Posts filed under 'Civil Engineering Shortage'
In Defense of the Land Development Engineer
By Matt Barcus
President, Precision Executive Search, Inc.
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
Over the years I have often seen outstanding land development engineers desire to break into a new area of specialization under the civil engineering umbrella, yet they have found the opportunity to do so to be scarce, at best, purely because they have a background in land development. That said, after discussing this topic with numerous land development engineers across the country, I have been so inclined to blog…in defense of land development engineers.
Why do many firms who specialize in areas of water & wastewater, highway engineering, water resources, etc, turn a blind eye, when hiring, to candidates who come from a land development background? The usual response is that they do not have the desired technical experience, and would rather go without having to absorb the cost of training someone. As a recruiter, I completely understand that reasoning. There are some deeper stereotypes though that should be addressed here, so let’s do a little point/counterpoint as we evaluate some of these potential misconceptions…shall we?
- POINT: Land Development Engineers are the “General Practitioners” of the civil engineering industry. They are jacks-of-all-trades-and-masters-of-none.
- COUNTERPOINT: Land Development Engineers are indeed jacks of all trades, but they are often masters of those trades as well. When pulling together a land development project you are dealing with roadway, traffic, hydrology & hydraulics, utilities, etc. With a good 7-10 years of experience a talented engineer can fully master these concepts. This shows a high level of intelligence and a desire to learn.
- POINT: If our highways and treatment plants and bridges were designed as poorly as some of the subdivisions then we would have an enormous problem.
- COUNTERPOINT: Though you many not always like what you see, often times it is the land development engineer who is at the mercy of their client- the developer. Some developers have the goal of fitting as many lots as possible within a parcel of land for the least amount of money. This is unfortunate as many land development engineers are very creative. It’s not always about what it looks like, but rather the money – and at the mercy of the client their hands are often tied. Many firms would walk away from this type of client because they do not share the same philosophy…but many do not walk away.
- POINT: Dealing with governmental clients is much more complicated than dealing with a developer.
- COUNTERPOINT: Have you ever dealt with a developer? Enormous amounts of pressure, often times ridiculous deadlines with ridiculous expectations, and then there is the collections process. Also, land development engineers deal with MANY different personalities -not only their clients, but attorneys, municipal engineers and other governmental agencies, designers, surveyors, planners and landscape architects, builders, home buyers, angry citizens at public meetings, etc. I would tend to say, that more often than not, an experienced land development engineer could handle dealing with governmental engineers.
In the end, it may not be so much the technical skill set as it is the mentality. I believe that there are many talented land development engineers out there that could pick up pretty quickly on how to design a highway, a dam or a bridge with a little mentoring and some additional studying/training after hours. Land development engineers are used to spinning many plates at once in a fast paced environment, and are not often the analytical number crunchers that you so desire when designing a treatment plant.
So, when a sound land development engineering resume does surface, don’t be so quick to rule them out. What if they are indeed a number cruncher? Imagine a number cruncher then that has acquired great communication and team building skills as a result of being in a land development environment and what that could bring to the table for your firm’s bridge or water resources group. Would you be better off hiring this engineer and taking the time to catch him or her up to speed in a specific specialty rather than searching for the perfect candidate for two years with nothing to show?
During the current recession that we are entrenched in this may not be too much of an issue for you with the surplus of candidates “out on the street.” But during improved times and boom times, is this mentality really too “out of the box” for the civil engineering industry?
civil engineering jobs :: civil engineering resumes :: civil engineering blog :: civil engineering discussion
29 comments July 8, 2009
Are CE’s Becoming IBMr’s ?
By Matt Barcus
President, Precision Executive Search
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
Prior to this current economic downturn a MAJOR topic of discussion was the lack of civil engineers in the marketplace. It did not matter if I was executing a search for a Project Engineer who was an expert in hydrology & hydraulics and flood control, a Project Manager who understood advanced water treatment, a National Program Manager with P3 or Design Build experience as it related to toll roads or a Land Development Department Head; no matter how you sliced it, the pool of civil engineers was shallow. Engineers at all levels throughout the civil engineering community struggled with same dilemma. They were working ridiculous amounts of hours, weekends included; their employers became stagnant in their plans to diversify into other civil engineering disciplines; and principal level engineers were rolling up their sleeves and cranking out construction plans themselves. When the economy eventually picks up, the civil engineering community will be treading in that shallow pool again wondering ‘where are we going to find the right engineer with the right experience?’
The other evening I was at home watching the NCAA Tournament and a commercial came across the television screen that caught my attention. It was all about traffic and transportation and the technology that is being utilized to help ease traffic congestion, which would help cut down on fuel costs as well as free up more time for people all over the country. The average commute time in most major cities across the United States, according to a Time Magazine report in 2007 is +/- 30 minutes. Many folks I know spend at least 45 minutes each way on their commute. And if there happens to be an accident on the LBJ Freeway in Dallas or the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia, well then you can just forget about getting to work on time or home for dinner. Thank goodness for the hard working civil engineering consultants and DOT engineers who are putting in countless hours and lending their skills to help make the necessary improvements to our transportation infrastructure that will help cut down our commute times and allow for us to do fun things like play with our children, spend time with our friends and families or be able to get to our softball game before the 4th inning…right? But wait…this commercial I saw was not for a consulting engineering firm or a PSA type commercial from ASCE…it was is an IBM commercial.
So, if I am a college student pursuing a degree in civil engineering and I want to specialize in transportation, you can be darn sure I am going to check out IBM. To answer the question as to ‘where are all the civil engineers?,’ maybe they are all working at IBM. Is it even possible to fathom the AECOM’s and URS’ and CH2M Hill’s of the world to advertise in this manner? Are there opportunities for ASCE to advertise like this? Or are those avenues of advertising just a pipe dream for the traditional civil engineering community at large?
civil engineering jobs :: civil engineering resumes :: civil engineering blog :: linkedin discussion group
4 comments April 9, 2009
The Difference A Year Makes
By Carol Metzner, President, The Metzner Group, LLC and Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
Just took a quick look at the start of our BLOG last January. The majority of posts in the first quarter of the year centered around recruiting; trying to identify candidates in the tight marketplace. Here we are months later and folks are using our LINKEDIN discussion group to network after being let go from their employer and human resources professionals are looking for help in outplacing laid off staff.
The difference a year makes!
December 2007 ENR issue covered their annual “The Year in Construction” photo contest. They boasted that with such a booming year, there were many great photos from which to choose a winner. This month’s articles discuss the uncertainty in future transportation projects and an expected slowdown in the international power plant design and construction sector boom.
So here we are. A new year on the horizon. Hopes of an infrastructure stimulus package dancing in our heads! It is important for those of us who survived the down market conditions of the late 1980′s, early 1990′s and again the perilous times after 9/11 to speak of our making it through. Talk to those civil engineers who are talking of leaving the industry…hang in there, if possible. The market will change, projects will find funding and the US will need your talents and expertise.
My wish for you this holiday…joy, peace and time with those who bring you happiness!
1 comment December 17, 2008
And The Gap Widens
By Matt Barcus
President, Precision Executive Search
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
This month Pamela Mullender inked for us a very enlightening article in regards to the ACE Mentor Program and the statistics she presented were numbing, at best:
…the industry is facing a workforce situation that is at a crisis level. The Brookings Institute states that only 50% of all the buildings that will be here in the year 2030 have not been built yet. Our workforce is aging. For every 5 workers who leave the industry, only one enters. The shortage in employees will reach and exceed the 1.3 million mark by the year 2012.
What’s even more staggering is that this report likely did not take into account the current economic recession we are in, which will likely create even more pressure on the industry. What I am referring to is the increase in the number of civil engineering professionals exiting stage left and leaving the theater altogether because they got “the hook.” With many state DOT’s dealing with crippling funding issues and with the land development and home building community leaving vacant parcels of land behind only to be occupied by unmanned bulldozers, elevating/self loading scrapers and various other earth-moving equipment, the only thing that is moving at a fast and furious pace is the escalating unemployment rate and the number of civil engineering firms experiencing multiple rounds of layoffs. Frustrated by the limited options available and the increased competition for those scarce jobs, and left with a bad taste in their mouth, many folks decide to leave the industry altogether.
I am reminded of an engineer in Fort Worth with whom I spoke earlier this year (I’ve always wanted to use this line, I sound like a presidential candidate out on the campaign trail! ) who was let go from his firm due to the economic slowdown. He has now started his own company manufacturing and distributing state-of-the-art lasso’s and whips (I never figured I would use “state-of-the-art” and “lasso’s and whips” in the same sentence; but I’m just a city boy from the east coast, so what do I know?!?).
Then there is another professional civil engineer in Michigan who followed his faith and became a pastor as a result of his firm letting him go.
And finally, there is the human resource professional in Pennsylvani who spent many successful years as a corporate recruiter for the home building / civil engineering industry who survived multiple RIF’s, but was the unfortunate casualty of the most recent one. He is now considering turning his mountain biking hobby into a profitable and passionate business through the development of his own custom bike building company.
Being released from your firm can certainly be disheartening and can be quite a blow to one’s ego. But how exciting is it, in some of the instances above, as one door closes but another one opens wide in a completely different building? Sometimes that is just the kick in the pants one needs to follow their passion or dream.
So we have identified a few more folks who leave the industry altogether as a result of our battered economy…the gap widens.
Struggling to recruit high school students to pursue degrees and careers in civil engineering and baby boomers retiring at a record pace is creating quite an uphill battle. The current recession further widens the gap of experienced civil engineers as many will leave the industry altogether for other pursuits. The way I see it, it’s just another bump in the road – there has been a shortage of civil engineers as long as I’ve been recruiting in this industry, so it’s really just more of the same (“more of the same,” yet another often used phrase in the recent presidential campaign – clearly too much CNN). But we can’t give up. Get out to your local elementary, middle and high schools, get out to your local universities, be a mentor. Find a way to close that gap between yourself and the civil engineers of tomorrow.
3 comments November 20, 2008
zzzzzzzzz….WAKE UP! (Your Job Descriptions)
By Matt Barcus, President, Precision Executive Search, Inc.
AND
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
At any given time I can go to an A/E firm’s employment page or to a job board and see the same advertisement for the same job, but for eight different firms. Everyone in southern California is looking for a PE with 12+ years of experience in highway/roadway design. It was not too long ago that every civil engineering consultant in the Washington, D.C. area needed a land development engineer with 4-8 years of experience. The job descriptions that you see for these jobs are like a t-shirt store on the boardwalk of your favorite beach — you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all. How is your potential candidate going to be motivated to join your firm when his job looks identical to the one he is staring at in your advertisement? How can you get a job seeker to apply to your job only when there are 10 more exact same job descriptions out there?
Differentiate yourself
The biggest obstacle in the A/E industry is finding talent. Remember the Wonder Twins cartoon that used to be on Saturday mornings? Get your HR group to pound fists with your Marketing group and form an exciting job description. Marketing people earn their living differentiating your firm to clients – co-opting their expertise to address staffing issues is proven strategy that can make a difference.
Here’s an example of how you can do this:
A. Project Manager-Highway Engineering- The Highway Project Manager will provide coordination of project execution and control of highway design projects, to achieve continuity of purpose within scope, budget, and time schedules from conception through final design…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. This individual will also be accountable for handling specific…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…. design aspects on highway design projects; coordinating efforts of assigned highway design team to ensure completeness and accuracy of design effort; and…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….. serving as technical liaison with client on project efforts. A bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and at least eight years of experience on DOT highway design projects is required. PE license is also required.
B. Project Manager-Highway Engineering- Our office softball team has won 3 League Championships in the past 4 years. A couple of our engineers come in at 9:30 AM because they have to make sure they get their kids off to school safely. Each year we take two consecutive PAID days off as an office to build a home for Habitat-For-Humanity. Last year, our firm was part of the Wilson County Toll Road Design Build Project, we completed the design of an award winning 4-Level Interchange and we burst into the ENR Top 500 List for the first time in our 10 year history. If you have your BSCE, your PE License and a stable work history with 8+ years highway engineering experience, we would love to talk to you.
As a job seeker, which of these jobs are you more likely to apply for?
Here is another great example that I pulled (with permission, of course) from Bohler Engineering, one of the leading civil engineering firms on the east coast. It is fun, it is entertaining and it easily gives you some insight as to who the hiring manager is; I highlighted in red the commentary that stood out to me. They are looking for recruiting coordinator…wait…a ROCKIN’ RECRUITING COORDINATOR! (THAT IS REALLY THE TITLE POSTED ON THEIR WEBSITE!) This is exactly what I am talking about…good stuff:
Job Description:
Play a vital role within a growing company in Land and Site Development. Imagine a career where your opinion counts, where you can ask questions everyday about your work and career and get answers from experienced professionals; your future is important to us, our company and our community.
Bohler is the premier Land Development Civil/Site Consulting Firm in the eastern U.S., providing civil engineering, surveying, planning, landscape architecture and permitting services throughout several industries. Bohler employees produce high quality project documents and continuously communicate with team members, managers and outside entities.
Be part of the Recruiting and Marketing teams to help grow the organization. If you are ambitious, results-oriented, and dynamic and would like to build upon your recruiting career, Bohler may be the right place for you. If you get to the bottom of this job description and are still laughing, well then, Bohler is probably a pretty darn good place for you to work.
We aren’t looking for just anyone; we are looking for a Rockin Recruiting Coordinator in our Sterling, VA office.
What you’ll be doing: (Isn’t that what you really want to know)
*Provide support to the Recruiting and Marketing Managers in various, customer-serving aspects. I know it’s vague but we’ll explain.
*On the recruiting side you will coordinate and schedule all phases of interviews through the offer process.
You will assist in identifying qualified candidates (we can teach you) and schedule them for the Recruiting Manager to conduct an initial phone screen. The good news is that we use Ceridian (Applicant Tracking System, ATS) which makes this process seamless.
*Please help keep us productive by entering resumes on a regular basis. Also, maintain the integrity of the data in the ATS; after all it’s way more efficient if you have good data.
*Preparing general correspondence (meeting minutes), create and maintain tracking spreadsheets and provide administrative support to Recruiting and Marketing.
*Assisting in coordinating marketing events, recruiting events and assist in maintaining vendor activities. You will also register people for events; please do it on time so we don’t miss out. Also you will maintain and update all event activity.
*You will be filing and maintaining the filing system. Why? Well, that way you can find things when you need them.
Minimum Qualifications:
*2-5 years of experience in Recruiting, Marketing, Communications, Human Resources or related field.
Bachelors Degree in Psychology, Marketing, Communications or related. (If it’s unrelated and you are interested and feel you are qualified, please apply).
*Superior verbal and written communication skills are a must (really; do we need to explain, come on you’re reading what we wrote). Oh, we really need someone who is tactful.
*Must be proactive and have the ability to multi-task while maintaining a positive and enthusiastic attitude.
Must be proficient in MS Office. Proficient means you know the programs as well as if not better than we do and typing is a must.
*Do you have the ability to work under minimal supervision and resolve issues independently based on project/company standards and verification of facts prior to releasing documents? If so, please apply.
*Strong attention to detail while maintaining consistent workflow and meeting deadlines; Capable of processing impromptu requests as needed.
Bohler Engineering is an equal opportunity employer and affords equal opportunity to all applicants and employees for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other status protected under local, state or federal laws.
SOOOOOO…engineers, recruiters, marketing professionals and many other members of the civil engineering community are in high demand these days. Your competition on the floor below, the building across the street and in the corporate park down the road have the same position available. Candidates can afford to be quite selective these days as they are in high demand; get their attention right off the bat with a unique and attention getting job description that gets them in the door before anyone else. Good Luck!
Add comment April 24, 2008
Where Have All The Civil Engineering Firms Gone?
By Carol Metzner, Managing Partner, www.civilengineeringcentral.com and President, The Metzner Group LLC, www.themetznergroup.com
Acquisitions in the civil engineering community exploded in 2007 with a steady group following this year. A client jokingly told me that eventually we will all work for about 5 firms…that is all that will be left!
While I think that is a slight exaggeration, the pace of these M&As does not seem to be slowing. What has happened to the traditional firms of the past? Certainly, these consolidations allow firms a great way to increase staff and presence in particular locations or technical arenas. But, if you joined a firm because of a specific company culture….what do you do now?
Are these large national and international firms of combined technical talents good for our industry? What do you think?
3 comments April 16, 2008
Never Underestimate the “Gray Haired” Engineer
By Carol A. Metzner President, The Metzner Group, LLC, www.themetznergroup.com and Managing Partner, www.CivilEngineeringCentral.com
It has always amazed me that consulting firms “appear” hesitant to hire engineers with 40+ years of experience when these can be the best employees to join the team. They have survived market downturns; they understand commitment to a project, they know how to navigate a difficult client and they play nicely in the sandbox with others.
Here are some thoughts to review next time an experienced candidate’s resume graces your desk:
1. Studies prove that older employees show a loyalty to employers that exceeds that of
their younger counterparts
2. Older staff are excellent mentors; they have usually seen it all (at least once!).
3. Experienced staff tend to be more patient when dealing in adversarial situations;
4. Multiple reports show that total sick days per year of older staff is lower than that of
other age groups.
5. Older employees bring a palm pilot full of contacts of other potential employees!
Don’t be quick to scan for the graduation date on a resume. You could be missing your next “Employee of the Month!”
2 comments March 10, 2008
