Hello Manager Tools Forum!
I have a question about experience on my resume, and was hoping if I could get some advice, which would be greatly appreciated.
Basically, I feel that my engineering-type experience was too far in the past, and that my most recent work experience isn't related to engineering, which is what I am trying to start a career in.
Before graduating in 2009, I worked three summers (05, 06, 07) with three separate transportation infrastructure companies, which I would like to sum up as a year of engineering experience (e.g. site inspection, takeoffs, formwork design). After graduating, I didn't work until 2010, when I ran a program that taught 350 domestic and international high school students science and engineering related topics for a month. I hired and trained the instructors, all Master's and PhD students, set up the schedule and planned the logistics for materials and equipment (I wish I knew about MT then!).
But that ended before the end of 2010, and I haven't been employed in a full-time job since (My part-time job has been the same since 2002: teaching karate at a community centre). I have also been helping with a charity (Engineers Without Borders) since 2004, most recently with a National Conference where I organized the food for the 1500+ attendees, with help from the volunteers I directed (though I was one myself).
Do I put off HR or hiring managers with my distant related experience and my more recent, less related experience? Am I losing out to more recent graduates with higher marks in technical courses that I'm sure construction and engineering companies like?
I am sure it is not the MT resume format holding me back; I like that arrangement and find that it has helped me rediscover of all my achievements, not to mention write more effectively!
Sorry about the long read!
Thank you, and take care,
Fidel
It is what it is
Your work history is what it is. Some recruiter might be put off by it, some won't. It will always be that way. Do the best with what you have.
You'll need a direct response when asked about the career change from engineering to teaching. There's a lot of potential or pitfall in this answer. Be prepared.
Good luck,
--Michael
Don't worry too much
You can't change your past. At least in your case, the experience in your past isn't THAT distant. I would include the three summers as three separate jobs, and list the responsibilities and accomplishments. That'll do what you need it to do.
Good luck,
Mark
"the dots will connect"
Fidel, Which engineering degree do you have? I live in Chile and there is such a shortage of engineers in Chile, in brasil, and i know in other countries as well....For mining and in Brasil for oil and gás projects which are booming. It would be a shame for you not to to back to engineering if you are passionate about it just because for whatever reason you haven't worked at it for 2-3 years. Don't give up. I am sure you can find a company which will value the experience you have had and a job at which the experience you have had will help. How mobile are you? How broad are you searching for An opportunity? Which engineering companies are you applying for? Without knowing more i risk guessing there is no problem with your resume but perhaps with to whom you are applying. Or perhaps not even só. The right match sometimes take time to show up. Just know it is there, plan for it, persue it and you will get it.
A lot of companies are putting more enphasis on social responsability and my guess is the next wave that will come is for companies to play a more ative role towards quality education. You have mention two experiences highly desirable by companies which put enphasis on social responsibility.
Take a look at Steve jobs inspiring speech at. Stanford graduation cerimony in 2002: "you cannot see how the dots will connect looking into the future, you will only see them connected from the future looking into the past, but you have got to have faith somehow they will connect."
Nara
Thanks for the replies!
You are all right; I can't change my past, but I can at least leverage it.
Nara: I graduated in Civil Engineering. I am really interested in infrastructure asset management, but I feel that I need ANY engineering-type experience NOW! I live in Canada and most of my search has been in Canadian businesses. Canada also has oil and gas projects, though I have not had much luck with those companies. I've applied to consulting firms, contractors and municipalities, without much success so far. Maybe I will extend my search abroad.
I'm still optimistic, though I hope some of these dots connect soon.