So, I've been applying and have been rejected non-stop without fail no matter who I reach out to what I change on my CV or however many attempts of "networking" I try. The result is the same, nothing. My degree is in electrical engineering in Canada. Should I take a trades program in avionics, SAIT and then try to transition into avionics engineering from there? Anyone done something similar or transitioned into something else? I finished my bachelor's with high gpa at UBC. How to go about doing this if I finish the second trade diploma. Or should I drop everything and look for a new career path. Thanks.

 

Really no way to answer questions like this unless I sit down with you and get a feel for your actual qualifications. I've interviewed people graduating from some well-respected schools (including my alma mater) who had high GPAs and within a few minutes I knew that there was no way that I would ever hire them because they were clueless. I don't know if that describes you or not, so anything I suggest may or may not really be applicable to your situation.

 

Would a copy of my CV help?

 

Would a copy of my CV help?

Nope. As I said, I've interviewed quite a few candidates that had high GPAs from well-respected schools. You can bet their resumes looked quite admirable. But sit down with them and given them a very simple problem that is just slightly outside of the standard textbook fare and they quickly reveal that they have no grasp of the fundamentals, but only know how to throw memorized formulas at things and can't even spot when their answers make absolutely zero sense, even after that is pointed out to them. After several years of interviewing candidates, I came up with two simple problems that I would give them. We made a job offer to everyone that could answer at least one of them completely, or could recognize that each had an issue and discuss it halfway coherently. Every person that we hired as a result worked out quite well. But they aren't questions that I can give to someone and have them go off and work them and come back with their answers, I needed to see how they approached tackling them. Starting off down a blind alley was no problem -- if they were able to spot that they were doing so and then start digging in and applying some fundamentals. It was fine if they had to overcome an initial urge to just through an equation at the problem, provided they didn't do so and then think they were done. I was even more than willing to try to guide them a bit by asking a leading question here or there.

 

So give an example of this simple problem. Share as broadly as you can these two simple problems.