ACE Engineering Roundtable at Duke University
June 21, 2001
(notes taken by HollyGuss, Duke U.)
Attendees:

Topics Covered:
Timing of Offers & Acceptances / Majors in Demand/Decline / Salaries vs. Benefits Packages / Student Expectations / Recruitment Issues for International Students / Recruiting PhDs / Internship/Co-op / Misrepresentation of Information on Resumes / Ethics / Employer Contracts

Timing of Offers & Acceptances

• Fall recruiting dates are full for the fall but we are unsure how many employers will show up.
• Career Centers should prepare for fall recruiting schedules to be cancelled.
• NC State surveyed 400 students, 43% had indicated they got their first contact with their employer via OCI and 37% from the career fair.
• Employer contact with faculty is a good way to recruit interns and full time hires.
• The career center is a good place to get referrals to faculty contacts.
• Universities have a primary recruiting season, which is usually late Sept. to Nov. and late Jan. to March. Other times are not as successful due to student's academic schedule, etc.
• Employers have to reserve dates as early as March for fall recruiting dates. This is frustrating to employers because many have responsibilities outside college recruiting and often don't know their needs that far in advance.
• Most colleges serve employers on a 1st come, 1st served basis.
• Companies are pushing students to accept job offers earlier, colleges are encouraging employers to give students time to make decisions.
• Many are seeing rescinded offers this year. It would be helpful for employers to inform career centers when offers are rescinded so the centers can better assist those students in need.
• Some employers are sending engineers rather than HR managers to do on campus interviews. This allows the employer to find candidates with the right skill set for the particular job. However, it is very important that HR and those coming to campus to interview are communicating in order to get the most bang for their buck on their visit.
• College recruiting is more competitive and companies need to be more creative.
• The shift in the market will make for an interesting year. There will most likely be less offers that come later in the year.
• Many employers are uncertain what their recruiting plans will look like for next year.
• SRA will recruit 15-20 compared to 117 a year ago. They have also narrowed the school in which they will visit.
• Most college students intend to stay with their first employer for only a short time (2 years). Some employers are finding it more beneficial to hire someone 2 years out.
• Some employers who saw employees leaving for the dotcoms are seeing those employees return.
• Some employers who do not plan to do on campus interviews will still attend job fairs, present workshops on campus, take interns etc. to maintain their relationship with students. However, some employers will have resources cut and won't be able to maintain the same presence as in past years.
• Rescinded offers may result in students having less loyalty to employers or students may accept employment and continue to interview. It will be important for employers and career centers to work closely to increase students trust and to ensure that students are not being unethical after they accept a job offer.
• Most schools have a Partners program within different academic departments. Some employers felt this gave the advantage to those employers who could afford membership. It was reiterated that the career centers assist employers regardless of membership to such programs.
• The Computer Science Partners program at Duke has 40 industry members ranging from HR managers to engineers/computer scientists to CEOs. Member are give tender loving care treatment, the fees paid by members go right back into serving them when they visit campus, give presentations, etc.
• Many pointed out that there are ways of getting involved on campus without being a member of such a Partners program including working with student groups, developing relationships with faculty, etc.
• Employers often look at geography when scheduling campus visits as well as the success they have had at that school in the past.
• Employers are using new hires to promote the company and location to potential candidates.

Majors in Demand/Decline

• Most rescinded offers have been for CS and EE majors.
• Chemical and Mechanical Engineers have not been effected.
• Healthcare will always be strong, BME, CE, ME
• Need is high for power systems.
• Energy, biotech, defense are not effected by economic downturn.
• Sales in demand.
• High demand for hardware design.

Salaries vs. Benefits Packages

• IBM does local benchmarking for RTP area (Melanie at Cisco has more info.)
• There is expected to be less signing bonuses however, salaries are expected to stay about the same.
• Signing bonuses will be reserved only for the top candidates.

Student Expectations

• Students have been confident over the last few years.
• There is already a noticeable shift in attitudes of new hires. Many of the juniors are nervous about finding employment next year.
• There have been increasing calls from parent to both career centers and HR offices, leaving the companies to question if the student will be able to deal with reality once they start the job.
• There was some discussion of having company open houses for parents and families as a recruiting tool and having "loved ones packages"
• Overall student attitudes are expected to change with more feeling thankful for a job rather than feeling entitled to a job.

Recruitment Issues for International Students

• Many employers can not hire a lot of visa students and ask colleges to respect that requirement.
• Still many colleges are allowing students to sign up for interviews.
• Department of Defense is a bad fit, requires citizenship.
• On line systems can screen candidates even for open schedules.
• Some students have lied about their profiles in order to fit the qualifications.
• International students should start their job search even earlier because they have the added task of trying to find companies who are willing to hire them.
• In some cases it is more likely that International students will be considered by a company if they have done an internship or co-op with that company.
• The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce has a listing of International companies in the area.
• Tracy Powers from the University of South Carolina submitted the following resources:
  Directory of Foreign Firms Operating in the United States. Published by Uniworld Business Publications, Inc. www.uniworldbp.com
  Directory of American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries. Also published by Uniworld Business Publications, Inc. www.uniworldbp.com
  Online Databases of American Employers for International Professionals. http://www.h1visajobs.com/ If anyone has questions about the site, they can contact me directly at tjpowers@sc.edu.

Recruiting PhD

• PhDs are generally too focused and have a difficult time transitioning into industry.
• They are good if hired for a specific task but not very successful with general skills.
• 50% of all who start a PhD program do not complete their program.
• Part of the turn off for PhDs is high salary expectations.
• There is a perception that PhDs and engineering students will get bored easily in a job.
• Hiring managers are sometimes intimidated to hire PhDs.
• It is important for PhDs to add soft skills to their resumes.
• Employers are more interested in breadth of skills rather than depth.
• PhDs aren't very good a recruiting because they have high standards and no one is good enough.
• Interdisciplinary study is more attractive than a narrow focus.

Internship/Co-op

• Some companies do not treat co-op and interns differently, others do.
• Co-op is often seen as a more structured learning environment.
• Less students are showing an interest in co-oping when the job market is good, especially if co-oping delays graduation.
• Students are also turned off by co-op because they would rather have 2 different internships instead of staying with the same employer for a co-op.
• Co-op helps students to see the practical application of their courses.
• This year there were more students than co-op jobs available.
• There is a perception that internships are easier and have less commitment than co-ops.
• Co-op students are often charged tuition, which is a deterrent.
• Technical students are paid for co-op and internships.
• Students should be concerned about what is on their transcript. An incomplete co-op is not a favorable thing for an employer to see.

Misrepresentation of Information on Resumes

• Information on resume should be checked by employer (transcripts, past employers).
• Check references, most references are honest.
• Often misrepresentations are just mistakes on the student's end, make sure students are careful especially with dates.
• Students should not list the entire time they were in a co-op program but rather just the dates they were working.
• If a student puts major GPA it should be labeled as such.
• Most employers want to see GPA on resume, often when GPA is omitted those students are left out of the process.
• One survey (by UNCC) showed that 1/2 of employers wanted GPA on the resume and 1/2 didn't care if it was on or not.
• Leaving GPA off requires employers to do more leg work.
• Objective statements help employers find a good fit for the candidate.
• Resumes should only highlight those skills in which candidates have experience. Don't include skills with minimal experience.
• A broad objective statement makes students look indecisive. It is better to create objective to fit job description.
• Research the company to write a better objective.
• It doesn't do any good to revise an objective to fit the job if ultimately it is not the job they want.
• Objectives help to pair students with the appropriate interviewer.

Ethics

• NACE will have principles of ethics grouped by student, career center and employer on the web site by August.
• Employers need to know that not all resumes they receive from the career center have been reviewed carefully by a counselor.
• If employers find a discrepancy in a student's resume, contact the career center.

Employer Contracts

• UNCC is using an agreement with 3rd party recruiters which prohibits 3rd party recruiters from passing resumes around. Resumes received can only be used for a specific job.
• Students should be asked for permission before their resume is passed on to another company.

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