What to do....

cotzie32

Lads,

I have a degree and masters in Civil Engineering but less then a year's experience and so far I am having trouble getting my foot in the door either here or the UK due to not much jobs in Ireland and lack of experience in the UK I would imagine.
At the moment I have a job in a factory which is paying off the loan from the masters but when that is finished I see myself with 3 choices:
1: Keep going for jobs here or the UK
2: Head to Australia
3: Go back to College and do something else....

I have a few friends that went to Oz but one or two have come home due to missing the rain too much and are going back to college. At the moment I am not too keen on Oz or going back to college but might not have a choice....

Anyone have any advice for me on what they would do....

Thanks

Cotzie

freddzeppelin

How it's going mate?

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I didn't do a masters but I went straight into work and have just over 2 years post-grad experience. I was made redundant last December and am looking at the exact same options as yourself. I went for the Irish Rail job as well and didn't get it.

What area of work do you want to go into? Structural, civil etc? I was working in Roads design but I think now that I'll try and get into structural design or the renewable energy sector. I don't see much work going on in roads design in Ireland in the next 10 years. I could be wrong on that though. I say 10 years because you could be working in another country for a couple years and there still wouldn't be anything to come back to here in Roads design.

There is seemingly a lot of work in Oz and Canada. You could get a job easily enough in the mines in Australia and the money is quite good. You could do that for a year or so if you wanted. For work aboard the best thing to do is set up a LinkedIn account and join groups such as Engineering Jobs worldwide and Oz jobs etc.

I've being looking at work in the UK as well. I've just been looking at London but so far I haven't had much luck. I've been talking to a friend of mine in London and he said that a recruitment agency might be a good route to go down. There is also sites like jobs.co.uk, londonjobs.co.uk and nes.co.uk which I've been using. Alot of the big companies are starting their intake for their graduate schemes at the moment as well.

As for going into something else apart from engineering, finance and accounting is always a route for engineers to go down. Also teaching is another route to go down. If you do a h.dip you'd be able to teach secondary school. There's a good article here from this months engineers journal about teaching - www.engineersjournal.ie/issues/march-2011/articles/teachingmaths/. I've considered both of these options but for me I'm going to stick with the engineering for another while as I think it offers a more varied and rewarding career. The money might not be as good though!

I hope some of this helps. As I said I'm pretty much in the same boat as yourself and just don't have a clue what to do now! I was thinking about setting up a separate tread to see if there are other people in the same situation and what sites etc. they have been using or if they have moved to Canada or Oz etc.

cotzie32

Hi,

Ya I know there are jobs in Oz if your willing to stay longer than a year as a good few of my friends have got jobs in Perth and other places in Oz.
With regards the Uk a few of my friends have got jobs there but its more a case of who you know not what you know....
I went for the job with Irish Rail too and got an interview but did not get any further....
Ya I have been thinking about becoming a teacher but did put it on the back burner after I did the masters as I was hoping to get a job in Engineering.
A few of my mates went down the Accounting side and did a masters in it and now have jobs and are doing exams to be become chartered.
At the moment I don't know what to do, just saving my money up incase I do go to Oz and have to pay off a loan too so can't go anywhere until I do that but nearly there with it...

Cheers

freddzeppelin

Would you consider working anywhere in the UK? Big companies such as Mott McDonald, Aecom, Atkins etc start their intake for graduates around this time of the year.

cotzie32

Ya I would work anywhere. Have applied to AECOM in the past but didnt get through.
Atkins are a tough cookie to break and get into...
I have no preference where I work in the UK, I did my masters over there too.

freddzeppelin

You can say that again about Atkins. They have five stages you have go through. I got to stage 2 with them which were verbal reasoning and numerical analysis tests but haven't heard anything back from them yet.

Do you mind me asking where you did the masters? Am thinking about heading back to college to do one in Sept/Oct. Would you recommend doing one?

dan_d

There's a lot of who you know going on in the UK.
Canada an option for you? Do you know anybody over there that might get you a foot in the door? I'm nearly 6 years out, with 5 years experience, and unemployed for quite a while. It's not a good position to be in. I'd be wary of going back to do another Masters, just because companies can sometimes (only sometimes) sidestep people who've spent long periods in college and have little or no work experience, on the basis that they wonder would you be able to hold down a job. However, you're in the same boat as many,many people at this point.
There's nothing going on in structural in this country either, you've more hope with roads and renewables, btw.
Tried Crossrail in the UK? How about site work - SISK have a big presence over there and I've seen their ads, they're taking people on.It'd be better than nothing, and you'd get to know a few of the players over there.Many of my class have emigrated to the UK and they're working for a variety of companies.
A point I've been told with the UK - have a UK address on your CV, apparently it looks better, as it gives the impression you're already over there and ready to go. Other than that are you using Engineers Ireland?

cotzie32

Hi,

Well I did the master's in Civil Engineering, it is probably be best to focus on an aspect of it, maybe renewable...
I did it in Swansea, to be honest I wasn't really thinking of doing one last year as I didn't think I could afford it but I received funding from the University to do it, they covered my fees and gave me a weekly allowance so you should look into that....
I did find that I learned more last year than in my undergrad, maybe because I worked harder....
If you are thinking of doing one you should keep Swansea in mind as they are in the Top 5 Universities in the UK with regards Civil Engineering. Its a taught masters with a research project at the end.....
Hopefully it will stand to me in the future....

Ya I heard SISK have a couple of projects coming online in the UK once the weather gets a bit finer and hopefully I might get a job...
Its the lack of experience I find that is holding me back and what annoys me is companies looking for graduate engineers with 3-4 years experience, I thought the whole thing with being a graduate is that you don't have the experience and they would take you on based on your University qualifications.....
But when there is so much competition they can afford to be picky...

With regard Engineer's Ireland, what do you mean 'are you using them'? I have it that I am a member on my CV but that is about it to be honest....
Should I be in contact with them?