Posted on 01/18/2006 8:26:15 AM PST by A. Pole
Many companies say they're facing an increasingly severe shortage of engineers. It's so bad, some executives say, that Congress must act to boost funding for engineering education.
Yet unemployed engineers say there's actually a big surplus. "No one I know who has looked at the data with an open mind has been able to find any sign of a current shortage," says demographer Michael Teitelbaum of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
[...]
Within two weeks, Mr. Carver and a colleague at the Hudson Highland Group had collected more than 200 resumes. They immediately eliminated just over 100 people who didn't have the required bachelor of science degree, even though many had the kind of job experience the company wanted. A further 65 or so then fell out of the running. Some were deemed overqualified. Others lacked experience with the proper manufacturing software.
[...]
"Companies are looking for a five-pound butterfly. Not finding them doesn't mean there's a shortage of butterflies," says Richard Tax, president of the American Engineering Association, which campaigns to prevent losses of engineering jobs.
[...]
Under the H-1B temporary work visa program, U.S. employers are permitted to hire foreign nationals with knowledge and skills deemed to be in short supply.
[...]
Then came the deal-breaker. Wabtec would only consider candidates who had experience with Pro/Engineer Wildfire, a new 3-D computer-aided design software package, not an earlier package called 2000i.
"The basic difference between Wildfire and 2000i is not that significant," says Mr. Sylvester. "I say smart people can learn sister applications, but there is reluctance among hiring managers to see that.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
I also suspect many of the "searches" are little more than pro-forma in order to justify hiring the person who they actually want to hire.
Then there is also the issue of the quotas that do not officially exist.
I may not have had to hire engineers but I know in for my own business, I want to find a person with a "works well with others" personality. I have also found that many diplomas mean zero when it comes to inteligence or knowledge. The applicant may have a diploma but that no longer indicates actual competence. It just means that someone was able to jump through hoops to get piece of paper indicating hoop jumping.
There is one other issue. Before a corporation is alowed to go out of the USA to obtain employees they have to look inside the USA first. So they do a pro-forma search with standards that are reasonable but impossible to find and then "surprise" they are froced to look outside the USA.
If a knowledge of Pro-Engineer or related CAD/CAM design software is their main criteria for hiring, they aren't looking for an engineer, they're looking for a CAD/CAM software operator. The best engineers I know don't rely on high-end software, they use their minds and experience, and can do more on the back of a napkin with a pencil than any hot-shot fresh out of school workstation jockey with the latest whiz bang software.
Is this a polite way of saying that engineering school has been dumbed down?
I can't imagine what the cause of that would be.
Don't get me wrong ... I'm not saying it doesn't happen ... I'm just saying that I have not seen it.
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Wow, that is choosy. They actually require people to have some relevant degree. These elitists probably won't consider illiterates either.
I've corrected you on this before but, apparently, you don't believe me. I challenge you to do the research yourself.
While it's true that companies can't hire an H1B visa person as an employee for less than the going rate, it's equally true that the company can contract with a contracting house who can pay all their people (predominantly H1B visa) people a much lower wage, thus charging the company a lower bill rate, and undercutting American workers.
Now this I have seen ... When i was interviewing about this time last year ... the interviews were so difficult that I would literally study for 20 hours+ before an interview. It used to be that an engineer could get hired just by walking in.
I worked for Intel as a contractor for most of 2004 and some of 2005. Though I was paid a comparable wage to a full time employee ... I did NOT get benefits. This may be were some savings are found
I call BS back. Yeah that's the law, but here in Silicon Valley an H1-B works for 1/2 to 1/3 less than his citizen counterpart.
Further said H1-B will take significantly more abuse from his/her employer, because if they quit, they can be deported.
It's a managers dream, cheap coolies you can whip any time you want...
I hear lobbying pays well, plus compared to engineer they provide so much more to human values
And will work for half price...
If you wanna be a real money makin' engineer drive a locomotive pulling 200 coal carrying air dumps. :)
I hear ya! I've studiously avoided management.
Exactly. Is there a shortage? Look at salaries. I don't believe they are acting like there's a shortage.
How anyone can contend that there is a lack of qualified engineers is a mystery to me. I know a number of great engineers looking for new positions; some are currently employed, some are not.
I would more agree with the picky, dumbed-down hiring manager than the lack of engineers. A lot of hiring or engineering managers haven't got the sense that God gave a toothpick and have no clue about what they want in an employee - most are just empire-builders.
Granted, I've worked with a few engineers who couldn't design their way out of a paper bag, but I have worked with a ton more engineers who had lousy, ignorant, micro-manager bosses. A lousy boss does not an "engineering shortage" make!
Too bad no one's listening to the facts this guy's giving out. According to the Senate the shortage of engineers is so severe we need to increase H1-bs a 100%. Their only source of information being big campaign contributors it's easy to see how they'd come to that conclusion.
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