* fits that square hole they have ready to fill. Shaving a few thousands of an inch off one side of that peg is "too expensive" so they'll just hire nobody instead.

Here's what I'm getting at - a company like Boeing for example is going to want people with very specific aircraft experience, and a lot of times there are special certifications, quality programs, and extremely detailed standards involved. I cannot fault them for that, but the problem comes in that if you don't have *that* experience down to the letter, they probably won't even be bothered interviewing you since there are plenty of other engineers out of work right now and the resume filters will screen you out for lacking 10 out of 10 requirements. Same idea with any company of size or with a very narrow product line; doubly true if the company builds something that is subject to very high outside standards, such as aircraft, cars, bridge, and so on.

There are 2 ways to approach this situation, and they are not mutually exclusive so use both:

1) Look for companies for which you'd like to work that having matching experience requirements on their jobs AND/OR ones that have apprenticeship or mentoring programs for young engineers Again, I will be blunt: while this economy is brutal for everyone, in a warped way you have an advantage since you are not yet pigeon-holed into "only being able to do one type of engineering" as we mid-level engineers are.

For example, while I was out of work a few years ago, I was turned down for a variety of positions because I lacked the exact experience... and the same companies had hiring programs for new college grads or those with less than 2 years in the workforce with practically no experience requirements at all. In their eyes, I was "untrainable" and "too old" - but my loss can be your gain since you are still seen as young enough to be trained. Take advantage of that and look for companies that have mentoring and apprentice programs to help out relatively inexperience, new engineers.

2) Match your experience to companies that need it: I am not sure what your internship experience is or your research experience, but figure out which companies would be interested in that specifically. If you did medical work, look into companies that would have mechanical engineering positions open that deal with the medical field, for example. Your university may be able to help you out with this and suggest some companies that may be looking for engineers with your background - most colleges have some sort of career center that can help out in this regard.

Other than that, remember that the larger the company, the less likely any human will ever read your resume; that's not me being cynical, but just a simple fact. So, be sure to use accurate keywords in your resume and application - in particular, try to match keywords to the job requirements. If a company loves to talk about 6 Sigma as a requirement and you have that experience, make sure to put it on your resume. If they love to use a specific CAD tool and you have experience with it, put it on your resume... and, yes, companies these days are cheap enough to reject candidates for "not knowing the right CAD tool." You get the idea - think of how a computer word search would see your resume and realize that unless you hit a lot of the requirements, that is literally the only entity that will read it, so try to impress the computer, as crazy as that sounds.

Anyway, I hope this helped.

Engineers are one of the hardest working groups of people in society and are one of the groups of people who can honestly say that civilization would not exist were it not for them. Too bad we are rarely treated as such...

Good luck.

[Golden_Monkey]

Originally Posted by Rambler123

Engineers are one of the hardest working groups of people in society and are one of the groups of people who can honestly say that civilization would not exist were it not for them. Too bad we are rarely treated as such...

Good luck.

Ain't that the truth...

Sometimes I wish I had just gone to Business School instead.

I don't think anyone who isn't an Engineer realizes how incredibly, exactingly specific most openings are. People tend to think that having an Engineering degree will get you any job that requires it. It really isn't so simple.

[Jesse69]

You just have to look at job listings on Monster and Careerbuilder to see what they want out of a Mech Eng. There probably are 4 types of Mech Engr's -- 1) Plant Process Engineers 2) Product Design Eng 3) Machine Design Eng 4) HVAC Civil Eng related Mech Engs.

My career has mostly been focused to Product Design, and these jobs typically required knowledge and experience in sheet metal, castings, plastic injection molded parts, and good 3d CAD knowledge.

[Adi from the Brunswicks]

Originally Posted by Rambler123

I am not sure what your internship experience is or your research experience, but figure out which companies would be interested in that specifically.

Thanks for asking. I really loved my internship this summer . Here is an elaborate answer of what it entailed.

As an intern, I worked in Ashok Leyland Ltd. in Chennai, India. My duty involved designing 3-D models of lighting components for buses and trucks. It was a really fun internship which helped me generate a lot of interest in bus and truck manufacturing. I also gained significant experience in CATIA, a widely used 3-D modelling software. This internship helped me deepen my love for mechanical engineering, and made be even more intent on pursuing a career in this field.

The internship duration was short, but very strenuous. I had to work 10 hours a day 6 days a week for 6 weeks. However, the number of hours I spent at work every day helped me observe and experience the professional life of a true engineer.

I quickly learned the value of lunchtime. It not only provided me a chance to relax, but also talk with college students in India who are doing their internship. I was able to receive a lot of valuable information about college life there, and they too were interested in learning about college life in the Northeastern United States. Engineering is a common language spoken by all of us , hence we also regularly discussed issues and problems that were encountered while completing a particular task. On many occasions, these discussions with students during lunchtime offered me valuable tips to help me complete the assigned task. So, I would like an environment where regular interaction with other university level students are encouraged during break time.

[Lambados]

A friend of mine graduated with same major and college as you this year and still cannot find a job... He's done internships though in NYC for 2 months.