I graduated around 6 months ago from my EEE course but still haven't managed to get a grad-job due to how competitive the market is. I've never had a corporate knowledge job before so it's hard for me to imagine what it'd be like. Discussions about the tech industry online are usually CS-centric. so I have no frame of reference for what the workplace is like as an EE. Is it like being in the lab back at uni but on a grander scale? The only image I have is of suits in high-rises.

 

Look into semiconductor manufacturing. The tool producers and users are always looking for good people.

It's not like being at the lab in manufacturing.

Start low, gain experience, and move up

 

You will initially be given trivial parts of larger projects. Much easier than what you did in school. But you better do it right! If you do well, you will be given more responsibility.

In many cases, you will initially be assigned only to testing. It could be years before you get to actual design work.

 

It will be a roller coaster ride.
There will be the boom years, when you’ll be working crazy overtime hours, and then the lean years, when every morning you arrive to work wonder if you will be laid off today.

Then there are the acquisitions. Boy did I hate when my company was acquired! But that is a whole other rant itself.
But you will also be the first learning new technologies.

 

Look into semiconductor manufacturing. The tool producers and users are always looking for good people.

It's not like being at the lab in manufacturing.

Start low, gain experience, and move up

I don't have a lot of flexibility, I hardly get any vacancies outside of construction and infrastructure where I live here in the UK.

You will initially be given trivial parts of larger projects. Much easier than what you did in school. But you better do it right! If you do well, you will be given more responsibility.

In many cases, you will initially be assigned only to testing. It could be years before you get to actual design work.

I'm honestly relieved to hear this. I've had this gnawing anxiety that I'll be thrown into the deep end, especially since you hear a lot of horror stories from other graduates being left to sink or swim, which has somewhat been holding me back.

 

I don't have a lot of flexibility, I hardly get any vacancies outside of construction and infrastructure where I live here in the UK.
...

Sometimes you need to move to find the job you want or need. No need to be afraid, as failure is always an option, in the beginning.

 

Does you school have a department for graduates that can connect them with companies looking for new hires?

 

Sometimes you need to move to find the job you want or need. No need to be afraid, as failure is always an option, in the beginning.

Does you school have a department for graduates that can connect them with companies looking for new hires?

I've only just been enrolled onto the Support Programme. My University provides the service though a third party which has a job board on their site aimed at graduates. I will admit that when I was still in school and I'd just graduated, I was of the mindset that I'd land a job at the drop of a hat by virtue of having a degree as that's what I'd been led to believe by society and older generations, I didn't realise just how much effort I had to put into my employability.

I've come a long way in the months since graduation though, I think the only issues that I have now is:
a. The companies that do progress my application tend to be based in the outskirts on the opposite side of my city or in another region, so I'd be facing commute times of over an hour.
b. It's March and most employers only start advertising graduate jobs around autumn so things have been a bit bare.

nasospook is right, I do need to be more bold about relocating if needs be. A part of me has been on the fence about it due to the permeance of such a move, not to mention the headache of figuring out the logistics and financial viability.

 

I've only just been enrolled onto the Support Programme. My University provides the service though a third party which has a job board on their site aimed at graduates. I will admit that when I was still in school and I'd just graduated, I was of the mindset that I'd land a job at the drop of a hat by virtue of having a degree as that's what I'd been led to believe by society and older generations, I didn't realise just how much effort I had to put into my employability.

I've come a long way in the months since graduation though, I think the only issues that I have now is:
a. The companies that do progress my application tend to be based in the outskirts on the opposite side of my city or in another region, so I'd be facing commute times of over an hour.
b. It's March and most employers only start advertising graduate jobs around autumn so things have been a bit bare.

nasospook is right, I do need to be more bold about relocating if needs be. A part of me has been on the fence about it due to the permeance of such a move, not to mention the headache of figuring out the logistics and financial viability.

Welcome to the real word, where a degree is a nice piece of paper saying you're likely not a total fool and the question is, can you make us money.

If you're a single young person, with little or no debts, moving is an adventure. Just be sure you always have an emergency fund in the bank and place to crash (back home if needed, a bus ticket is cheap everywhere).