Get a job with no experience.

I have no idea whether U of T is a good school or not. It is not one that I would think of as a top EE school. More3over, you did not say what your GPA or class standing was. Besides, computer engineering, as important as it may be, is not really the same as EE especially if you have to worry about interfacing and other electronics.

What were your hobbies? Although computers and internet has replaced amateur radio, a ham radio hobby would quickly get you into the real world of communication.

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

I would also not think of UT as a TOP EE school, but it is accredited at least, :). My GPA in my major was a 3.6, could have been better, I know.

I do have an amatuer radio tech license; my callsign is KC8NGA. I have found it less useful since everyone has cell phones these days.

Thanks for the reply! Mark

Hmm.. Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop, and Lockheed...

Thanks! Mark

What/where have you done/gone so far? Post the meat of your resume here and let us look at it. I and some others here have done a lot of hiring/firing and might give you some good pointers. What are your immediate goals?

Pop

Immediately before and after graduation, I sent resumes to quite a few local companies who employed electrical engineers. I also signed up on monster.com, careerbuilder.com, yahoo jobs, manpower, etc. and created agents with keywords such as "electrical engineer", "entry level", and "embedded". As time went by without having much luck (it seems most places REQUIRE a minimum of 5 years experience), I spent less and less time actively searching. Just recently, I have sent resumes to the places no_one suggested, and signed up on their websites.

My immediate goal right now is to find a company willing to take a chance on a person with no real experience. I would even be willing to start at a very low pay (comparatively) until I prove I can handle the job.

And now.. here it is, in all it's glory.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain a career as an electrical engineer.

SALARY REQ: $40,000 per year.

EDUCATION: University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio May 2001 Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering GPA in Major: 3.60, Cumulative GPA: 3.05

SCHOOL PROJECTS: Solar-Controlled Vertical-Blind System, Senior Design. Designed and prototyped a set of vertical-blinds that adjust their position in response to changing internal and external light conditions

8-Bit Parallel Adder Circuit in VLSI technology, Digital VLSI Design I. Designed an adder circuit at chip level, using 1.5-micron technology

Digital Clock with Chronograph and Timer, Digital Design. Designed, in VHDL code, a very accurate digital clock with stopwatch and timer functions

WORK EXPERIENCE: May 2005 - Present Better Quality Business Systems, Bowling Green, Kentucky Service Technician Set up, install, maintain, and repair photocopy machines, printer, fax machines, and digital duplicators. Also connect, troubleshoot, and repair Ethernet networks.

Oct 2003 - May 2005 Computer LAN, Bowling Green, Kentucky Service Technician Troubleshoot, repair, and upgrade personal and business computer systems; maintain and repair impact, inkjet, and laser printers, install and maintain computer networks.

Mar 2002 - Oct 2003 Retail Electronics, Bowling Green, Kentucky Apprentice Service Technician Maintain and repair cash register systems; telephone, video camera, and paging systems; scales; safes; and label scanners. Designed, prototyped, and built notification devices that enable grocery store management to prevent employee theft.

Jul 2001 - Mar 2002 Namco Cybertainment, Bowling Green, Kentucky Assistant Manager - Aladdin's Castle Perform repairs and upgrade systems as needed in order to keep video games and other arcade games in good working order.

SPECIAL SKILLS:

• Digital and analog circuit analysis and design

• BASIC, Visual Basic, C, C++, Assembly, VHDL, HTML

• Experienced with 8051- and 68HC11-based microcontrollers

• Some background with electromagnetics, control systems, and op-amps

• Software skills include Matlab, Altera, P-SPICE, Led, and others

• A+ Certified, HP Authorized service technician

Thanks! Mark

It is a long shot, but try getting a certificate for Engineer-in-training, EIT from whatever State agency licenses professional engineers. Sometimes the certificate indicates that you passed the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam.

Bill

-- Ferme le Bush

Thanks! I will look into that.

Mark

Have you done any work in the above areas? ...either as part of your classwork or on your own? Proof of your sill is always good.

Damn, I was turned off the other way. ;-) Have you contacted a slave trader, err, recruiter?

You *must* actively search and *forever*. Resumes are just so much trash. The best thing a resume (and don't forget the cover letter) can get you is an interview. The worst (most typical), it gets you binned. Do a *lot* of work on the resume and cover. Hire someone if you must.

Bad attitude, but I understand where you're comming from. You cannot let this attitude show through. You must convince any prospective employer that you are the *one* who can solve their problem.

Bad starting point.

Ok...

Bad introduction. You don't "obtain" a career. You *are* and electrical engineer. Prove it!

Never, NEVER, *NEVER* state salary requirements on a resume. The purpose of the resume (and cover letter) is to get noticed and land an interview. You *never* negotiate a one-sided contract. You don't know, you may find a dream job for $30K that will propell you forward to the megabux or get trapped in a crap job for $20K less than you're worth. *AFTER* they make it clear that they want you is the time to negotiate the salary. Sometimes there isn't much to negotiate, but you *never* limit yourself (or them) before you're a serious candidate.

Dunno much about UT. Doesn't sound much like OSU, which isn't alll that great either.

You're out five years? I'd not put in the GPA at all. State your degree at the bottom and satisfy requests for transcripts.

Very good, but be armed with *everything* about this project. Be prepared to show what design tradeoffs were used and problems encountered. In particular, show how you *solved* problems. Put this , as best you can, in your resume and defend it to the *hilt* in any interview. Action is what employers are looking for.

Kinda weak. Show exactly what you did. See above.

It's easy to design an infinitely accurate clock in VHDL. ;-) What makes your's different?

Make this very terse. None of this is directly relevant to what you want to do with your degree (and it came after earning the degree). Find something you did that was outstanding (saving a giga-buck), or just list it to show you can show up for work (more important than most people think). Invite more questions. They can be easily answered.

Make this very terse. You have some good skills here. Perhaps you want to change your resume style from chronoligical to skills/education. There are some excellent books on the various resume styles, and which one is best for your position (skills/education is typically better for people new to the career, while conoligical is better for those who have a more "proven" record).

Looking for an engineering position, I don't think I'd even list this.

I know that Ratheon is hiring like crazy in Boston. Try their site. Also, along the lines as taking up ham radio...work on some kind of project and/or hobbie where you could prove technical competence. Try making a robot, or a wind turbine to power your parents house. You could also try something ee related that shows you can do things outside of your education such as building a jet engine from an old turbo charger and sticking as much electronics on it as you can for things like data acquisition...put a simple control system on it with automatic shutdown features. Don't do a typical project such as a line follower robot. ANOTHER option is to go back to school. I found myself in your situation because I graduated right when tech hit rock botton, so I went to law school. Business, CE, Law or EE grad school are some good options. It looks like you have a good background for doing embedded systems or control systems. Look into those. Also, it looks like a skills/education resume is a much better option for you...and NEVER EVER put a min. salary. Good luck...you'll find a job but you might have to relocate.

Wow!

I didn't realize how bad my resume looked. I really appreciate the time you've taken to go over it and let me know what I should do to make it better.

I'll get right on it!

You guys are great.

Thanks again, Mark

I found that only searching on jobs for electrical engineers at raytheon and boeing did not always get the results I was expecting. Good categories to explore are electrical and electonic testing, integration and test, test development....