Are engineers all ignorant?

motherfunker

I am about to start my 3rd year of an engineering degree. Near the end of last year I applied to several engineering companies looking for some work experience. I recieved no replies. I rang one local company and got talking to the boss who sounded positive about the idea. I emailed him closer to the time to see would he like to arrange a time to meet up just to discuss the prospect. I got no reply. I rang again, was told he was on the phone, why not try later. I rang later, was told he had just left. I tried after lunch, told he was in a meeting, tried again before closing, was told he had just left. I met one of the guys from the office a few weeks later in the pub, mentioned this to him, he said was that you, we were sitting laughing about it in the office, the boss was there all the time and not in meetings or on the phone.
I tried another local company, was told the lady I wanted was on the phone, she would ring me soon. I sat by the phone all morning, nothing. Rang after lunch, she was in a meeting, she would ring me tomorrow. Nothing. I rang the next day, another meeting. In total I rang 7 times but never got past the recptionist and never recieved a call in reply.
Is this common practice in the engineering world, is this ignorance/arrogance rife in the industry.
I am a chef now and was trying to get out of an industry ruled by arroance and ignorance. Am I just getting into another one?

mawk

not replying to email applications seems to be a staple of the industry. its a pretty frustrating thing to deal with too..

but the joke of lying to you on the phone sounds pretty obnoxious. id say, dont work for that crowd.

A CV is a sales pitch. You've been selling something people who aren't in the market.
That is going to happen in any walk of life.

With due respect the person who you think is the boss, might not be the person who makes thes the money discisions.

It is a good thing that your tenacious, but don't let the knock backs get to you.

DublinDilbert

i can sympathise with your situation and it is difficult to get that first break.

what companies want, and small companies in particular, is someone with experience, any sort of experience... they don't want to have to help people gain that experience....

what sort of engineering are you doing?

motherfunker

I'm studying Builging Services Engineering, from what I hear it it still one of the positive areas of engineering as regards employment, there seems to be a shortage.
As for the guy who lied about being in the office, I know he is the guy who makes the decisions, he is actually one of the guys listed at the top of our exam papers, I'm not sure what this is called.
About the lady who would not return my calls, it was near the middle of the summer when I called her, my main request was goint to be to se would she be interested in letting me work 1 or 2 days a week for free just to get a bit of experience in a real office. I explained this to the recptionist and made it clear I was not looking for a job. I tried again 2 weeks later, just asking for 5 minutes of the lady's time as I wanted to ask her about my third year in college in regards to any projects I could do that would be of benefit to me when applying for a job with their company next year. Nothing.
The reason I was pushing so hard with these companies is becuase I am married with 3 small children so I do not have the luxury of moving anywhere I want to find work. I was kind of relying on these local companies but now I am a bit disaluisioned with them.

Mulan

Are you anywhere near cork

motherfunker

Couldent be further away! Unless I left Ireland.

fishdog

motherfunker, my story is similar to yours, but with a happy ending. I am also an engineering student, married with a child. I applied to several companies for work experience positions with no luck. One large international company sent back a letter form their HR department saying that they had no work experience positions anywhere in Europe!!!

I then went to talk to the head of the engineering dept. in the college explaining that I was having problems getting work experience. He has many contacts in the industry and gave me a name of a person in the company with " no work experience positions anywhere in Europe ". I sent him a letter with my CV and had an interview shortly after. He offered me several positions within the company!! Relevent experience is that I was really wanted but the money on offer was good too!

My point is that if you can get a the name of the ight perrson within a company it can make all the difference. College staff often have great contacts in industry and will assist you if they feel you will not let them down.

Best of luck!

motherfunker

Cheers for the encouraging words, unfortunately the lady in the second company was a name given to me by one of my lecturers who they had contacted about recruiting some of last years graduates. He is very shocked and disapointed by their behaviour aswell and cannot understand it. Now I am going into my 3rd and due to financial reasons probably my last year with no actual work experience to add to my C.V., I dont think my chefing experience will make me stand out above other job applicants.

Dundhoone

motherfunker wrote: »

Is this common practice in the engineering world, is this ignorance/arrogance rife in the industry.
I am a chef now and was trying to get out of an industry ruled by arroance and ignorance. Am I just getting into another one?

You are going to be involved in dealing with contractor claims, f*ck ups and general disagreement. You can expect to be up to your eyeballs in arrogance and ignorant behaviour!!

That said, you should not experience same from workmates or potential employers, but there are plenty of dodos in this industry, same as every other one.

Buffman

Don't give up on it, I'm a Building Services Eng myself and there is a lot of companies out there. An hour on google and you should have a good list. Be it a consultants or a contractor any experience will be valuable.

Also, nobody ever rings back unless theres money in it for them....:D

von Neumann

I work in a realated industry (can't say more, ya don't know how might be listening), could give you some info about companies and personalities around in Dublin.
Chin up, times are really tough out there right now but, they will get better.

As far as arrogance and ignorance, you should try working with them :rolleyes:

Rob A

Keep with it. I was lucky enough that my college organises work experience for our course (construction management). I think you have a bad experience with the companies you contacted but im sure if you looked a bit more something would come up.