What would you say?

How would you assess the availability of those with civil, electrical, chemical and mechanical engineering degrees against the upcoming need for workers in the roads, bridges, water, construction, thermal installations and other related industries in this country?

My take (as a telephone sourcer):
In my experience these individuals are highly sought and becoming ever more valuable.
They are hard to find and most of them are gainfully employed.
They are a conservative bunch and not likely to change employment without a lot of hard thinking on the matter.
More and more of these are women - especially in the younger population.
The younger population does not feel well-represented in this group to me (is this a result of less interest at the academic level in science-engineering?)
The demand is increasing exponentially.

What are your thoughts?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robin Klempa on February 23, 2009 at 11:34am

Chemical Engineers are relatively plentiful if you know where to look for them --being well plugged in to the chemical community I will say that the biggest issue with ChemE's is that for a great many of them -- as well as Ph.D's in Materials Sciences (which are also going to be needed) -- Green card /residency issues are a deal breaker. In my last search targeting a materials scientist for a rubber company looking to jump the fence into cutting edge plastics research probably about 1/2 of the strongest resumes I saw were of no use because the company absolutely would not Sponser.

Either companies will change their Sponser policy , the Governement will loosen work restrictions or there is going to be a serious talent war for the few smart American kids who chose this Academic path

Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on February 23, 2009 at 11:43am