Got a Job? What is your secret?

[terc04]

Hi, I am posting as a well qualified, recently graduated FSAE team captain who is terribly frustrated by the current job market. I like to think that it is not my fault I cannot find a decent job, but maybe I am missing something. Everybody I talk to says the problem is the economy and people like me (five years of FSAE, team captain, very successful results while on the team, internships, good grades, etc...) should have no problem finding a job when things turn around. But in the mean time I am going nuts dealing with rude HR people and dead ends. For those of you who have landed a job after graduating, what is your secret? Are there hidden markets I am unaware of? Any good contacts looking for well rounded and dedicated employees? Please share your success stories or tales of frustration. I am starting to feel lonely and unwanted.

Tim Roberts
University of Missouri - Columbia

[terc04]

Hi, I am posting as a well qualified, recently graduated FSAE team captain who is terribly frustrated by the current job market. I like to think that it is not my fault I cannot find a decent job, but maybe I am missing something. Everybody I talk to says the problem is the economy and people like me (five years of FSAE, team captain, very successful results while on the team, internships, good grades, etc...) should have no problem finding a job when things turn around. But in the mean time I am going nuts dealing with rude HR people and dead ends. For those of you who have landed a job after graduating, what is your secret? Are there hidden markets I am unaware of? Any good contacts looking for well rounded and dedicated employees? Please share your success stories or tales of frustration. I am starting to feel lonely and unwanted.

Tim Roberts
University of Missouri - Columbia

[Sam Zimmerman]

I feel your pain, Tim. You could always do what I did and apply for grad school.

Sam Zimmerman
Vandals Racing
2002-2003 Team Leader

[A Reinke]

maybe you're looking in the wrong area or part of the country?

Chicago isn't a big engineering town...finding a job here after graduation isn't easy. I managed to find an internship last summer, 5 hours from here in Wisconsin. This year i found one close to Chicago, but its doing stuff with electrical fuses, not auto racing.

Try expanding your search...

[mtg]

You can always come down to UMR and get a grad degree. Then, you can be a bad fast driver with a winged car.

www.umr.edu/~formula (http://www.umr.edu/~formula)

[dr47watson]

Connections. What field are you looking at?


Rich

UTSA FSAE

[terc04]

I am not holding myself to any particular region of the country, or any particular type of ME job. Ideally, I would be working with some sort of racing or automotive company in a nice and sunny location near the beach. In reality I am likely to get a job at a spam packing plant in northern Minnesota. Grad school could be an answer, but I have been in school for 17 years and am looking for something different. Also, what is going to happen when all of you who entered grad school graduate in two years? If the market hasn't turned yet then what are you going to do, get your PhD?

Tim

[Richard Lewis]

Hey terc04, I am going through the job hunting stuff right now as well. If you'd like to shoot me an email we can compare notes and approaches, and maybe do some critiquing on each others applications as well.

Email me at drax77@shaw.ca if you are interested.

-------------------------
UVIC Formula SAE Team
http://members.shaw.ca/drax77/Formula%20UVic%20Sig.jpg
http://uvic.fsae.ca

[clausen]

Hi there,

I'm writing from Australia, but things shouldn't be much different other places.

Are you just applying for jobs that are advertised, or are you proactively asking people for work? I've had a lot of success just walking into places and asking if they could use some help. 6 months ago I this, offering to work for free, which I did for a few weeks, then they paid me some pocket money for a few more weeks, and now I have a properly paid casual job there, designing and drafting bits of racing cars, and have had two other great job offers in the racing industry (pity i cant take them cause i have a year and a half left of my degree).

The point is you need to get in (working for free for a while is a hard offer for them to turn down) and show people that you have something to offer, and build up a bit of a network. These people may not have a fulltime job for you, but they may know people that do, and jobs are very often filled by people that know someone who knows someone before they are advertised.

Just curious, what's grad school?

Regards,

Paul

[Stephen Soroosh]

Grad school is short for Graduate School...like getting a higher degree such as a Masters or PhD.

Dude...try revamping your resume. Don't use the resume creator tool in word but be creative and built a nice looking resume with all the relivent information stressing your work experience and FSAE. Also, consider building a virtual resume that has pictures of projects etc. You can burn it on a business card sized CD and pass it out with your resume.

~Soroosh

If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?

Blaisé Pascal (1623-62)

[Dominic Venieri]

a good looking resume and cover letter is pretty essential for getting a position. I've been thru a lot of workshops on it and have a pretty good package now that has been successful. granted i'm not in engineering, but it still applies. just sending out a generic resume and cover letter doesn't always work, especially when it has to go thru HR first. pay careful attention to buzzwords used in a job description, and try and use the same or similar phrases and terms in your cover letter. many recruiters essentially just scan the page until the see the words they are looking for. you really need to tailor each submission to that company.

be sure to write in an active voice, and always use quantitative descriptions whenever possible (i.e. developed web based customer help system that reduced call volume by 25%, saving $40,000). always show the impact of what you've done if possible. if something you did saved the company money or generated new revenue, how much $? on your resume, always try and start your descriptions with active verbs (developed, designed, implemented, initiated, etc etc)

Always try and find a specific person to send something to. And if possible, snail mail it, don't email. A recruiter from IBM I dealt with once told me "I have emails from 2 weeks ago I haven't read yet - I get over 100 emails a day. But I only get like 5 pieces of mail a week." So the resume that comes in the mail (and the thank you note they get after an interview) gets their attention and is more likely to stand out in their minds. Always try and get a phone # too, so you can follow up. A week after you send it is a good time delay, then once a week thereafter until you get a response. Voicemail is the enemy. People probably won't call you back - keep trying until you get them on the phone. Be assertive but not pushy. Sometimes, to find the person to send it to, it takes some creative web searching, or shmoozing of the receptionist/assistant/operator.

And of course, try and leverage your network as best you can. Reach out to alumni, faculty, friends - they're often very willing to help, to find you that name to send something to, to put in a good word.

Often times, the smaller companies involved in racing don't advertise openings. To get in the door, you need to contact them, express your interest, why you want to work for them, and why they need you to work there. Peruse racing message boards - lots of teams need engineers.

Also, you can try www.jobsinmotorsports.com (http://www.jobsinmotorsports.com). They have some things from time to time.

Hope some of this lengthy post is helpful to someone out there.

www.formularpi.com (http://www.formularpi.com)

[fsae_alum]

The market for finding a job in motorsports right now is TERRIBLE. I spoke to a couple of FSAE judges about this. I asked them "How are you going to handle the fact that you have a HUGE influx of FSAE engineering graduates that are DYING for a motorsports career and everybody slams the door in their face because they think that building a "go-kart" is nothing compared to being a part of a race team?" They said that was a good question. Anyways, after trying to break into motorsports and having a hell of a hard time, I found that the best thing is to probably move to Indy, and just beg to go work for a shop. It also helps to go to races and just introduce yourself and make sure that your persisntent without being overbearing. Also attend a PI seminar as well as the Claude Rouelle seminar. Can't hurt! Just remember that racing is typically viewed as a luxury sport and when the economy takes a small dip it is amplified by 10X into the racing world, at least in my opinion

In spite of...

[Brett Miller]

I was willing to work cheap and gain experience (Yoshimura R&D, they needed someone that could make a fuel map). After a year or so I started applying every place I wanted to work (whether they were hiring or not). After about a month I started getting interviews. Now I work for Harley-Davidson (great company), I live in Naples, FL (close to the beach... hurricanes, flooding, etc.) and I have plenty of money/time to pursue things other than work (within reason...). That was my process. I can see myself spending the rest of my career with H-D. They really invest in their people and give you the equipment/skills necessary to do the job.

Most of the places I was looking didn't really count FSAE as "work experience" and much as racing on someone elses dime. Pay your dues in the workplace and good things will come. There's always the headhunter route as well. Most of them that I met were a bunch of scheisters though.

Brett

Brett

[Uhuh Mmmhmmm]

I can totally identify with the guys who see the job hunting in the motorsport industry as VERY hard to get into, with just using FSAE as your past work experience. Just on the weekend I went to see if I could get some summer work experince helping to build next year's car for a V8 Supercar team (For those who aren't Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian or Asian, ie; Americans... this is Austrlaia's premier motor racing category). I had no problem with getting in with any of the young guys since some of them actually knew what SAE was and had mates involved in it back in the UK... Problem was convincing the manager that I was worthy to go within 10 feet of his car with the knowledge I had gained from SAE. To top it off my own background in race cars should have been sufficient, but the fact that I was just a "Uni student" in his eyes reflected too much in-experience on me as a future race engineer and manager, for his liking. So it seems with this team at least I go without my summer work experince for the fact that I am "Too in-experinced"....

On the other hand though... To walk a mere 3 Garages down pit lane and there you will find 2 very fresh out of uni guys who actually had a hand in building last year's world champion SAE Car, Stumpy from Wollongong. These guys are now race engineers for one of Australia's TOP Racing teams! So much for No experience...

Hold fast guys (and Girls!) These things are like Soul Mates... You will find each other sooner or latter!!!

[Fergus Wilson]

Just to clarify - FPR does have 4 former UOW Racing guys working for them. However, they all came through the BHP Steel cadet program, giving each of them well over 7 years industry experience. They had only FSAE as their motorsport experience, but they all worked for months to get into a V8 team.

There are definately jobs out there, you just can't accept no for an answer.

Cheers,

Fergus Wilson
Project Manager
UOW Racing 2003

fw01@uow.edu.au
www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/ (http://www.uow.edu.au/eng/racing/)