New Civil Graduate Advise
New Civil Graduate Advise
(OP)
My son graduated last Sunday with a BS is Civil Engineering. I need to give him some advise.
He had been working (intern that would turn into full time) for 2 Civil PEs doing petroleum remediation. He was working part time making $15/hour. The job varied from monitoring/sampling to manual labor, handling haz mat and . He liked the job and employees. I finally got him to nail down what they were going to offer him for full time this week. They offered him $40k salary (they work commonly 60-70 hours per week), with $5k for health care and 12 days leave per year. The other students in his class were getting offers ~$55k-$60k per year. He has not submitted any resumes (he thought he had a job). At $40k / year it would not have much left after living expenses in our area. I can support him during a job search. What should I recommend to him?
He had been working (intern that would turn into full time) for 2 Civil PEs doing petroleum remediation. He was working part time making $15/hour. The job varied from monitoring/sampling to manual labor, handling haz mat and . He liked the job and employees. I finally got him to nail down what they were going to offer him for full time this week. They offered him $40k salary (they work commonly 60-70 hours per week), with $5k for health care and 12 days leave per year. The other students in his class were getting offers ~$55k-$60k per year. He has not submitted any resumes (he thought he had a job). At $40k / year it would not have much left after living expenses in our area. I can support him during a job search. What should I recommend to him?
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
It sounds like this current job doesn't really apply his CE degree. Is it taking him where he wants to go in life (career path)? If he does enjoy civil engineering and wants to make a career out of it, he needs to get his foot in the door for a career path now.
There's a lot to be said for having a job and coworkers that you like. That said, if it isn't putting much on the table and/or isn't going where he wants to go in the future, that's pretty hard to justify at that age.. at least for long.
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The name is a long story -- just call me Lo.
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
An alternate viewpoint - what is his opinion? Does he absolutely love the work and find it fulfilling? If he's truly happy doing it, and sees a future in it, perhaps starting off at the low end of the totem pole is acceptable to him? I understand you're looking to give him advice, but I also recommend hearing his thoughts and not inadvertently swaying him from something he really wants (if that is the case). There's a lot of value in being able to get out of bed every morning and look forward to your day at work - on top of the compensation which comes with it.
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
My standard advice for current students is simply to share our expectations and assure them that most of their peers do indeed meet them. To be considered for an interview, we expect at least 1-2 years (not summers) of relevant experience via internship/co-op/employment. Hands-on field work is great, but many interns get used simply as cheap manual labor so I always caution against staying in such a position as it is simply a waste of their time. We also expect them to take some advanced coursework to show they're willing to put in more than a minimum of effort. Every year I hear a lot of similarly sad stories from grads that interned a single summer, that took an easy courseload for four years, or otherwise expected an $80k+ job handed to them at graduation yet struggle to land interviews. Unfortunately, in many cases they didn't realize until too late that employment really is a competition between them and their peers for every position and a degree by itself doesn't mean dink. Sadly, the standard fallback today for many not landing a top job seems to be grad school which leads to another cycle of school and job failures. Most going this route don't realize that its not a do-over, that the degree alone doesn't mean dink, and that failing to compete on other merits still means they wont land their dream job.
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
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RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
I would take cvg's advice about a counter offer and immediately be applying elsewhere as a backup. If $40k is not livable (which is debatable, if he can keep expenses low) then I don't think there is much sense in taking that job.
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
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RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
Ian Riley, PE, SE
Professional Engineer (ME, NH, VT, CT, MA, FL) Structural Engineer (IL, HI)
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
RE: New Civil Graduate Advise
Now that I have actual experience, it's obviously a different dynamic. But fresh out of college, with a degree that effectively says "I'm trainable", what can you do?