APEGBE job tips

http://www.apeg.bc.ca/services/employmentcentre/jobseekers.php

Job Search

90% of finding a job is preparation. Your preparation includes LMI research, self-assessment, and career development. The remainder is job-search. In many cases, your preparation and your job-search will overlap. For example, you may begin your job-search while you are upgrading your skills. You may also find that you get a job through an information interview. However, the more prepared you are, the more likely you are to have success in your job-search. Job-Search Skills There are thousands of websites to provide you with the job-search information and skills you need. Pay close attention to the advice and work hard on: Cover Letter: Make sure it is well-written and is customized to the employer. It should tell the employer why he or she should hire you. Resume: Customize your resume to what the employer is looking for. Stick to two pages - it is an introduction only and does not have to provide all of the details of your career. Business Card: Give everyone you meet a business card. You never know when your card might fall into the right hands. Portfolio: Employers like to see actual work you have done. A portfolio is particularly helpful if your English is not very good. Self-marketing: In completing the Career Development and Job Search Plan, you have identified the skills that you are very good at. Make sure you tell employers that you are good at these skills. Networking: It is a fact that most people get jobs through networking. Build your network and stay in touch with the people you meet. Dropping in and Cold Calling: Make sure you speak with the person that is responsible for hiring; this is not usually the human resources staff person. Know a lot about the company and make sure it is a good fit for you before you make contact. Interview and Meeting Skills: Employers make decisions based on meeting you. This is your opportunity to show them what you have to offer. Your job-search is your opportunity to impress a potential employer. Use the tools above to show potential employers that you have the technical, professional practice, cultural, employability and communication skills, confidence and positive attitude they are looking for. Here are a few websites to get you started on preparing the tools and developing the skills you will need for a successful job-search: www.monster.ca www.workopolis.com Finding Potential Employers Your LMI research skills will point you to potential employers. When you look for employment opportunities, don't forget to check the Employment Center on APEGBC's website. Help with your Career Development and Job-Search Your best resources for help are your fellow engineers and geoscientists, networks of internationally trained engineers and geoscientists and career counsellors. APEGBC provides some resources which may be helpful. These have been mentioned throughout these webpages and include such things as posting job openings, offering courses and publishing Innovation magazine. However, APEGBC's mandate does not include providing guidance on career development and job-search. Instead, APEGBC's resources are focused on protecting public health, welfare and safety by providing its core services of licensing, professional practice support, and discipline and enforcement. At this time, APEGBC is devoting significant resources to ensuring that licensure is accessible to ITEGs through a review of its policies and procedures and participation in the national project "From Consideration to Integration". A Final Note You do not have to be working in engineering or geoscience to feel like an engineer or geoscientist and fully participate in the community. As you work your way through your career development and job-search, become immersed in your profession. Get involved. Learn everything you can about engineering and geoscience in BC. Go to networking events and attend seminars. Join technical associations and networks of other internationally trained engineers and geoscientists. Talk to every engineer and geoscientist you meet. In short, build your passion for your profession. An engineering or geoscience employer will recognize your knowledge, skills and passion and offer you your first engineering or geoscience job in BC. APEGBC staff and members wish you every success. Welcome to BC and good luck! First-Hand Advice From the Pilot Project Management Team: Entry-level positions are rarely advertised but companies are always looking for talented people. Engineering firms are not interested in advertising these positions because the most important attributes that they are looking for are best exemplified if they [job-seekers] market themselves, meet employers while networking or drop-in on a company unannounced. Companies will not normally send a letter or e-mail acknowledging that they have received your resume. Sometimes, companies will send a form letter stating that they will keep your resume on file. In this case, do not think that you will get an interview later. You will not normally hear from the employer again unless you follow up and stay in contact. It's the combination of skills - technical, non-technical 'soft' and business - that ITEs need to work as engineers in Canada. From Employers, Professional Engineers and Technologists: Be willing to travel and work on sites.   Demonstrate initiative, motivation and interest in meeting people.   Employers prefer that you drop in at a company office or meet engineer employers at networking meetings. Engineers should not assume they would be able to get back into engineering through a drafting or other technical job that uses some of their engineering skills and knowledge. There are many potential job opportunities for people with AutoCAD skills (e.g. a manufacturing warehouse that uses AutoCAD Land Desktop to make revisions; a furniture warehouse that uses CAD for layout work). Employers will look for someone who will be loyal and stay with the company for at least three or five years.   The first year on the job requires training the employee.   An employer doesn't make money from a new employee, so they will be very careful of who they will invest their time and effort in. Develop your network.   Become established in the engineering circle, find out what is happening and take an interest in it. When you go to a job interview, take your references and your portfolio with you. Consulting companies like people with hands-on experience (e.g. in construction). Find out what a company does before making contact.   Most internationally trained engineers do not research the companies they approach. Develop high quality resumes and use cover letters that are custom designed with appropriate information for each company and well presented. Always send a cover letter with your resume.   The letter should be one page and the resume should be two pages at the most.   Do not include every project or job in your resume.   Use the resume to summarize and highlight your experience.   Most resumes repeat the same information (e.g. five 20 story buildings are listed but only one needs to be mentioned).   State how you were involved in the project and what your responsibilities/achievements were.   The resume should clearly state the position you are seeking.   For example, if you are applying for a structural engineering job, do not state civil engineering as your career objective - state structural engineering. Construction is a strong sector.   There is a demand for construction safety officers, foreman, estimators, project coordinators, project managers and superintendents. Municipalities and other government offices usually like to hire experienced engineers.   Some offices will only hire a person with previous local experience.   There are some opportunities for technician jobs in municipalities. Employers have said the right person does not have to be a registered professional engineer (P.Eng.). Most engineering companies hire people in the spring.   They do not hire in November and December. People coming from other countries need to market themselves better. You are judged by how you dress.   Wear business clothes to an interview (e.g. suit/jacket and tie). From Internationally Trained Engineers: Get whatever job you can get within a large organization where opportunities exist and work your way up.    [Tip:   You will have a chance to prove your abilities if you take a related technical job rather than taking any position] Customize your resume to match the job requirements.   [Tip:   Include specific skills and qualities that the employer is looking for] Be creative and flexible in marketing your skills. Pick up the phone and call people.   Go to construction companies or job sites first thing in the morning and ask to meet with the project manager. Do not wait for a personal letter or reply to a job inquiry.   Call or visit the company office to find out the status of your job application or resume submission.   [Tip:   Do not wait more than two weeks] Be willing to accept short-term contract work. The "Drop in" procedure sounds OK if you have the "door to door" salesman spirit. It is going to be hard. The telephone never rings; you have to call. Career Development and Job-Search Plan Open your Career Development and Job-Search Document and go to the LMI Worksheet. Using the information and links provided here and elsewhere, answer the questions in the LMI-SKILL AREA "Job-Search Skills" section. Next, go to the Skills Self-Assessment Worksheet and rate your ability in the "Job-Search Skills " section. It is essential that you are honest with yourself when completing this self-assessment. If you are not honest in answering these questions, your Career Development and Job-Search Plan will not be a useful tool for you. Finally, go to the Skills Summary Worksheet and follow the instructions there. Complete the "Job-Search Skills" section. Do not forget to work on the Potential Employers Worksheet If you have not already started to do so.

http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_edition/singularities/networking_it_s_more_than_sharing_meatballs?goback=%2Egde_2075027_member_228809279

Singularities

Networking: It's more than sharing meatballs

Career consultant Alaina Levine offers practical advice on how to build and use professional networks.

April 3, 2013
Published: April 3, 2013April 2013

By Alaina G. Levine
Networking is the most powerful tool you have in your career-planning kit. It is the secret to finding hidden opportunities; it establishes and solidifies your value in the minds of decision-makers; it opens doors to hitherto unknown people, alliances, and information. The bottom line? Networking secures jobs and advances careers.
But the challenge of networking is that most people don’t know what it is or how to do it.
Some, though surely not you, dear reader, think that “networking” is a finite action that takes place at an event, like a conference. They meet a professional at a mixer, and they partake of a witty quip and a meatball or two. When 10 minutes have elapsed and they can’t think of anything else to discuss, they excuse themselves and go!—the requisite networking is complete for the week (or year). They don’t follow up with the professional; in fact, in many cases, they never speak with him or her again.
What is the outcome of this brand of “networking”? Absolutely nothing—no new information, no new career opportunity, and no new potential collaboration. They may wonder why the interaction didn’t help them achieve anything. And they go back to applying for jobs advertised on the internet and banging their heads against the wall.
The truth is that networking is not a one-time meeting. Networking is:

• a spectrum of activities . . .
• which begins with a first interaction . . .
• aims for a mutually beneficial partnership . . .
• involves myriad correspondence and actions that provide value to each party . . .
• and ends only when one or both of you drop dead.

Once you recognize these basic principles, you can begin to craft a networking strategy that will help realize your career ambitions.

Like many aspects of professional planning, your networking scheme should include its own objectives, activities to pursue, milestones, timelines, and deadlines. But before you launch your program, take care not to make these common mistakes:
Mistake Number 1: “I won’t network with people outside my field. Doing so is a waste of time.”
I read just such advice on Linkedin recently. The author encouraged young scientists to interact only with other scientists, which he rationalized with the example that a plumber could never help you in your career.
To my mind, this is faulty logic. You should interact with people in and outside of your field, industry, and even geography as much as possible because anyone can provide you with ideas, information, and inspiration that advances your career. Your acquaintance doesn’t have to be an academician in physics to help you solve a physics problem or land a job in higher education.
This kind of strategic thinking has aided me many times. Once, while sitting in the middle seat of an airplane, I listened to the people on either side of me discuss plans for approaching editors. My science writer ears perked up and I interrupted their conversation to introduce myself. “Are you in journalism?” I asked. No, they responded, they were in public policy for the nuclear regulatory industry.
At that time, nuclear science wasn’t even on my career radar as a potential field for collaboration. But once I got them talking about their passion for the field and understood exactly what they did, the three of us recognized an opportunity to partner on a project. They told me about a nuclear science conference that occurs in my state every year, and I was able to convert that tip into real work.
You have only to start a conversation to learn what skills you both could provide. So aim for inclusivity in your conversations. And remember the theory of six degrees of separation: the more people you know, the more people you have access to.
Mistake Number 2: “I will network in order to extract something from someone else.”
The foundation of networking is building strong collaborations that provide value to both individuals. Of course you need a job, but the other person needs things too, like connections with other potential partners, career leads, or ideas about funding sources. You should seek to craft an alliance based not on grabbing what you can from each other, but rather on learning how to ensure that the relationship continues to harness both of your specific values.
Early-career professionals should offer to be of assistance, even if they don’t immediately see a potential return on the investment (ROI). It’s surprising how much others appreciate the offer of help and how immediately such a proposal can solidify a relationship. I once read an article in a trade magazine that I especially enjoyed and contacted the author to discuss it.
At the end of our conversation, I asked her to contact me in the future if I could help her in any way. “Even if I am not the right person,” I said, “I will find the right person or resource for you.” She expressed gratitude, and what’s more, she soon followed up with me. That one gesture started a partnership that has lasted more than a decade, and led to the development of mature networks for both of us.
Mistake Number 3: “I can’t network because I don’t have time.”
The tragicomical paradox is that networking practically a full-time job in and of itself, which you must pursue while also juggling the full-time job of career development and the other full-time job of scientist. So you have three full-time jobs and no parallel universes or time machines at your disposal. While it is true that networking takes time, it is time well spent: I can almost guarantee that resources you devote to networking will provide a substantial ROI.
A smart way to get started is to recognize that there are two kinds of networking: active and passive. Active networkers purposefully seek out others to meet and with whom to connect. This may occur at conferences, symposia and journal clubs, or through reading papers and contacting authors.
Passive networkers interact with those with whom they cross paths. This could happen at any event, including those not related to science, such as philanthropic, pastime, or community activities.
My favorite kind of passive networking occurs on airplanes. You are trapped approximately three nanometers away from this guy for hours, so you might as well make the best of it. Strike up a conversation (as long as he’s not drunk.) From passively networking with people on planes, I have gained surprising knowledge about my industry, developed partnerships with new colleagues, and even landed a few gigs.
Don’t underestimate the use of social networks like LinkedIn for both active and passive networking. LinkedIn is starting to become a standard for hiring people—in fact, one industry decision-maker told me that the resumé is becoming obsolete and the LinkedIn profile is taking its place. Consider creating a free profile on LinkedIn and join groups relevant to your ambitions. (In a future article I will go into detail about how to leverage your social media presence for effective networking and career planning.)
Mistake Number 4: “I can’t network effectively because I am a shy, albeit rather good-looking, physicist.”
Efficient networking, where you are able to build long-term partnerships, takes practice. You don’t have to be an extrovert to network, and even outgoing personalities (and seasoned networkers) sometimes have butterflies in their stomachs when they first approach a stranger at a mixer. But the more practice you get at introducing yourself to others, the more adept and more comfortable you will become.
At networking affairs, one of my favorite opening lines is “what’s the best part of your job?” As the other person recounts what is pleasurable about her work, she will be more apt to speak with me about it. One of the keys to networking is that people generally love speaking about themselves. So the more you ask contacts about themselves and what drives them, the better you are able to start a beneficial relationship. As they speak, remain in eye contact. As people chat, I like to jot down a few notes on the back of their business cards. When I follow up later, I remember (and can remind them) of key points in our conversation.
So at the next APS Meeting, don’t be a wallflower and don’t let fear get the best of you. Just catch someone’s eye and launch a discussion. Remember—they are there to network too. And to scarf meatballs.
Alaina G. Levine is a science and engineering writer, career consultant, and professional speaker and comedian. Her new book on networking strategies for scientists and engineers will be published by Wiley in 2014. She can be reached through her website or on Twitter at @AlainaGLevine.