NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010 - 65

“I would say the number of technical jobs is increasing. (But) it’s still a challenge to get those technical jobs.” — Kingsley Iduma, Union Pacific
for Boeing Information Technology. “Six years ago, when I’d have a job, maybe 50 people would apply. Now I might have 200 people apply for a position.” calling, he says. Kingsley Iduma, the recent Michigan Tech graduate, had two college co-op experiences. He also met with corporate recruiters at campus career fairs, noting that there were more recruiters this past spring than in the previous fall. “I would say the number of technical jobs is increasing,” Iduma says. “(But) it’s still a challenge to get those technical jobs. They’re looking for very skilled labor, those who have experience, a higher-level graduate degree.… But there are jobs available for students with just undergrad degrees.” Having to work for a living and care for his father kept Cisrow from serving in leadership roles with NSBE and taking internships like his NSBE peers. “Everyone wants someone with 10 or more years of experience, which I don’t have,” he says. “At some point in my life, I started asking myself, ‘Did I do the right thing in going back to college?’… I’m still hopeful. I have noticed more job postings.”

INTERNSHIp AdVANTAGE
With those odds, companies looking for recent college graduates are able to choose from a plethora of candidates with one or two internships or co-op experiences under their belts. “Now, when I talk with candidates, they’re able to share with me the work they performed the last two summers. As a hiring manager, it’s very important to know whether the person knows how to apply the skills they have learned,” says Fox, who represents Boeing on NSBE’s Board of Corporate Affiliates. “Can they communicate? Do they know how to work on teams? Can they apply what they know?” NSBE members with internship experience seem to be faring better than those without, both when it comes to getting their first job out of college and getting another job after a layoff. Jordan L. Ballard, a staff engineer with Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., got his current job in the fall of 2009, about four months after being downsized when his former company was acquired. A chemical engineer with five years of experience at the time, he said having an internship with Merck on his resume, from his college days at the University of Delaware, helped him get a foot in the door. He was willing to move and took a job working in a global vaccine facility in Durham, N.C. He’s happily settled in his new job, but headhunters are still
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GROwING dEMANd
Employers predict that as the economy recovers further and companies expand, the need for people with technical skills will continue to grow. According to a survey released in June by Dice Holdings, Inc., the majority of employers and recruiters, 52 percent, anticipate hiring more career professionals in the second half of 2010 than they did in the first half of the year. Of those intending to hire more personnel, 49 percent project they will bring in up to 10 percent more employees than in the first half of 2010, whereas 28 percent expect to increase hiring by 11 to 20 percent. “Tech jobs are back in vogue. I think there’s going to be a huge demand as we get back into the foray of innovation,” GE’s Bhagat adds. New developments such as smart grids and electronic medical records require a different level of automation, which demands a more technically savvy work force. “We were heavily reliant on services. I think companies are now focused on innovation and the next generation of products,” Bhagat says. “Our whole focus from our chairman (is that) innovation is still alive and well in the U.S. We need to figure out how to tap that capability.” ■ Theresa Sullivan Barger is a freelance business writer and a former editor and business writer at The Hartford Courant.
• CAREER ENGINEER • fall 2010 • 65

LAId OFF, LOOKING
One NSBE member we spoke with worked while going to college and did not have an internship experience. New Jersey resident Baron Cisrow, 41, earned an engineering technology degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in August 2008 and has had trouble finding another engineering job since being laid off. He started with an associate’s degree in 2000 and went back to college for a bachelor’s degree so he could move up at his company. After losing his job in January 2008, he found temp work as a technician about the same time he earned his bachelor’s. A few months later, he had to stop working to move to another part of the state to care for his dying father. Since August 2009, he has been doing manual labor with a glass manufacturer on rotating shifts, which makes attending job fairs challenging. He’s still looking, he says, but his college friends are also finding it hard to get work.

NSBE Magazine - Fall 2010

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