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SS22 Commencement is 40 days away

BettyRay's picture

He has no job offers. Nothing lined up after graduation. 

He is applying for engineering jobs at big corporations requiring 3+ years of experience.

Because he thinks he should be paid 100K right out of the gate.

~BettyRay

 

Comments

Letti.R's picture

We recruit some of the best engineering graduates from the most prestigous universities.
Middle of the road applicants from middle of the road universities need not even bother to apply.
Even then, in their first two years on the projects they are assigned to, they are candidate engineers until they can prove they are worth anything, including opening their mouths.
Your SS is in for a bit of a culture shock in the engineering world were your worth is proved through application of skill: your (top class) paperwork (from A+ schools) means nothing.

We start our graduates at £32000 ($42K) which is probably one of the highest entry level salaries and well above median.
Your SS's expectations are laughable.

Hopefully he will get a job somewhere so he is out of your hair.

Livingoutloud's picture

I’ve never heard of anyone hired to engineering position at $42k in the US. It’s very low. It’s more like around 60k as initial salary here. What you are describing that’s what internships pay, not full time jobs. But most if not all engineering students have their internships while still in school.

With our high cost of education (havjnv to pay loans back) and rigorous engineering degrees most wouldn’t go in to the field if they had to work for 42k. You can do something much less demanding for that little money. 

Monkeysee's picture

Salaries in the UK are typically lower than in North America.  £32,000 for an entry level position here is very high, albeit quite a bit different to North American standards.

Livingoutloud's picture

Entry level jobs don’t pay high here either but engineering is different. It’s typically higher pay than other entry level jobs 

Monkeysee's picture

I get that, but what I'm saying is the standards here are very different.  Many people who've been working for years don't earn £32,000. Plenty of teachers even with years experience don't earn that wage, so for entry level over here that's actually quite high.  It's an apples to oranges comparison.  I have family members in North America who work as engineers, and you're right, they wouldn't have gotten out of bed for a starting salary that low. It's not the same standard, which is what I was trying to point out.

Letti.R's picture

I agree - on average you are looking at about £22-25k.
£32k is high for the UK by any measure because our cost of living and wage determination is different to the US.
Everyone pays a truck load for engineers at entry level and we don't even know if they are any good.
 

Letti.R's picture

I am in the UK and our salary structures are different.
The point is, even at an entry of $60K or $70K. your starting salary is too low for this SS who wants around $100K.

The salary I described is an entry level salary.
If you keep in mind that the 2018 salary median for the US is $68K and the UK equivalent is $37000, then the entry level salaries in both the US and the UK is based around the median salary point in both countries.
It probably is different as most UK students don't have mountains of debt after studying running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
You are paid for your qualification and degree plus experience, not your debt load  and repayment needs in assessing salaries.

On the qualifications, most of your  candidate work to towards professional registration happens after you graduate, whether in full time internships post graduation or entry level hiring at the level of an intern.
There are also very specialised work that needs to be complete by engineers versus engineering  technicians as per the UK Engineering Council who oversees professional registration.
There is a large salary jump when when candidate processes are completed because of competition to hold on to engineers so you move quickly from entry to someone with qualification plus a year or two years actual experience and professional registration.

The systems are different in the UK, Europe in comparison to the US.
It is also why US qualifications, what they actually are equivalent to and if they are even recognised in the UK is a screening process.

Bottom line: whether here or in the US, almost no one is going to pay a graduate equivalent to $100K in a real professional environment.
If they are, let me know who  because I would be interested to know why. Smile

Livingoutloud's picture

No $100k is unrealistic. Too high. This kid is crazy.  I was just commenting that $42 would also be unrealistic here for an engineer even at a first job: too low. 

Letti.R's picture

 I understand  Smile
The US equivalent would be around the around the $65K you mentioned.
The same salary in the UK is equivalent to $42K.
The payment for entry level engineers at a top employer in the different countries is evenly matched when you look at parity: my UK $42K is about equal to your US $65k.

(None of this has anything to do with the fact that the kid is bonkers!)

Livingoutloud's picture

My nephew graduated from ok run off the mill local not high class university but he was hired by a prestigious well known company for engineering position (his degree is in mechanical engineering) starting salary 65k. He is still in the company but has been promoted since and has higher salary now and he is still in his 20s.

But he initially was doing internship for them, it was paid internship, he was getting paid $19 an hour and he worked 25-30 hours a week because he was in school full time. When engineering position opened up, he was encouraged to apply and was hired. So it’s all possible but your skid needs to have some type of internship.

Both my nephews said that to secure a good job in engineering you must have internship done 

BettyRay's picture

He attends an uber expensive engineering university. His GPA is hovering around a 2.5. He has applied for positions in automotive firms and is super narrow on the types of positions he will consider. Applying at companies like Harley-Davidson and Polaris. I did a quick search the other day and there are a number of entry level positions in his field with decent starting salaries, between 40K and 70K.

He is arrogant. I would be happy to help him with his search, since I work in HR, but am staying out of it. He is a white male in a white male dominated professional and needs to stand out if he's going to be considered for a position. If he's interview style is anything like how he acts at around us - he is disinterested and defensive. I don't see him landing a job anytime soon.

~BettyRay

tog redux's picture

So what are you going to do when DH asks for him to stay longer because he hasn't found the job he thinks he deserves?

BettyRay's picture

DH and I have talked at length about this.

If he has no job DH will tell him to move in with BM. 

~BettyRay 

BettyRay's picture

The short answer is SS22 is living with us because we live closer to his uber expensive university.

Also DH caters to the skids. In the beginning DH would make him a lunch and save a plate for him at night.

Now DH is finally fed up and does nothing extra SS22. 

SS22 uses our hme as a stop and flop.

He spends weekends at BMs house because we won't allow his girlfriend to sleepover at our house. BM does.

~BettyRay