|
Engineering
shortage offers graduates ample opportunities
By
Joseph Serna
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
On a campus with more than 35,000 students, the most popular majors on campus
may not be the most needed.
While students flock to engineering and business majors geared toward technology,
less popular but more primarily needed jobs like civil engineering and accounting
finance are not being filled.
“
These two industries are mirroring the rest of the nation,” said Robin
Lee, associate director of the Career Development Center.
According to Lee, the two fields highest demand are in manufacturing and customer
service related positions, such as a manager of a sales department or human
resources. Throughout the country, need for hese types of positions are growing,
Lee said.
Within the engineering department, information technology and computer engineering
majors are still popular, almost to a fault.
“
They’re all in demand, but not as high a demand… after the dot-com
bust,” said Michael Mahoney, dean of the college of engineering.
Following the boom of entrepreneurial Web sites in the late 1990s and subsequent
failure of the majority by 2000, enrollment in technology-based majors has
declined, but hasn’t reciprocated with a rise in the other, presently
more vital fields of engineering.
A massive need for housing has led to an increased demand for graduates of
construction engineering management and civil engineering, Mahoney said.
Construction engineering managers and civil engineers are important in construction,
from as basic a unit as a home, to as wide as planning streets and freeways
through a city.
Mahoney sees the intimidating curriculum as a possible reason for a lack of
enrollment in such needed fields.
“
If you can’t be a decent mathematician, then it can be difficult to be
in engineering,” he said. A number of higher math classes are needed
to move on in the major.
Another career in high demand, yet low on graduates, is accounting finance.
“
It’s always in demand, a company always wants to know how bad they’re
doing,” Mo-hammed Khan, associate dean of the College of Business Administration
said.
Accounting finance, Khan explained, is basically checking on and keeping the
books for any given company. In the years since Enron’s downfall, federal
regulators are keeping an eye on major corporations and qualified graduates
are needed to fill those spots.
Operation management majors are few and far between, according to Khan. Of
the almost 4,500 students in the college of business, Khan said the operation
management majors could fit in a single classroom.
“
It has always been a small program,” he said.
However, as Lee said, there is a demand for management positions across the
board.
“
[Becoming a] management trainee is really good for new graduates,” Lee
said. “Anything that has to do with sales [is needed].”
Lee also noted a growing demand for certain technical jobs, such as geologist
or biochemist. Chemistry positions are especially valuable at the moment, as
the waters recede in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Though job demands fluctuate, every graduate has something to offer, Lee said.
“
A lot of representatives look for all majors because they all can contribute.”
|
