This is “ENGINEERS WEEK” and we encourage you to get involved! It isn’t too late. This year the theme is “Celebrating Awesome.” Please visit NSPE and ASCE to see what events are scheduled in your area. Let us know how you are celebrating the civil engineering profession. Do you participate? If not, then why not?…
Civil Engineers: Are You An Ambivert?
There was a recent article posted on line from the Washington Post titled, “Why extroverts fail, introverts flounder and you probably succeed.” The article was written by Daniel H. Pink; author of “To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.” The gist of the article revolved around the mentality of successful sales people,…
Civil Engineering Firms Stretched Thin
As I was perusing the different headlines at CNN.com the other today a headline grabbed my attention: “We Are Working Too Hard.” And as I leaned back in my chair for a moment reading this piece, I began to wonder, “is it time for civil engineering firms to adjust the notches on their belt and…
How to Make the "Age Issue" a "Non-Issue" When Searching for a New Civil Engineering Job
“Age to me means nothing. I can’t get old; I’m working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you’re working, you stay young. When I’m in front of an audience, all that love and vitality sweeps over me and I forget my age.” – George Burns So…
From Civil Engineer to…
With the recent recession beginning to fade further in the rear view mirror, many civil engineering firms are struggling to find available talent. As the economy improves and we are beginning to conduct searches in regions or specialty areas (i.e. land development) that we have distanced ourself from over the past few years, we have…
Demand For Engineers Increases: Infrastructure Asset Management & Sustainability
Engineers that understand infrastructure asset management are in demand within the US engineering marketplace. Infrastructure asset management specifically focuses on the need to sustain structures such as highways, bridges, water treatment facilities, electric utility and transmission lines in addition to many others. Mounting pressures to cut public spending, has much needed maintenance and rehabilitation put on hold….
Raise the Bar for Engineering
Engineers of decades past have had more credit hours required of them compared to the engineers of today, yet engineers of today have so much more to learn than those engineers of past generations. As a result, there is a new campaign supported by the likes of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the National Society…
Working From Home: The Kiss of Death for a Civil Engineer?
A couple of weeks ago a consulting civil engineering client of mine offered an opportunity to an extremely talented candidate that would have allowed him to work from home for his first 6-8 months in order to accommodate some special circumstances. The candidate ended up delaying the acceptance of the offer until the first quarter of next year as his situation…
Civil Engineering Firms and Hiring Retired Military
This week I was thrilled to hear a Client say “My ideal candidate would be someone who was in a leadership role in the Army Corps of Engineers, Navy, etc.” Throughout my 20+ years as an executive recruiter for the civil engineering industry, I have usually heard the opposite. US civil engineering firms have tended…
What Happened To The Civil Engineering Internship?
Another casualty of the economic downturn: The Civil Engineering Internship. Recently I received a call from a career development coordinator for the engineering department at a respected University. We discussed the difficulty in finding internship placement for her recent civil engineering graduates. In the past, the department saw each graduate easily find civil engineering apprenticeships….