Getting the first gig...

judas101

Hi,

I'm a recent graduate of mech eng. in Bolton St.

I enjoyed my course and did well in the course earning a 2:1 honours degree.

For the past few weeks I've been applying to companies but have had no luck thus far.

It's so difficult to get your foot in the door as no one seems to want to take a chance on a graduate.

I do have some experience as I worked for a communications company last summer. I was chuffed when I got that job as I thought the experience would serve me well.

I haven't yet approached any recruitment agencies although recently I was advised to do so.

Does anyone have any advice on getting the first job, or know of any places who are hiring?

Thanks in advance,

Kev

Shiny

I gave up looking and I'm going back to do a Masters.
Will have a look again next year.

Whether things will be better or worse??? Who knows.

risk

A masters won't necessary guarantee you a job when you finish. Unless your doing a masters in something your really interested in then i would strongly advise not to go ahead with it. Best way to get a job as a graduate is to apply to the big company's who have graduate programs. This may involve moving to the UK, but once you have 3 yrs experience under your belt finding a job here won't be a problem. You should look up the likes Bombardier Shorts up north. I'm fairly sure then are doing a massive recruitment drive at the min because of the new C-Series.

Nukem

Must be honest and a lot of getting job is who you know. Better start ringing uncles and aunties cause you would be surprised who knows who and all you need is a foot in the door and your away.

Other than that I would say recruitment company even just to get started and maybe then in a yr or 2 try for your dream job.....etc.......

Shiny

risk wrote: »

A masters won't necessary guarantee you a job when you finish. Unless your doing a masters in something your really interested in then i would strongly advise not to go ahead with it.

Depends on what area.
The Course that I did is pretty generic and doesn't make you good
at anything specific.
I'm doing a masters in Telecommunications specifying in network
implementation so when I apply to the likes of Erickson I don't have
to talk shi*e when they ask me if I am familiar with 3G, Edge etc...

I'm pretty serious about trying to get the graduate programme with
them and I'm thinking this will help.

risk

TBH I'm not that well up on the coms industry so don't know how stiff the competition is for places. But good look on the job hunt / masters, which ever you decide to do

chris85

im a recent graduate as well of mech eng and i had to go abroad to get a job as nothing happening here, got a job in london and start next year (i got gap year to go travelling). construction is booming over there with olympics in 4 years so need for engineers from all disciplines.

A Primal Nut

Generally most big companies (Siemens, ESB, Ericsson, etc) look for graduates november - march with the idea of starting the following autumn (around september) or maybe in summer in some cases - whenever they do their graduate program. So ideally you would have started to look for something in your final year. If you've started looking recently it might be too late. Best to apply early this academic year and hope to start next summer. With your experience you shouldn't have any problem.

Some companies also take on people in December/January, I'd imagine they would be taking applications right now. I assume the jobs you applied for mentioned graduate in the title? Its your only hope really. I finished Electrical/Electronic Engineering last year and pretty much everyone who wanted a job got one. I doubt its much difference in Mechanical, so long as you apply at the right time.

If you were Civil, then I would say you were ****ed!:pac: :P

A Primal Nut

Shiny wrote: »

Depends on what area.
The Course that I did is pretty generic and doesn't make you good
at anything specific.
I'm doing a masters in Telecommunications specifying in network
implementation so when I apply to the likes of Erickson I don't have
to talk shi*e when they ask me if I am familiar with 3G, Edge etc...

I'm pretty serious about trying to get the graduate programme with
them and I'm thinking this will help.

I got offered a job there before I finished my bachelors (in february/march this year) having had no previous experience and below-average results in college up to that point, so with a masters you'll have no problem. Most of their layoffs are in different areas than what they do in Ireland.

I recommend Ericsson if you like to travel especially the weirdest countries you can think of (around 70% of the time I'll be abroad), - gives you the opportunity to earn loads of money and unique experiences.

judas101

thanks for the replies thus far.

as yet, i am yet to recieve even a single relpy for any company i have applied to.

bad timing? recession?

I'm bemused and starting to get down in the dumps a bit. Really dont want to sign on.

i have good results , a good degree and my CV was critiqued by a friend in HR.
my CV is much stronger than that of an average graduate.

guess i'll keep at it. might have to play the waiting game a bit.

von Neumann

Yeah it really sucks that you spend 4+ years working hard and there appears to be little pay off.

With regards to doing a masters, I did this and it was a waiste of time for me at least.

If your doing more study be very specific, say something like plastics tech, even it's only a 3 month course.

Irish engineering companies take a very short term view and recruit specific skills, they don't really care if your the best and brightest as long as you can do the job.

Mech is a praticularly hard gig to get into, I got my job during the good times and even then it took me 6-9 months :-(

Don't get hung up on job titles and the like for now, I started in CAD and now design and manage multimillion projects. (still don't have a job title :-))

Chin up, If you can give me an idea what your interested in I will try and give you some pointers.

gradireland

Hi there

If you are a graduate you might be interested in the gradireland Graduate Careers Fair. We have a special engineering zone you might be interested in.

gradireland Graduate Careers Fair
Tuesday 14 October 2008
Main Hall, RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin
11.00 am - 5.00 pm
FREE ENTRY

Register at www.thegraduatecareersfair.ie

gradireland Graduate Careers Fair will feature 170+ companies, including some of the largest graduate recruiters in Ireland and abroad, several postgraduate providers, small to medium size companies and volunteer organisations.
A series of talks and seminars will run throughout the day and careers advisers will be at hand for one-to-one careers advice sessions.

gradireland Graduate Careers Fair starts at 11.00 am . Make sure you are there early so you can make the most of all the services available and get to talk to as many companies as possible.

mr potato head

I finished in DIT in 2005, did the travel thing for a year... when i came home i had the same problem for a while with no replies. Keep enquiring and things like grad fairs and the career services in college can help guide you to openings

There are alot of chances to do internships in international companies in Europe... I did one in Germany and am still here. This has opened lots of doors in both industry and research.

You do have to put up with bad wages while on the internship but if you can get into a good size company there are lots of people in the same boat and its a bit of craic and some travelling.

Shiny

mr potato head wrote: »

I finished in DIT in 2005, did the travel thing for a year... when i came home i had the same problem for a while with no replies. Keep enquiring and things like grad fairs and the career services in college can help guide you to openings

There are alot of chances to do internships in international companies in Europe... I did one in Germany and am still here. This has opened lots of doors in both industry and research.

You do have to put up with bad wages while on the internship but if you can get into a good size company there are lots of people in the same boat and its a bit of craic and some travelling.

Is the language a barrier at all or do you use English in work ?

mr potato head

A lot of the big international companies use English as their business language even in non English speaking countries...
I've heard this is the case in many companies here in Germany and in alot of the northern European countries

my entire department is English speaking (from England, Scotland, Canada) there are some areas of the company where there are a higher ratio of German speakers but they all have near perfect English.
Our main communications are with the UK, US and China which are all done in English too.

I've tried to learn more German for personal use but when i speak bad German to someone they reply in good English... (Puts us/me to shame!!!)