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careers
Engineers not
feeling effects of recession
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
Despite the declining
job market, the need for engineers has somewhat increased
and remained steady, according to forecasts by the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
"Engineering [employment] in general, across all disciplines
is pretty good," said Todd Johnson, economist for the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Certain occupations
[in engineering] have better job markets than others."
Johnson said that a 108 percent increase is expected in the
job market for computer engineers. Electrical and electronic
engineers, which are closely related, have had the lowest
increase in jobs out of all the other fields of engineering.
"Computer engineering is expected to increase as technology
matures and gets more integrated and complex," Johnson
said. "Businesses increase their technology and the need
for computer engineers increases as well."
Johnson commented that the number of people graduating from
college has been declining.
"There has been a steep decline in the number of graduates
in engineering between 1986 to 1991," Johnson said.
Since 1991, he said, the number of students graduating in
engineering has been steady.
The military aspects of engineering will probably pick up
because of the current world affairs, Johnson said.
Irvine-based RBF Consulting, which provides development, infrastructure,
planning and environmental services to private and public
clients in local, regional and global markets, is still hiring,
said Tara Braun, human resources representative for RBF.
Currently the Irvine office has 15 positions available. There
are a total of 10 offices throughout California, Arizona and
Nevada with 600 employees in all.
"We have lots of open positions," Braun said. "We
are always looking for graduates to hire."
Her advice to graduating students in need of a job is to do
an internship while in school.
"We look for students who have practical experience already,"
she said. "If they [civil engineers] have used Autocad
or other softwares, then they have a head start." Braun
also said that if the student has knowledge of what RBF works
with that is also a plus.
"For 'student jobs,' where there is a ton of research,
or more writing and reporting than design, then we do look
at graduating students GPAs," Braun said.
Braun also said the company recruits at a lot of career fairs.
"All students should go to career fairs," Braun
said. "Come prepared with a resume and come across well
to the company."
This a chance for a potential employer to see more than paper
and actually meet the person, which can help as opposed to
just a resume.
Today the Job Fair at the University Student Union, about
32 companies from all fields of engineering will be present.
These include Unisys, TRW, Raytheon, Flour, BP Carson and
the Boeing Co.
Peggy Murphy Hayden, coordinator of comprehensive services
for the Career Development Center, said students should come
prepared with current resumes to the Job Fair.
"Even if [engineering] students have not had actual work
experience, they should come," Hayden said. "Students
need to understand that employers are looking for people to
hire for entry-level positions, so don't be intimidated."
Hayden advised that if a student has had an internship to
make sure to mention that to the company, though.
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