Leaving Ireland advice

NFL

Hi all,

I will be graduating in may with a 2.1 degree (hopefully) in mechanical engineering level 8. I have also 8 month engineering work experience, as did my course in UL.

Iv decided theres no point sticking around here and with my age being 21, so no better time to start my career abroad.

Just wondering if any of you guys were in my position, where would be the best place to be heading to with no strings attached?

CatFromHue

I'm thinking if you do go abroad go somewhere that you can be employed for a fair bit so that an employer would get a return on training you up i.e. don't go to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa (you have a 6 month limit with any one employer).

You could go to the UK and have no restrictions.
If you speak a language you could go to any country where that language is spoken.
You could go to New Zealand on a one year Working Holiday (check out the jobs section on trademe.co.nz and Seek.co.nz). You have no working restrictions for the duration of the visa and they're readily available.
You could go to Canada on a two year IEC (International Experience Canada) visa. The visas are usually open to apply in January so keep an eye open for them as they can sell out relatively quickly.
You could also go to Australia (check out the jobs on gumtree.com.au and Seek.com.au) on the Working holiday, you will be restricted to 6 months with any one employer though, or you could go on a 476 visa ( http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/476/ ) where you can work for 18 months with one employer as far as I know.

There are a few options as you can see.

One thing I would do though, depending on your interest of course, would be to get certified in Solidworks ( http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/797_ENU_HTML.htm ) before you go, I think UL has Solidworks on campus anyway. Also you don't need to go with USIT or anyone else like that, you can apply directly yourself.

Personally speaking I went to New Zealand in 2006 after I finished my degree (Aero Eng) in UL and liked it alot. I also got engineering work when I was over there. I'm not long back from Asutralia now but found it very difficult to get engineering work, I was on the working holiday.

Frogeye

Look at the UK or Norway maybe. Japan maybe? I know Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) took on a dozen or so Irish graduates last year ( not sure if they where engineers mind you) . Some of the mining companies would ship you off to a compound in the congo or similar maybe.

Maybe look at the big engineering and off shore type companies: Technip, SBM, Worley Parsons, Foster Wheeler, Kverner,Maersk etc or some of the companies that support/supply these type of companies.

Or maybe the oil and gas companies: Shell, Statoil, exxon,BP etc. These all have graduate programes, which no doubt are hard to get into.

dvcireland

useful job search engine aimed at graduates

http://www.gradcracker.com/

an example

http://www.gradcracker.com/hub/17/3m/graduate-vacancies/7545/graduate-mechanical-engineer/

jonnyfingers

I suggest moving to the UK. I moved here 2 years ago and love it. I'm based near London and there's a good selection of engineering jobs so I'm sure you'd find something. Best of all it's a low risk move, especially if you know somebody over here and can live with them for a while. Worst case scenario is you find nothing, but then you only need a cheap flight home.

A lot of UK recruiters will accept applications from Ireland so do some research now. You might even line up an interview for a graduate position before you graduate.

brandon_flowers

Frogeye wrote: »

Look at the UK or Norway maybe. Japan maybe? I know Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) took on a dozen or so Irish graduates last year ( not sure if they where engineers mind you) . Some of the mining companies would ship you off to a compound in the congo or similar maybe.

Maybe look at the big engineering and off shore type companies: Technip, SBM, Worley Parsons, Foster Wheeler, Kverner,Maersk etc or some of the companies that support/supply these type of companies.

Or maybe the oil and gas companies: Shell, Statoil, exxon,BP etc. These all have graduate programes, which no doubt are hard to get into.

This.

Although forget about Norway, it is almost impossible to get a job there.

Aberdeen and London will be the easiest to get a position, after that Rotterdam or The Hague. If I were you the first company I would try are Aker Solutions, they announced a huge expansion in the UK recently.

If you have a grasp of any other language it helps for everyday living but to be honest English is the most important one in this game.

Please don't go to Australia and be a sheep like half the country before you.

CatFromHue

Aberdeen is a good idea as you can apply from here and then if needed it's not too expensive to go over.

On the Australia one I wouldn't consider the working holiday, the 18 month visa would be a much better option.

dvcireland

Wood Group Graduate Recruitment

http://www.woodgroup.com/our-people/students-graduates/uk-graduate-opportunities/pages/default.aspx

Aker Solutions Graduate Progam

http://www.akersolutions.com/en/Global-menu/Career/Trainee-programmes/

Amec

http://www.amec.com/careers/graduates/uk.htm

enda1

How about automotive or aerospace? Germany, France, Belgium, UK, etc. etc. Countless jobs going in these fields.

spideog7

I would have said IAESTE but you've missed the deadline, I'll leave it here for someone else to find.

If you have any interest in going to the US this would be a great time as it's the only opportunity you're likely to get when you can easily get a visa.

Other than that I would tend to echo what everyone else said although be prepared to send out lot's of CVs. I applied to lot's of those big companies and sent out a lot through gradcracker (easily close to 50 I would say) and rarely got replies (good, bad or indifferent).