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Hello Teamliquid!
I recently graduated college with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and have been on a month-long crusade to find a job. So far I've applied for every job I could find on the public market, that I'm qualified for, anywhere in the USA. That is, I've looked all over linkedin an craigslist and my school's career services webpage.  So far my results have been non-existent.
I figure, there's probably a lot of people on teamliquid who are in the same boat as me and can hopefully point me in the right direction. I will literally work any job in my field, anywhere in the world, as long as it's a full-time, long-term position.
For reference, I graduated with a 3.5 GPA, and have no experience in industry. I can speak English but no other languages. I love Starcraft almost as much as I love science. I know SolidWorks and can easily learn other CAD tools. I have a passion for mechanical design and analysis, and have experience working with finite element analysis in ANSYS and computational fluid dynamics in SolidWorks. Earlier this year I designed an air bearing during my senior project for an aerospace company that they were so happy with, they decided to patent it.
Unfortunately the job market in the US stinks for young people, but I'd be more than willing to leave the states to find work.
Anybody in the same position as me? Anybody have any advice on which companies are hiring recent college grads in engineering?
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how are you networking? Talk to your professors, friends,and relatives! I am currently looking too, except I have a 2.6 in EE. :D
oh wait u live in philly right?
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So far, I'm networking by posting a blog on teamliquid. Just read a book about how to find a job, it was a little disappointing because it said none of the good/easy-to-get jobs are on the public job market. You have to network to find those jobs.
Also I currently live in Colorado, and most of my friends are not college graduates and nobody in my family has a degree in a technical field.
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not to be an asshole or an "i told you so" kind of poster but this is why interning during undergrad and researching for professors goes a long way
i got my current job through a recommendation from a friend i met through a group research project
good luck!
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Doesn't the aerospace company have any job openings? If they were so happy with your results, you could probably apply even if they don't have any openings.
If you're not hearing back from companies, let a friend take a look at your resume. It might just need some tweaks to stand out more.
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Try monster.com, careerbuilder.com, and google 'mechanical engeineering jobs'
There's always a job somewhere out there. I'm not really sure how you have 'no experience' in your field when you just graduated with a ME.
Make yourself look good on your resume.
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Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
What particular courses did you take? How strong are your analytical and numerical skills? What sort of resume can you present? Do you know any programming languages (C++, Perl, MySQL, etc.)? There may be other opportunities available not in the Mech Eng field if the answer to those questions are yes.
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I'm in a similar situation as the OP... I graduated with a 3.5 from a pretty good school, studying both history and philosophy. My situation is similar because every job I applied to, near or far, went no further than that. I think first problem was that I felt I wasn't qualified for many jobs as a result of my majors. History and philosophy, while incredibly captivating and rewarding to study, severely lack the specificity that most employers look for. Second, in the jobs I felt comfortable applying for I feel I was rejected because I had no prior work experience in that field. As an employer, would you rather hire a kid out of college you have to train or would you rather hire the guy with 10 yrs experience who got laid off because his previous employer went out of business? Right now I am looking at graduate school and working for my father's company.. not where I was expecting to be 1 year after college, especially considering the cost of college and the work put in.
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Temp agencies might help you get a summer job.
A lot of people I know got jobs by going in stores and asking for them.
In addition you should go up to construction places (is a city in colorado doing construction?), and ask them if they need any cad designers. Knowing AutoCad and Microstation are pretty cool. I start a CAD job on Monday working with my city. I found mine through my school site and got kinda lucky with what type of skills were needed.
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On June 12 2011 12:07 EcksperT wrote:
I'm in a similar situation as the OP... I graduated with a 3.5 from a pretty good school, studying both history and philosophy. My situation is similar because every job I applied to, near or far, went no further than that. I think first problem was that I felt I wasn't qualified for many jobs as a result of my majors. History and philosophy, while incredibly captivating and rewarding to study, severely lack the specificity that most employers look for. Second, in the jobs I felt comfortable applying for I feel I was rejected because I had no prior work experience in that field. As an employer, would you rather hire a kid out of college you have to train or would you rather hire the guy with 10 yrs experience who got laid off because his previous employer went out of business? Right now I am looking at graduate school and working for my father's company.. not where I was expecting to be 1 year after college, especially considering the cost of college and the work put in.
This is something a lot of people don't think of when they go to university. I know several biology majors, history majors and one who took international affairs; all of them are without jobs in their field for obvious reasons.
Very few people think of actual jobs that exist in the markets that relate to what they're studying, and just think a university degree will automatically be desirable for it being a degree.
In practical applications, history and philosophy can work for certain positions, but they're harder to come by obviously. Did you major in both, or minor one of them? In your situation, grad school is probably the best option. You can do a concentration on something with better prospects, but it'll depend on your flexibility.
On June 12 2011 10:48 Meta wrote:
Anybody in the same position as me? Anybody have any advice on which companies are hiring recent college grads in engineering?
Easiest advice is apply to any institutions, companies and specific firms that have uses for an ME. Whether or not they advertise that they're looking for someone, submitting a resume and giving them future considerations is one of the simplest ways to possibly land something.
Outside of that, networking and putting more work into a resume and cover letter are more simple options. The only other thing that might benefit you is submitting to several job sites, and possibly even enlisting the services of a head hunter.
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I too am doing ME, but have planes to go into Aerospace Engineering for Grad school. Is that an option for you?
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16938 Posts
On June 12 2011 12:36 Kezzer wrote:
I too am doing ME, but have planes to go into Aerospace Engineering for Grad school. Is that an option for you?
:X
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I thought Engineering, especially mechanical, would be one of the degrees that would result in a job when you graduate from university. Maybe it's just the prevalent thought of the high school hive mind and the real world is far from it.
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I thought getting work experience or networking done is more important than GPA. The GPA is used to get internships and stuff while you're still in undergrad.
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On June 12 2011 13:14 Zlasher wrote:
I thought getting work experience or networking done is more important than GPA. The GPA is used to get internships and stuff while you're still in undergrad.
Yeah it's mostly graduate schools that care more about GPA, rather than most employers.
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GPA is not very important when looking for a job unless it is very high and looks good on your resume, or youre applying for a very competitive job where it can be used as an initial criteria.
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On June 12 2011 12:36 Kezzer wrote:
I too am doing ME, but have planes to go into Aerospace Engineering for Grad school. Is that an option for you?
That's my backup, I would stay in mechanical and go into nanotechnology. I would much rather get a job though so I can start paying back my student loans, though. Education is just so god damn expensive ~_~
On June 12 2011 11:24 Seth_ wrote:
Doesn't the aerospace company have any job openings? If they were so happy with your results, you could probably apply even if they don't have any openings.
If you're not hearing back from companies, let a friend take a look at your resume. It might just need some tweaks to stand out more.
I applied for an internship with them and got rejected 
They have no entry-level openings.
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What college did you go to? I'm asking becuz my school has close ties with some companies and hold career fairs and such every year. i dunno if ur school did this or not.
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Same situation here. Just graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Texas A&M and no job. Gotten to 3-4 second round interviews but no responses after that I think going to graduate school is a very realistic choice right now because it buys you a few years for the job market to improve.
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On June 12 2011 14:15 MaRiNe23 wrote:
What college did you go to? I'm asking becuz my school has close ties with some companies and hold career fairs and such every year. i dunno if ur school did this or not.
I went to the University of Colorado Boulder. There were career fairs, I went to a few but nothing ever came of them.
On June 12 2011 14:50 holy_war wrote:Same situation here. Just graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Texas A&M and no job. Gotten to 3-4 second round interviews but no responses after that I think going to graduate school is a very realistic choice right now because it buys you a few years for the job market to improve.
Good to know other people are in the same situation. Grad school definitely would buy more time. When I started in 2007 my school "promised" 2-7 job offers for my degree... Tough times are tough! 
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EPT
