Is emigrating my only option now...?

Susteng

Hi all,

As the thread title suggests, is emigrating my only option now in order to get a job? Firstly, I do not assume that this is my only option because people say there are no jobs here or the majority of my friends have emigrated. I only assume this as I've been trying constantly and consistently for the last 6 months since I graduated in November 2012 to find a job in my field.

I have done the 'how to find a job' research, believe me, and have put it to good practice. I've had 2 interviews, one of which reached second interview stage but unfortunately was not successful. At least I've gotten some valuable interview experience. My CV is good - clear, to the point, well formatted. I have two bachelor of engineering degrees, honours in sustainable energy and ordinary in civil, structural & environmental engineering. I have accumulated up to 1 years work experience through college. I have been working since I was in secondary school and I still am to this today, although not engineering related. So I am confident my skills, qualifications and experience live up to the standard of your typical engineering graduate.

So why no call backs? Do recruitment agencies operate fairly or on a first come first serve basis, eager to fill a position and move on? I have 2.2 degree which seems to filter me out of least 90% of graduate programs and the ones that don't require a 2.1 will probably favour the applicant who does. I apply to an average of 3 - 5 jobs any day I'm not working (3 days a week) and sometimes more. I cater my CV to the job and write concise, to the point, cover letters.

As a graduate am I just unlucky enough to not have 3+ years experience or are there just not many positions for graduate engineers? (who don't have exceptional academic results - which I personally don't believe proves you're an outstanding engineer).

I have also tried emailing and contacting companies in an area of interest to me who weren't seeking applicants. So in nutshell I've done it all. Now if an international role was offered I would have no hesitation on taking the role. But do companies really follow through with applications from candidates outside of their country?

Any advice, thoughts, additions or questions greatly appreciated.

Regards

CatFromHue

Yeah a friend of mine applied for a graduate, well two actually, jobs in England and got one of them. He applied from Ireland and then travelled over for the interview.

When applying make sure to follow up with a phone call the next day, even if to just tell them how to ring Ireland!

Susteng

I guess that is where I am going wrong. I never follow up with a phone call, I just assume I'll be told that I would be contacted if successful. I shall start to follow up.

Thanks for the advice.

Darren1o1

Susteng wrote: »

I have 2.2 degree which seems to filter me out of least 90% of graduate programs and the ones that don't require a 2.1 will probably favour the applicant who does. I apply to an average of 3 - 5 jobs any day I'm not working (3 days a week) and sometimes more.

I would still apply to graduate programs. With work experience you may get called over others with higher grades. I did.

Have you looked at networking event such as Engineer's Ireland? You could email them. Also try networking through linkedin and other media. Have you spoken to lecturers? They may have contacts.

Also you could look at further study but ideally you I would say it would be better to have some more experience before going back.

Susteng

I follow Engineers Ireland and was a student member. I find they haven't got much graduate work from a graduate without an accredited level 8. My honours course was only accredited for 1st years when I was in 4th.

I use linkedin every day and I try and network with recruiters and HR's of companies. I also have a meeting with an engineer in my field next week so hopefully something will come of it.

I will go back and do further study once I get some practical experience and really know what to progress with.

Maybe I'm just being too impatient

djpbarry

Susteng wrote: »

I only assume this as I've been trying constantly and consistently for the last 6 months since I graduated in November 2012 to find a job in my field.

First things first: 6 months is really not very long. So relax. Took me 18 months to find an engineering position after I graduated.

Susteng wrote: »

I apply to an average of 3 - 5 jobs any day I'm not working (3 days a week) and sometimes more.

That strikes me as quite a lot: 3-5 applications, 3 days a week over the course of 6 months equates to somewhere between 230 and 400 applications in total! That’s far too many to keep track of and if you can’t keep track of what you’re applying for, it’s going to be very difficult for you to learn from your failed applications.

So, I would suggest you need to be a little more focussed with your applications and you absolutely have to follow up. And don’t forget the positives: you’ve managed to get two interviews. Did you contact the companies in question and find out why you didn’t get the jobs?

I would also forget about the will I/won’t I emigrate question too. By all means broaden your job search beyond Ireland, but don’t make any decisions about emigrating until you’re actually faced with a decision to make!

mossy2390

the issue with sustainable engineering is the lack of jobs in the sector, lots of people went into it thinking there would be a boom in the area but since the recession this never really happened. My friend has the same degree as you, got 1:1 for all 4 years marks in the 80% range each year. he spent around 6 months looking and looking and didnt get anything, eventually his supervisor from his project had contacts with a college research center and got him a research job, hes being paid very well for it for a graduate but i am pretty sure he is one of the only ones from his class of close to 30 that has a job.

Look into Holland, i know when i was looking for a job this year Holland seemed to have a lot going on, i didnt have to go down that route myself but there are plenty of options abroad. For sustainable in Ireland your limiting yourself.

Also with the graduate programms if you have a 2:2 you could struggle, i was involved in the process for a lot of programms and its mainly people with a high 2:1 or 1:1 that get through to the interviews. If you think of it from the company perspective they could have 300+ people applying for 1-4 positions, the first way they are going to narrow down the field is by your grades

Susteng

Mossy, I kinda knew mid way through the sustainable energy course that it was the wrong sector to be involved with at the moment in Ireland, no one wants to invest. I don't know about the course your friend did but mine was literally a prototype which only got accredited for 1st years when I was in 4th. I'm more leaning towards my civil eng degree now and hoping to making something of that

chris85

Susteng wrote: »

Mossy, I kinda knew mid way through the sustainable energy course that it was the wrong sector to be involved with at the moment in Ireland, no one wants to invest. I don't know about the course your friend did but mine was literally a prototype which only got accredited for 1st years when I was in 4th. I'm more leaning towards my civil eng degree now and hoping to making something of that

Civil is similar to sustainable. Rooted in construction and needs capital investment to get projects off the ground. Investment is not happening in big projects like it used to.

Pharma and manufacturing industries are doing better than some other industries at the moment.