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Three Salary Negotiation Tips for a Better Engineering Job Offer

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This is a blog post by Nader Mowlaee

Salary NegotiationRegardless of your job title, or what kind of engineer you are, at some point in your career, you will likely engage in a salary negotiation. Asking for more money or a better job is a daunting prospect. What if your employer says no? What if you lose your job?

Calm down and don’t panic — salary negotiations happen all the time.

Before you ask for a pay increase or talk about your salary expectations in a new job interview, follow these 3 steps. I promise they will significantly boost your chances of success.

1. Timing is Everything

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7 Tips to Engineer Your Job Promotion

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7 Tips to Engineer Your Job Promotion is a blog post by guest author Sreeram Sreenivasan

Job PromotionDid you know that 23% of employees feel they’re overlooked for a promotion? There was a time when hard work and professional conduct were good enough to get engineers promoted. Today, they’ve become the norm. Keeping your head down and slogging hard won’t cut it any more. Engineers need to apply specific tactics to increase their chances of getting a job promotion.

1. Analyze your current situation

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How to become a Resume Genius Fresh Out of College: 7 Tips that Work

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How to become a Resume Genius Fresh Out of College is a guest post by Kevin Nelson

Resume Genius

No doubt, writing a resume when you’re just out of college is a challenging task, especially if you think that most employers prefer candidates with experience. The first word of advice here would be to let go of this misconception — as a matter of fact, a lot of great companies are looking for young talent. This, however, does not mean that you should underestimate the importance of a well-crafted resume — after all, every job opening sees an average of 250 resumes, and only 2% of those candidates land an actual interview. Let’s find out how you can wind up in those lucky two percent and become a resume genius.

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The First Step to a more Stable Engineering Career in 2018

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The First Step to a more Stable Engineering Career in 2018 is a blog post by Nader Mowlaee

Stable Engineering CareerAccording to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in January 2016 the median number of years wage and salary workers had been with their then-current employers was 4.2. This was down from a median number of 4.6 years in 2014.

What does this tell us? The era of working for 20 years at one company is over.

Yet there are still many unhappy employees who continue working for the same employer. They’re sticking to their jobs because of a fake and empty promise of security.

If you’re thinking about establishing a more stable engineering career this year, you’ll need to start setting a few goals and brainstorming a few lists of potential companies.

Goal setting is the first step to finding a more stable job with more growth potential in 2018.

Your Next Step:

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Engineering Leaders, Check Your Bias

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This is a guest blog post by Daniel Hayes, PE, PMP

biasIt was a beautiful fall day, warm but not hot, brilliantly sunny.  I walk into the lobby feeling lean and confident, ready to slay the interview.  The company President comes out to greet me, and we begin the five hour dance.

The day goes well.  I present my engineering credentials and experience.  The interview team discusses company needs and the requirements of the position.  The opportunity would be an interesting challenge if we choose to move forward.

Inconsequential yet important back and forth banter on both sides propels us toward the conclusion of the interview.  As I drive away, I think to myself that this was a positive interview experience.  I feel I have left a good impression on the team, and I am interested in working for the firm.  I leave feeling as if they had envisioned me personally when they wrote the job description.

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How to Stand Out (and get the interviews you want)

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stand out

This is a guest blog post from Zubin Ajmera

In this extremely challenging job environment, it is not only tough to get an engineering job, but equally tough to get an interview or a phone call for an engineering position. Several studies have shown that recruiters or engineering hiring managers spend roughly 6-10 seconds on a resume. What I believe, however, it’s not just a resume, but everything else too, like your LinkedIn profile or your elevator speech when you talk/meet for the first time.

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PE Exam Prep Guide: How You Can Pass the PE Exam without Having to Study “Everything”

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PE ExamThe following PE exam post is a guest post by TEM member Andy Lin, PE, SE. I was so blown away by its depth and detail that I have also added it to our Guides section on the website.

Here at Engineering Management Institute, we highly recommend our friend and sponsor, PPI, for your PE exam review. As an exclusive benefit to our supporters, PPI has extended a 20% discount on their exam review materials. All you need to do is enter promo code PASS8 at checkout at ppi2pass.com.

Here it goes:

It’s that “exciting” moment in your engineering career again.

After obtaining your Engineer in Training (EIT) and working for a few years, you are ready to take on the next challenge—the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam (PE exam).

As you start studying for the PE exam, you’ll probably notice that there are dozens of prep courses out there—most of which teach you “everything you need to know” about the exam.

Preparing for the PE Exam?

Here is a summary of this PE Exam Prep Guide.

Download the FREE guide for resources that can help you in your preparation for the PE Exam.

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Three Steps to Ensure that Your Engineering Salary is Higher than Most in Your Field

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4-15-14 Photo for Post RoundedI have had a few questions from engineers lately concerning salaries in the engineering industry. The questions have been along the lines of, “Most engineering companies offer low salaries—what can I do to get a better salary in this industry?”

First of all, I would say that not ALL engineering companies offer low salaries. Secondly, there are several variables that go into this idea that engineering companies don’t pay much, variables like:

  • Each engineering discipline will have different salary ranges,
  • Geographic location will affect salaries,
  • Your definition of “low” may vary greatly from the company’s and/or that of other engineers in your industry.

Putting all those aside, here are three steps you can take to ensure that your salary is on the high end for your industry and experience level.

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Questions and Answers from Engineering Students on Resumes and Interviews

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Engineering Recent Graduate 1

Over the past month or so, I have had the pleasure of speaking on the topics of resume building and interview preparation for the College of New Jersey ASME Student Chapter and the University of Memphis STEM club (MemphiSTEM).

There was such a great turnout at both events and such great questions that I thought it would be helpful to share the questions and answers here on my blog for all engineers and other STEM professionals to utilize. Here they are:

Q: Should I show my high school on my resume? [Read more…]

Five Larger Top Structural Engineering Companies to Work For

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top structural engineering companiesAs we mentioned in a recent post, our members have been asking what the best engineering consulting firms to work for are, so this post covers some of the larger top structural engineering companies to work for. We should mention that our analysis of the top structural engineering companies to work for focused mostly on the larger firms, for two reasons. Firstly, information on these companies and their compensation packages is more readily available, and secondly, many of our members requested information on the larger international firms. We do want to make it clear, though, that there are probably a lot of great small structural engineering companies out there; we just focused on the larger firms based on specific requests and available information. We did not take applications for these rankings; they are simply based off our discussions with structural engineers and information we found on these companies.

Structural engineers are tasked with creating viable and safe structures like roadways, bridges, buildings, dams and waterways, and other industrial and commercial facilities. This means structural engineers help in drawing up designs from scratch and collaborating with other designers to guarantee that the designs are sustainable. These professionals must be adept in all aspects of the construction project as well, so as to be able to come up with solutions should issues with the design and implementation crop up at any stage of the project. With such crucial roles, structural engineers are some of the most sought-after professionals in the design, engineering, and construction management sectors.

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