Electrical Engineer

Oh Boy.. you did the unthinkable. You posted a job offer!

Now you're going to get slammed! You will be lambasted and ridiculed.

I know, I tried it once... never again.... you see, some people here think offering an engineering job is not part of engineering.

Put on your hard hat... the crap is going to hit the fan!!!

I expect to see many more of these; the recruiters are going to need to snap up all the engineers they can find before the skilled labor shortage hits us in 2004.

Perhaps... perhaps not. I know I wouldn't dare post another job offer on this NG. The last time I did I was ripped up one side and down the other.

I finally just hired local (within 100 miles) engineers. Wound up hiring 2 electrical and 3 mechanical engineers. Most likely will need another two or three soon...

But never again here. I learned my lesson.

Well, electrical engineering *is* a profession, not a religion. I guess matters involving employment and money do have some place here, unless everyone is doing it for altruistic reasons.

I do find resume postings a little bit annoying, but if someone thinks they can get a job that way, fine. Usually the resumes are pretty comical. And it seems pretty useless to just toss your resume out on water, when you could actually research companies you're interested in and send something directly to them.

Hopefully this rumored economic bounceback will actually arrive. In a recent poll of CEOs, most of them said their focus is on growing revenue; in an older poll they were all focued on cutting costs. Plus Roger Herman is predicting an upcoming shortage of workers, like he did in the early 90's. You know, probably one of those deals where if you talk about something enough, you might cause it to happen. I'd be happy if the market just got back to normal levels, I've been doing mechanical drawings for a year and a half out of school, which is *interesting* but not my idea of what an EE should be doing forever.

Just hire an electrician. We can do all the above and install all of the above.

Definitely! ROFL

Harry C.

You hire EEs? What line of business do you hire for? I'm not fishing for work... just want to ask for some advice from a person who hires engineers. During an interview... what kind of things do you hear that really impress you and say to yourself... I'm going to get this guy? I'm 42 and have a BSEE with really only technical work experience. Had the EE since 1993. I always get the feeling potential employers can't grasp why I've always been a technician. I probably don't interview that well and they do grasp it. I do have a genuine love and ethusiasm for EE and I think this does come through.

C What I Mean wrote:

Yes, I hire EEs. My Engineers need to have that technical field experience as well. So someone that has that hands on field experience is a plus when I interview potentials.

We build web handling equipment and we do systems integration.

I look for someone that is not stuck on themselves. They need to have a personality that will allow them to interact with customers. They need to be able to handle the pressure of deadlines and customers looking over their shoulder sometimes. They have to have the attitude that what ever it takes we will make it happen. I try to see if you have the "juice" to do the tech side. I like to see ingenuity and "out of the box" thinking. Talent and personality and attitude.

I look at employees a little different them most. I figure if I am paying you for your time, if I need you to engineer, sell, talk to customers, troubleshoot, work on quotes, assemble, drill holes, wire, check in shipping, or whatever, that is what I need you to do. It all pays at engineering rates. Hey, I am the company president and I wash dishes and take out the garbage every once in awhile. If that is where I am needed, so be it. We are all supposed to be on the same side. I don't usually need my engineers to do some of those things.. but sometimes we get behind the eight ball and need to shift what gets done. So I look for level headed people that don't worry about getting their finger nails dirty of need be.

We employ 30+ people and half are engineers in one fashion or another.

Yes, I hire EEs. My Engineers need to have that technical field experience as well. So someone that has that hands on field experience is a plus when I interview potentials.

We build web handling equipment and we do systems integration.

I look for someone that is not stuck on themselves. They need to have a personality that will allow them to interact with customers. They need to be able to handle the pressure of deadlines and customers looking over their shoulder sometimes. They have to have the attitude that what ever it takes we will make it happen. I try to see if you have the "juice" to do the tech side. I like to see ingenuity and "out of the box" thinking. Talent and personality and attitude.

I look at employees a little different them most. I figure if I am paying you for your time, if I need you to engineer, sell, talk to customers, troubleshoot, work on quotes, assemble, drill holes, wire, check in shipping, or whatever, that is what I need you to do. It all pays at engineering rates. Hey, I am the company president and I wash dishes and take out the garbage every once in awhile. If that is where I am needed, so be it. We are all supposed to be on the same side. I don't usually need my engineers to do some of those things.. but sometimes we get behind the eight ball and need to shift what gets done. So I look for level headed people that don't worry about getting their finger nails dirty of need be.

We employ 30+ people and half are engineers in one fashion or another.

Garrett

Perhaps your employer wants to have you around when they need more electrical help. Meanwhile I am sure the experience will payoff down the road. Bob AZ

Hmm, web handling equipment? Tension control, in-register splicers, etc? I work for a large printing company with plants scattered around the U.S., we do a lot of multi-million piece mailings. Company policy forbids mentioning their name on the internet, but they might come to mind for someone in the web handling business. Though I guess web handling extends way past printing, and involves plastics, packaging, textiles and so on. Would be funny if you guys did any recent work on our tension control infeeds or something.

We have done tension control infeeds on many machines. We also design and build a lot of the machines themselves.

We have both mechanical and electrical engineering. We do a lot of field service on web offset presses all over the world.

If I recall correctly, and forgive me if I get it wrong, but I believe the angst over your employment ad was not so much the offering, but the manner and phrasing in which it was offered. I seem to remember upset over the ambiguity of pay structure and the vagueness of job security within the offer or something to that effect. I do remember that when questioned about it (and granted, some questions were not phrased congenially) your responses were emotional and terse, which did not lend credibility to the offer, and this being Usenet, prompted flaming. I believe had the explanations, answers, etc been more professionally stated without emotion, the resulting flames would not have happened.

I read your offer and the context in which it was given as being more of a job by job basis, that is, contracted engineering per job. For that reason I could understand the ambiguities, but not the tone of responses. I believe that a clear, concise, and accurate representation of a job at hand, with defined pay structure and no mincing of words as to the future of that position, would be greatly appreciated by anyone in the industry.

As an example:

"Wanted: Engineer to design the digital controls for an industrial product. Project Budget allots $15,700 over a 4 month period. Engineer will provide schematics, PCB Layout, and Prototype for work performed on a contractual basis expiring upon project completion in the time frame allowed".

This example specifically defines the project, the pay, and the employment window while leaving enough room for negotiation. I think what was objected to in your employment offering was that nothing was defined, and you defended the right not to define anything. I don't believe anyone would pursue any job in which critical employment factors were not discussed.

Just my opinion, for whatever its worth.

An illustration of the undesirable immaturity to be found so often on Usenet. Someone with a childish lack of control seeks to justify his own outbirsts by blaming an unrelated, whether by family or association, person?

I understand your message... but.... please use the correct person's header when quoting. You have used my header with the words of EEng.

1. You did not yourself provide the attribution of the words that you quoted, which is why I inserted, ".....somebody else wrote.....".
2. Which part of, ".....somebody else wrote....." did you not understand?
3. If you wish to find a target for the criticism of not including headers, then you need look no further than yourself.

As far as Usenet flame-fests goes this one didn't even get warm. Though 'C' got his nose bent and is still whining.

If you care to unwind the URL, here is the thread (beware this "flame fest" will cure insomnia):