How you got your job...

Greetings! I'm finishing up college in around two months (Civil; Trinity) and haven't started the fun task of finding employment. I've been looking around at various websites, but how did you get your job?

Did you go directly to company websites, and submit a CV that way, or keep an eye out for vacancies on Engineers Ireland? Did you go to a recruitment agency?

Any advice appreciated!

thewools

i didnt panic after i finished - i started sending away CVs to certain companies which were looking for graduates / engineers in general. You will find that most companies are very slow to reply and some dont as simple as that

I approached one recruitment agency in the north east enquiring about two positions and had an interview with them regarding my skills, experience etc however after they said that i had a great chance of getting one of these two jobs they never got back to me so F them i said lol..

I reckon i applied for approx 20 positions and only got one interview (this one led to a second interview - and got it )

I never bothered looking through Engineers Ireland, i mainly looked trough the newspapers / loadzajobs and my college site which put up various positions.

AS you will graduate with a Civil Engineering Degree i presume i reckon you should approach various companies as this has worked previously for a few mates of mine in the construction areas, so this is prob your best bet as well as looking through the advertisements in the papers (however 1000s can often apply for some of these positions too)

Best of look with your impending career

sprinkles

Don't go through a recruitment agency!

Look around at the different companies websites. Choose site or office. There's loads of jobs out there, the company I work for advertise on their website the current vacancies and have an application form online.

There's plenty of choice out there though (lucky b*stard)

Nukem

Got a good few phone calls from the likes of Stryker and BS from just applying online via recruit ireland and jobs.ie and places like that.
Would tend to steer away from recruitment agencies unless you know someone who can look after you in there.

It never hurts to help people and to put your kneck out there and push for jobs.

Best of luck

godtabh

Check out the notice board in the Museum Building. Thats were I got my job.

SIAC and the like usually come in for interviews but I think the time has past for that.

I had 3 jobs lined up from about Feb in my finaly year. Just need the grades and I got them no bother.

But other people took their time and didnt start looking untill the new years. Lots of jobs out there.

It looks better if you apply your self. Saves the company money

Borzoi

Myth wrote:

Did you go directly to company websites, and submit a CV that way, or keep an eye out for vacancies on Engineers Ireland? Did you go to a recruitment agency? !

Engineers Ireland: very few grad jobs
Agencies: Very few grad jobs
Go directlky to companiers and watch college notice boards - don't limnit yourself to Trinity when DIT and UCD have boards too!

Andrewf20

I used recruitment agencys, jobs.ie etc / research on the net for places looking for people. On job websites filter your search by using keywords like "graduate", "1 years experience", "junior" etc. Use every possible avenue of help available including recruitment agencies. After submitting CV's, ring 2-3 days later to confirm receipt of CV's. Persistance can pay off. I had 9 interviews after finishing Engineering in DCU. And I didnt get a 1:1!

godtabh

In todays markets jobs arent a problem.

Being motivated to find them is.

I could leave my job today and have another lined up Monday

Prenderb

When I graduated I sent my CV cold to as many companies as I could find. As someone else said, agencies cost companies money, somewhere in the region of 10-15% of a year's salary - so if they're looking for a graduate they'll be delighted to see CV coming in on it's own!

I suggest that once you've decided what you want to be - for example you want to go into structures - you should ring the companies (e.g. consultants or building contractors) and ask for the name of the director/manager in charge of structural engineering recruitment. Or civil engineering, whatever you've decided. Then send it into the named person. Personalise your letters slightly - "I note you worked on such and such a hospital near me and I was dead impressed at the big 30m cantilever" if you can but don't lie. This might show that you've at least looked at somebody's website and past projects.

Don't be snobby about your applications, go talk to anyone who invites you for an interview and make your own mind up about companies from what you can find out for sure, not from what people might say.

Bear in mind that it's often the smaller companies that give you earlier breaks, whilst larger companies might have a more structured graduate training programme.

And also bear in mind that your first job is most certainly not your last, and if you find after a year or so (it'll fly) it's not the place for you, you'll be in a strong position to move.