Low level work, would it affect my future career?

Krieg · 20-05-2010 07:56PM #1

I'm an Industrial Engineer (honours degree), graduated last year. I threw my c.v around to every company I knew, but got very little feedback. After 3 months I was offered operator work in a factory and accepted. I thought this would be a good way to work my way up the ladder as I know a few who did the same in previous years. In the last 10 months of work I have applied for 4 tech positions but no interview/feedback, despite having a decent c.v and skill set, granted I have little experience. I have been applying outside the company as well, with no luck.

My question
- Would being a factory operator for more than a year or two look bad in future interviews?

I am in two minds about quitting, on the one hand its a pretty **** job with no future prospects, on other hand I need a job to survive. But if keeping the job had a long term negative effect then ill certainly pack it in.

CatFromHue · 20-05-2010 08:22PM

my opinion would be to keep looking for other work while you still have your current job.

if you get one great, if not you still have your wages at the end of each week

if you quit how long will it be before you get another job?

CathalMc · 21-05-2010 07:18AM

Keep it up at the current job and keep up the search. There's absolutely no shame in any sort of employment in this economy, and any reasonable interviewer will see it like that - that's what cover letters are for.

I'd start doing every blessed thing imaginable to network within your own company for opportunities to do CV-enhancing projects, compensated or not.

folan · 21-05-2010 09:20AM

I can see no reason that it would. Its generally a tough job from what im told. Also, the fact that you are working, even at a lower skill level than you may be qualified for, wont look bad unless you do it for too long. 1-2 years should be fine. After that, it will start to become a problem as the question will arise: Do the correct skills still exist here?

Turbulent Bill · 21-05-2010 09:34AM

OP you'd be nuts to quit your current job without having something better/different to go to. I'd echo the other responses, stick with it and apply for something different that you want to do. Recruiters always favour someone who's in employment already (all else being equal).

On the skills side, if the job doesn't exercise these then you may need to do some CPD on your own to keep up to date. Even better would be to apply your degree experience to proactively solving problems in your current company, good for your CV and your current job.

Dilbert75 · 21-05-2010 10:03PM

You're an IE doing an Operator job - put your training into practice to advance yourself: analyse the job you're doing and the jobs happening around you (method study, time study), come up with different ways of doing the jobs and calculate what savings you could make / throughput increases you could gain. Demonstrate better ways of doing the jobs and put together a concise report/presentation to detail your proposals. Find the person in your job who you think would best receive that detail (maybe Production Manager, CI person, etc) and ask if they'd be interested in your ideas. It'd be a very foolish manager who would turn down the offer of a pre-prepared proposal to save money / improve productivity in return for a few minutes of their time.

Stacks Mad · 23-05-2010 01:54PM

Jesus lad i am in exactly the same boat as you and am trying to decide what to do ie leave the country and work in a bar because that's what my fellow college mates are at! which isn't good for my CV or do I piss about in my job which has no prospects although they claim there is, all I going to do is keep telling my self that's it only temporary. Oh what to do?

Has any one an idea when this country is going to start moving in the right direction ?
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Low level work, would it affect my future career?

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