Just asking for son. He graduates next week.
Really wants to stay in Texas.

Bell most likely is for their FLRAA/FARA programs.

I know he has applied to Bell/Textron and Lockheed for a number of positions at each

bumping for posterity

Tell him to check w/ semiconductor companies (e.g. Samsung, NXP, TI, AMAT, etc). They hire a lot of Material Science grads.

bumping again partially to try and help my son look and partially because i am seeing some strange job market trends.

Son is actively looking and applying. Like 100+ apps so far. So to my knowledge only feedback from apps has been either maybe 1/3 of them saying "we have chosen another candidate" or just outright crickets. Some apps sitting for months now. I will be the first to say his resume isnt like an all-star. 3.3 gpa, not tons of awards or clubs. But he has worked in research at A&M for over a year with glowing reviews from his bosses and had a great internship at Nabors in Houston. He loved that job but they didnt have any permanent positions open in that department. So he graduated and is looking for a job like thousands of other Ags and other college grads.

I have been trying to help him with advice, guidance and even some networking and searching and tbh its been a learning experience for me. I am not really sure what's going on with HR/hiring these days but it seems that there are a lot of fantom job postings. I cant imagine that it take 3, 4, 5 or 6 months to fill a spot. If that is the case, companies are getting this process all messed up. That's incredibly inefficient.

I've read a lot of recent postings on LinkedIn from recruiters talking about the ridiculousness of it all. All the AI and algorithms doing 80-90% of resume scanning. My son had an application from a large company kicked at 1AM on a Sunday morning. LOL Clearly no human ever saw it. Crazy thing is that job description literally read as if it was written based directly off my son's resume. All the machine and lab specific terms and equipment, the degree, the specific experience..... And it didnt last 12 hrs in their system. If your resume isnt formatted exactly how they want it, you get booted.

Also, the "we want xyz degree, 7 years experience, deep knowledge of this, and pay is $45k." I cant tell you how many jobs are advertising for masters degrees in physics or chemistry and pay less than McDonalds. Paying anyone less than $65k a year with the cost of living today is literally begging them to job-hunt half their free time and seems counterproductive. What ever happened to the human side of hiring? looking for character, loyalty, work ethic and longevity?

Insanity. Maybe I am just getting to an age where I see the value of people and how much that value is being lost in our society.

OK old man is done yelling at the sky. Carry on.. lol And if anyone has any more advice for my son, please send me a DM.

Yeah, it's rough out there unless you have a very specific set of skills and you "know"'someone. I graduated from A&M and took a job making $30k/year just so I could get my foot in the door in the career I wanted to be in (buying). But you can quickly leverage that experience to find better and better positions. The beginning just sucks.

Even at the level I'm at now, I still get the auto-rejects on jobs where I have EVERYTHING they're looking for. I signed up for LinkedIn Premium free for a month, and that really seemed to open up the floodgates on opportunities. Has he tried that?

Back when I graduated IDIS, they had a ton of companies come on site for interviews. And most of my job hunt was done through the career center at A&M. Does that not happen anymore?

AJ02 said:

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Yeah, it's rough out there unless you have a very specific set of skills and you "know"'someone. I graduated from A&M and took a job making $30k/year just so I could get my foot in the door in the career I wanted to be in (buying). But you can quickly leverage that experience to find better and better positions. The beginning just sucks.

Even at the level I'm at now, I still get the auto-rejects on jobs where I have EVERYTHING they're looking for. I signed up for LinkedIn Premium free for a month, and that really seemed to open up the floodgates on opportunities. Has he tried that?

Back when I graduated IDIS, they had a ton of companies come on site for interviews. And most of my job hunt was done through the career center at A&M. Does that not happen anymore?

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I don't know about LinkedIn premium. I think he may have that but not sure. He attended every career fair but nothing ever came from those. He is a typical engineering kid that struggles with social stuff and networking , is one of the most likeable and reliable people once you know him.
Whoever hires him is going to be extremely happy they hired him, but getting in the door is seemingly crazy hard these days.

I graduated in May and have been working in structural engineering since June. Can confirm the market is weird right now and probably not what most experienced professionals are used too. IMO linkdn is a part of the problem. Often "job postings" are nothing more than a resume hoarding portal. Your son's experience is definitely the norm not hearing back on most applications so don't be discouraged. Admittedly I found my current job through LinkedIn but I felt extremely lucky to do so. Some strategies that can help are contacting the hiring manager directly if they are listed, following and connecting with a good number of people and companies to make your profile look more filled out.

Also keep in mind the industry these companies are in and what the outlook is. Process and Chemical, Oil and Gas, Construction are from my own and peer experience industries much more eager to hire than others especially tech.

My last bit of advice for your son is to not be bound by looking for "material science or engineering" job titles. His degree has equipped him to do and learn a lot of different engineering jobs. Often explaining what you have learned in the past, even if it has nothing to do with the job at hand, shows your ability to pick up information, understand it and communicate it.

Don't be discouraged! The market we live in requires way more No's to get a yes than before but those No's are way cheaper.

Gig'em

Thank y'all for the words of advice and encouragement. I will share with him and hopefully he will find his path. God always provides, it's just up to us to recognize the path he sets for us.

Amen! The number of times I thought things weren't working out only to have God do something far better is more than I can count

bumping again. Son is still looking. thanks and gigem

Is he staying active on the aggie career center site? I don't necessarily mean attending career fairs, but doing that too, I mean more just the job listing site within the career center?

I've gotten 2 jobs from that site, one as a new grad and one after being in the workforce for 8 years. I've gotten 0 from LinkedIn, though I've probably applied to 100x more positions through LinkedIn.

I honestly don't know. I know he's been really active on LinkedIn but i don't know about the Career Center.
I will ask him.

Where there job and interview opportunities through the career center while he was there?

I'm honestly just asking because I'm seeing a lot of this and wondering why they are only starting to apply once they graduate (or that's how it comes across).

You said he isn't good at the social stuff and networking but he needs to get better at it. He's young and needs to learn. When I was looking for a job and I had to attend a local Engineering event, I walked around the entrance 3-4 times because I finally went in. He has to do it.

Are there any material science professional organizations? I just googled "materials science engineering professional organizations."

Came up with https://www.asminternational.org/. Here's the houston chapter if he's in Houston: https://www.asmhou.org/

There is even an "emerging professionals" group: https://www.asminternational.org/membership/emerging-professionals/

Tell him to go to a local chapter meeting. Get some decent business professional clothes that fit him (try to not do khaki pants and a white shirt), get a hair cut, shave etc. Do normal conversation - that will segway into people asking him what he's doing and explain how he's recently graduated and looking for a job - "I'm interested in such and such but open to anything that can lead to opportunity." He can throw in a brief sentence about his time at Nabors and A&M. If people ask him what he liked, he can expand more.

Found their career center on the website: https://careercenter.asminternational.org/jobs?country=&state=&city=&zip=&latitude=&longitude=&keywords=engineer&city_state_zip=texas&locale=en&page=1&sort=relevance

I searched "engineer" "texas"

Not sure how many entry level jobs there will be but I'd check that out. They may already be on Linked and he applied to them - not sure.

Thank you for taking the time to do that research and write that and I will absolutely pass along your advice and the links.
To answer your question I don't THINK he has dont much through the career center. I know he's been applying for jobs through LinkedIn since August or September or so


Thanks everyone and Gigem

All good man - happy to help. I've worked with a few recent grads and they've had some tough times the last few years.

Also he's still young so don't be afraid of doing a job outside of Texas. I did!

Also - has he asked his ex bosses at Nabors if they have any connections at any other companies? This is assuming he has a good relationship.

It's hard to do these things because you "feel" like a failure or begging but it's normal

Here's how I would go about it specifically as it relates to LinkedIn:

1. Quickly build a network on LinkedIn by searching companies and then roles/titles (in both the hiring function hr,talent, etc and the actual function he'd work in)…add the people that are returned. These should hopefully be a mixture of lower/mid/senior level folks. Bonus points if Aggies. This will hopefully start filling his timeline with industry posts that he can engage with (including job posts)

2. When they accept, message them directly saying thanks for the add and he looks forward to working together in the future…stay in touch by commenting on their posts, etc and if he's outgoing ask if the more senior folks would have 10 or 15 minutes for a zoom to talk about their career path and insight on getting into the market

3. When he finds an open role, he should immediately contact a person at the company and message them about his interest saying he'd love to speak to the hiring manager or someone on the team about the role, bringing value, etc. I've gotten actual zooms w hr folks and hiring managers all the way to senior VPs (I'd do it for multiple people folks till I got an answer)

4. Grind grind grind…vary search terms and search everyday. Go to the company website and sign up for job notifications for when new jobs are posted that meet his criteria.

Side note: Many companies will pass a candidate through the screening to an actual phone call if they are referred internally.To that end, I might wait to apply till he get someone on the team, not hr, and see if they will refer him internally (it usually comes w a little money for the employee if candidate is hired)


Best of luck and Gig'em

Astroag said:

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Here's how I would go about it specifically as it relates to LinkedIn:

1. Quickly build a network on LinkedIn by searching companies and then roles/titles (in both the hiring function hr,talent, etc and the actual function he'd work in)…add the people that are returned. These should hopefully be a mixture of lower/mid/senior level folks. Bonus points if Aggies. This will hopefully start filling his timeline with industry posts that he can engage with (including job posts)

2. When they accept, message them directly saying thanks for the add and he looks forward to working together in the future…stay in touch by commenting on their posts, etc and if he's outgoing ask if the more senior folks would have 10 or 15 minutes for a zoom to talk about their career path and insight on getting into the market

3. When he finds an open role, he should immediately contact a person at the company and message them about his interest saying he'd love to speak to the hiring manager or someone on the team about the role, bringing value, etc. I've gotten actual zooms w hr folks and hiring managers all the way to senior VPs (I'd do it for multiple people folks till I got an answer)

4. Grind grind grind…vary search terms and search everyday. Go to the company website and sign up for job notifications for when new jobs are posted that meet his criteria.

Side note: Many companies will pass a candidate through the screening to an actual phone call if they are referred internally.To that end, I might wait to apply till he get someone on the team, not hr, and see if they will refer him internally (it usually comes w a little money for the employee if candidate is hired)


Best of luck and Gig'em

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This is definitely interesting and obviously it works based on what you said.

There's been a couple people that have done this to me and I've spoken to one on the phone. I'm definitely willing to talk to them but don't put the people you're speaking to in precarious positions like asking them specific question about salary, pay and working hours. Those are HR questions. You could structure the working hour question like, "would this be a good position for someone that wants remote and has a family" and get away with that.

Also, and maybe I'm being too paranoid, I don't necessarily like putting people forward who have just sent me a few linkedin messages and spoken over the phone for 10-15 mins. I have never worked with them, never met/talked to them in person or spent any kind of real time with them. You're sorta putting your own reputation on the line by recommending someone. If I were to put someone forward, I do hedge myself saying I've never worked with them so cannot comment on that.

However, I'm always keen to give some career advice like I have done in this thread.

TheMasterplan said:

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Astroag said:

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Here's how I would go about it specifically as it relates to LinkedIn:

1. Quickly build a network on LinkedIn by searching companies and then roles/titles (in both the hiring function hr,talent, etc and the actual function he'd work in)…add the people that are returned. These should hopefully be a mixture of lower/mid/senior level folks. Bonus points if Aggies. This will hopefully start filling his timeline with industry posts that he can engage with (including job posts)

2. When they accept, message them directly saying thanks for the add and he looks forward to working together in the future…stay in touch by commenting on their posts, etc and if he's outgoing ask if the more senior folks would have 10 or 15 minutes for a zoom to talk about their career path and insight on getting into the market

3. When he finds an open role, he should immediately contact a person at the company and message them about his interest saying he'd love to speak to the hiring manager or someone on the team about the role, bringing value, etc. I've gotten actual zooms w hr folks and hiring managers all the way to senior VPs (I'd do it for multiple people folks till I got an answer)

4. Grind grind grind…vary search terms and search everyday. Go to the company website and sign up for job notifications for when new jobs are posted that meet his criteria.

Side note: Many companies will pass a candidate through the screening to an actual phone call if they are referred internally.To that end, I might wait to apply till he get someone on the team, not hr, and see if they will refer him internally (it usually comes w a little money for the employee if candidate is hired)


Best of luck and Gig'em

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This is definitely interesting and obviously it works based on what you said.

I have a couple people do this and I've spoken to one on the phone. I'm definitely willing to talk to them but don't put these people in precarious positions like asking them specific question about salary, pay and working hours. Those are HR questions. You could structure the working hour question like, "would this be a good position for someone that wants remote and has a family" and get away with that.

Also, and maybe I'm being too paranoid, I don't necessarily like putting people forward who have just sent me a few linkedin messages and spoken over the phone for 10-15 mins. I have never worked with them, never met/talked to them in person or spent any kind of real time with them. You're sorta putting your own reputation on the line by recommending someone.

However, I'm always keen to give some career advice like I have done in this thread.

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Yeah I never endorse them just a submission to get their resume in front of actual eyes

Any update on this? Hope your son is figuring it out.

Was at a career fair recently and apparently looking up companies about what they do isn't even a thing anymore.

If your kid does that at least he'll be a step up.

Still looking? Baker Hughes hiring for a Digital Product Technical Owner for their Drill Bits division in the Woodlands. I know the people on this team and they're all really great people.

https://bakerhughes.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/BakerHughes/job/US-TX-THE-WOODLANDS-9110-GROGANS-MILL-ROAD/Digital-Product-Technical-Owner--Drill-Bits----The-Woodlands--TX_R111001

What industry and how many companies? If potential hires don't know that Ford makes cars that's an issue, but expecting them to know details you do about your company isn't reasonable. Not saying it's your case but an impression I've gotten from personal experience.

I'm not sure why or how career fairs got to the point where green college students who just want to graduate and get their parents of their a*sses are expected to start a conversation that a recruiter should be initiating by making their company enticing. Unless you're flying to the moon or saving lives, your job is pretty damn ordinary so let's not put ourselves on a pedestal.

It would be much easier if there was a questionnaire that could be filled out beforehand for recruiters to see instead of expecting someone who doesn't know what you do to begin a conversation. After all you are at a public school, not Ivy League or Oxford.

Rant overload

TheMasterplan said:

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Any update on this? Hope your son is figuring it out.

Was at a career fair recently and apparently looking up companies about what they do isn't even a thing anymore.

If your kid does that at least he'll be a step up.

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Yes he attended the last career fair and made a great contact and ended up getting a job he is really excited about.
Thanks everyone.

Now I need to try and help his girlfriend (possibly my future DIL) find a job (she is a August grad from A&M with MS in Visualization

I'm not expecting them to know the level I do. Those that do are unreasonable.

I'm talking absolute basics.
"Software company that works in heathcare"
"Construction company that works in Oklahoma"
"Tech company that helps you do your expenses faster"

You get these from a 5 min scan of a company website. This isn't even a boomer/old man yell at clouds comment so I don't know where the rant is coming from. I do agree somewhat the market is different but a couple Gen Zers told me they got jobs via spam applying on LinkedIn for jobs they thought they were qualified for but also kept up an excel sheet for each company including contacts. My dad was doing that in the 90s (minus the LinkedIn applying) so some old school advice does still apply. These Gen Zers were using tik tok to get them with career advice as well which I thought was cool and gave me a new perspective

If a student comes up to me and asks what my company does, I'll gladly let them know and consider them if they have a good resume and speak well regardless. If someone does a 5 min scan and shows they looked up the company, they'll separate themselves from the pack.

Awesome man.

Just out of curiosity for this thread - did he do some basic research about the company before speaking to them at the fair?

I would still suggest going to that young professionals group to help with adult networking. Hard to balance with a new job but do your best.

TheMasterplan said:

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Awesome man.

Just out of curiosity for this thread - did he do some basic research about the company before speaking to them at the fair?

I would still suggest going to that young professionals group to help with adult networking. Hard to balance with a new job but do your best.

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He researched all the companies he wanted to talk to at the fair I believe. And I agree he needs to hone his networking skills.

Nice.

It's something we all had to work on at that age.

i work in and out of pipemills quite a bit. has he thought of working contract work as an inspector? getting a NACE cert with a degree can get you paid 30-50 per hour depending on the job. 12 hour days.


definitely not the ideal situation, but it would get some experience on the resume.

evestor1 said:

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i work in and out of pipemills quite a bit. has he thought of working contract work as an inspector? getting a NACE cert with a degree can get you paid 30-50 per hour depending on the job. 12 hour days.


definitely not the ideal situation, but it would get some experience on the resume.

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He ended up getting a fantastic job in the semiconductor world and starts in two weeks.