Dear all,
Thinking of switching jobs. Just wanted to know if anyone could recommend a reputable jobsite advertising 'real' jobs. Also, any employment agencies you might recommend.

I've done loadsa modelling on MATLAB, and am looking for a position where I could put this to use, and hopefully make a living out of! I've sent CV's to some jobsites in the past, but I get the impression that they list fake adverts. Also, I've not had much luck with employment agencies as well.

Any help appreciated!
sashi

ps: send me a private message if that's more comfortable for you

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Dr S Sivathasan, DPhil CEng
PRI IPRA (Queensland)

Edited: 13 May 2009 at 03:35 AM by sashi

Unfortunately I can't advise any other route than applying to everyone you can. Companies frequently have 'sole agency' contracts with particular recruiters, so if you don't apply to many agencies you are effectively cutting yourself off from many potential employers.

Also, keep resending your CV, perhaps every month, to ensure that recruiters know that you are still looking.

See also PM.

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Andy Millar CEng MIET MCMI

http://www.linkedin.com/in/millarandy

The IET offer a jobs website where you can register your details and upload a CV, you can find details of this at: www.theiet.org/jobs or by going to the Jobs section under the Careers and Training tab.

There is also general information on writing a CV and applying for roles in our Career Options section at: www.theiet.org/career-options or by going to the Career Options section which is under the Careers and Training tab.

If you have a specific job profile in mind for the type of work that you are interested in then you may also like to use the online professional development system, Career Manager, to formulate a job profile from recognised engineering frameworks.

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Kathryn Bain
IPD & Mentoring, Professional Development Dept
The Institution of Engineering and Technology

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/
http://www.london.ac.uk/103.html

Thanks all for your suggestions. I'm actually trying to make the leap from academia, and am looking for something in industry now.

cheers,
sashi

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Dr S Sivathasan, DPhil CEng
PRI IPRA (Queensland)

If you are looking for oil jobs, that you could post your profile at Link removed/

Yes, most advertised jobs do seem to be placed via employment agents, recruitment agencies or other such intermediaries.

Perhaps the following book will be of help: Killer CVs & Hidden Approaches -Give Yourself an Unfair Advantage in the Job Market 3rd edition by Graham Perkins ISBN: 978-0-273-71020-2. It suggests that the best way to find a new job is to grow a network of useful contacts geometrically, starting with people you know now and asking each to suggest a number of useful contacts to whom they are willing to refer you for specific career advice. Apparently the idea is to get news of vacancies via the grapevine/intelligence network that is your network of contacts before the vacancies get to be advertised whilst also being known to the right person at the right time. I have not used this method myself, but I suspect it could be quite effective. I imagine that the contacts that you already have from your academic work would be a good place to start.
I suggest that the IET itself is an excellent source of networking contacts and opportunities - e.g. through the free meetings, lectures, etc. that are held around the country.

I understand that MatLab skills are very useful as this tool does seem to be applied universally throughout engineering.
I don't know what field you work in, but I believe that there are engineers that make a living using MatLab e.g. in digital signal processing (DSP).
Presumably you would apply for positions in your particular field of expertise that hapen to require your MatLab skillls. Again, I think this ties in with the idea of utilising your existing network of contacts (which is probably greater than it seems at first glance) to find new contacts and so on until you come across one that can recommend a suitable new vacancy to which you might like to apply.

If you are currently working or studying in the academic world, perhaps you would be a good candidate for a leading edge technology university spin-off/start-up company that operates in your field of expertise, but not necessarily related to your current/latest academic institution. You could identify such companies and approach them for informal advice into how somebody with your background might fit into their particular sector of industry.

I apologise if the above is not new information.

All the best.

If you are sending to employment agencies have you also phoned them a day or so later to have a chat with one of their people? Last time I was looking I built up a good relationship with one recruiter in the North west and got a job offer through him

I made a list of agencies and just went down the list each week looking for the new jobs and applying to the ones that looked good - I found that internet job agencies are quite passive and you have to apply rather than waiting for the jobs to find you.

I would also take a good hard look at the CV as well - not saying yours is bad but any little tweek and additional info is always good

I have a doubt.

MATLAB is to be purchased. But there is a free software namely SCILAB. What are the capabilities of Scilab compared to Matlab for a power engineer?

I have experienced that Scilab can be used for Complex number calculations including Matrix Inverse. What are other uses for a power engineer?

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Best wishes & regards
N P NAIR, MSc (Engg), C Eng, FIE(I), MIEE,Sr MIEEE.

I would like to add there are two types of job market in the UK; the advertised job market (based on 20% of the job vacancies) with increased competition from other candidates and the un-advertised or hidden job market (based on 80% of the job vacancies)

The only way to get the number of people needed for engineering is to :

Pay them attractive salaries
Stop treating them like nerds
Have more respect generally for engineering
Have a far higher understanding of what encourages people into engineering

Finally - keep those people still in engineering as engineers (rather than pen-pushers) so as to pass on their knowledge or experience otherwise engineering in the UK will die completely - it is in its final death-throws and another 5-10 years will see it in its grave unless there is a massive change in attitude now.

Engineers are the salvation of this country, and all of its problems.

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Basil Wallace PgDip EngTech MIET

Edited: 14 December 2009 at 02:43 PM by basil.wallace

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