Viewpoints Engineering graduates must get market savvy

Viewpoints Engineering graduates must get market savvy

2013/11/15

David Wicks managing director at European Recruitment

Graduates need to learn how to sell themselves, writes David Wicks, managing director at European Recruitment in his latest viewpoint on the technology recruitment sector 

In my last column I argued that businesses should hire graduates and not simply poach talent with 2-5 years experience. This week I balance this argument with my assessment of the graduate market.

On a recent visit, one of my clients (graphics world leader) illustrated an example that highlights the difficulty in hiring graduates. The graduate interviewed possessed a superb 1st class Engineering BSc from a top university, but an hour into the interview, there was no evidence of passion or engagement with his degree, and he certainly didn’t come across as someone worth investing in.

Just as my client was kicking him out the door, he made a final effort to find out something interesting that he’d done, disregarding his CV. The grad thought for a moment and said “I guess, in my spare time, I made a 3D printer…”.

Turns out this graduate had made the whole thing from scratch including all the hardware and software. He was hired on the spot.

This story is one example of the naivety of graduates and their ability to sell themselves. As recruiters we still experience this with experienced mid to senior level professionals. How many companies miss out on excellent hires, graduate or otherwise, because of this?

Do universities need to be preparing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates much better with other pragmatic skills that will help them navigate the job market? If not, whose job is this?

Could it simply be a numbers game? Apparently we are not producing many engineering grads in the first place.

When researching this article I came across the following written only last week by James Dyson, inventor and founder of the Dyson company: “…it’s hardly a surprise when Britain produces only 12,000 graduate engineers from its universities each year – France produces nearly four times that number…the French value their engineers… As a result there is a generation of young French students, gagging to study engineering at university.”

Dyson goes on to say: “They should remove the immigration cap for the brightest and best, and make a special science and engineering visa. The problem is that we are fast approaching a point where 80% of postgraduate engineering positions at British universities are taken by students from outside the UK.”

And Dyson adds: “Our peculiar visa system means that these bright engineers and scientists, given a world class education in our universities, can’t stay here when they finish their studies. We are training them up, only to send them packing – to compete with us. It’s madness.”

It speaks for itself, particularly when businesses are not as engaged with universities in the UK to iron out these business, communication and emotional intelligence deficiencies early on. This would then increase the overall value of a STEM graduate.

I’d recommend to the government that the Oxbridge and Russell Group STEM departments need to be expanded dramatically to allow more students to enter these vigorous programmes – even if this is to the detriment of the 50th to 109th ranked Universities, so that the overall cost and risk is brought down in these subjects.

To get the applicants, a hearts and minds campaign to educate UK society into the value of STEM would also really help. The visa situation is such an easy win, I’m not sure even the most anti-immigration voter could argue against post-graduate experts being of value to the country.

If we can bring up the number and quality of graduates and instil in them the value of marketing themselves then perhaps businesses will be more willing to hire those straight out of university. Graduates have a lot to offer, even if they themselves sometimes don’t realise it.

David Wicks, Managing Director at European Recruitment

Welcome to SUV System Ltd!

SUV System Ltd is ISO 90012008 Certified electronics distributor with 10 years of experiences.

We have built up long term business relationship with about many companies which are stockers and authorized agents. we have a steady and reliable supply to meet customer's demands to the greatest extent .Confidently, we are able to lower your cost and support your business with our years of professional service.

SUV System Ltd is Electronic Components Distributor Supplies,Find Quality Electronic Components Supplies Products IC(Integrated Circuits),Connectors,Capacitor,Resistors,Diodes,Transistors,LED at Suvsystem.com. Sourcing Other Energy, Environment, Excess Inventory Products from Manufacturers and Suppliers at Suvsystem.com

Electronic Components distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com

Connectors Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Connectors-1.html

IC Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/IC(Integrated-Circuits)-1.html

LED Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/LED-1.html

Capacitor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Capacitor-1.html

Transistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Transistors-1.html

Resistor Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Resistors-1.html

Diode Distributor:http://www.suvsystem.com/l/Diodes-1.html

SUV System Ltd insists on the managing faith ofsincereness,speciality,foresight, win-win,so we build up stable-relationship customers located all over the world, including the States, Europe, Argentina, UAE, Malaysia, Australia,and India etc

we are focus on the following fields,and hope we can help you.

About US NEC Diodes Switches Transistors Freescale TI IC Low Ohmic Resistors ST Diodes ROHM Resistors Capacitor Infineon Technologies Transistors Fairchild Semiconductor Transistors Fleld Effect Transistors Zener Diodes Military IC Chip Fuses components TDK IC IR Diodes NXP Diodes LINEAR IC Digital Transistors Kingbrigt LED Schottky Diodes NXP Transistors YAGEO Resistors TOSHIBA Transistors NS IC VISHAY IC Resistor Arrays ELPIDA IC Dialight LED MURATA IC IDT IC Cypress IC ON Diodes Atmel IC IR transistor Rectifier Diodes Texas Instruments(TI) IC Bipolar Transistors
http://www.suvsystem.com/a/7056.aspx