The epic search for work
 

Hello Pelicaners. In the past few months I have been looking for work without any luck (hence the post). There isn't much of anything in this region as far as interesting jobs or a job where I'm qualified. I was just wondering if anyone had a job or two that I could do. I do anything instead of moving home like I probably will have to in a few months. :(

For what its worth, I've always loved Porsches and there hasn't been another to take her place.:D

What line of work are you in?

What are your skills?

I have degrees in Mechanical Engineering with about 1 year experience.

I can send a resume if you wish. I have other skills than I list on my resume, like working/fixing my car.

Any nunchaku skills, bow hunting skills, or computer hacking skills?

Your best bet is to focus your search and be quite specific as to what you want to do. Your resume should reflect this as well and not list your other, non-related skills.
Throwing a bait hook out asking for any job is going to land you right next to Gomer.

Will you consider relocation?

Have you looked in other states. I bellieve there is a great demand for ME in the oil/gas industry here in Houston. I'm not in the field but talk to lots that are.

Why don't you apply at Boeing and move out to Seattle? Lots of folks out here that have moved from the Midwest. Nice west coast lifestyle without all the California wackos. And the Seattle area has a very strong Porsche community.

Will you move? If so, I'd say you're guaranteed work in Wichita, provided you are somewhat competent. Every aerospace company in town is hiring engineers as fast as they can find them. 90% of the stuff you'd find in a big city, without the BS. Cheap cost of living, good pay, friendly people, etc. #1 on Forbes Magazine's "Best Places for Jobs" list for 2008.

Nothing personal, but I'd say that you are either in the wrong location, or not looking very hard. Engineering is a good field right now, the jobs are out there.

Heres another firm that might be up your alley. http://www.electroimpact.com/

Brushing up on your English skills might not hurt, either. ;)

Gotta agree. I'm from Michigan. I love my home state, but I sure wouldn't want to be looking for work there.....

Come to SoCal. If you can't land a job within a week you either have lung-choking B.O. or a third eye or something.

That's the biggest reason I stay in this hell-hole - the fact that there's NEVER a shortage of demand for good/decent people.

Ask me about the "Oregon story" sometime. Long story short when we used to live up there, my wife actively looked for a new job for over four months in Portland, Oregon after being laid off. No luck. All she got was three or four interviews and one offer to work as a cashier for about eight bucks an hour. We got the hell out of there before we totally ended up bankrupt and she had a job down here within a week. This was in the 2002, post-9/11 recession.

Yes, SoCal is a hell-hole and has its share of problems, but finding work isn't one of them. I suggest coming out here, landing a job, putting up with the crap out here for 2-3 years to build your experience and pursue your EIT/PE and then you can move out of this schit-pit and take that resume anywhere.

Just my $0.02.

Unfortunately I didn't follow my own advice and ended up staying, but whatever. You can do that too if you like.

You're assuming he has prior fluffing experience.

Doesn't everyone?

Have you considered relocating?
The company I work for actively recruits young mechanical engineers fresh out of school or with a limited amount of experience. They call it investing in the furture. We have plants all along the west coast, in Utah, and ND.
Pay is darned good compared to other sectors. Last I heard, a first year ME starts at over $65k with raises every 6 months for 3 years until he (or she) progresses to full ME pay which is six figures or better depending on experience.

A large percentage of my job responsibility is mentoring and teaching the younger MEs. I've been called the mother duck because I'm almost always being followed by someone learning the ropes.

LA isn't bad if you choose carefully where you work and live. Nothing worse than spend 1-2 hours each way to and from work.

you might want to get your hearing checked.

Sammy, I won't ask you to name the company, but what industry do you work in? Just curious.

While Sammy's company sounds like a good one, you have to be careful with location. A fellow senior AE student was offered $5k LESS than the going rate in Wichita to work with Boeing in the LA area. Even worse, she considered it. Her choice was to be poor in LA, or doing well in Wichita. Look very seriously at living costs when considering an offer.

Oil refining. it's not the safest or very glorious, but it is very rewarding in other ways.

The new MEs we've hired over the past few years are definately not starving, but they can't afford to buy a home here.
What they usually do is work for a while and get some experience, go to school at night to get their MBA (company pays for it) and after a 3 or 4 years they try to transfer to another location where the cost of living is much less. With the salary they've built up in LA they can live very well in other locations. Plus after they've established themselves in the industry (assuming they are good performers) they can pretty much write their own ticket to anywhere there is a refinery. As in most industries, good qualified experienced engineers are in high demand.

There are 4 refineries in Ohio:
Marathon Petroleum Company, Canton, Ohio 73,000 bpd
Husky Energy, Lima, Ohio 158,400 bpd
BP, Toledo, Ohio 160,000 bpd
Sunoco, Toledo, Ohio 160,000 bpd

Aa occasional visit to their websites to check for openings might be worthwhile.
Usually the larger capacity refineries offer more job security because the smaller ones tend to be less profitable.

Oh my....the stories I could tell. ;)