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International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

  • 1.  International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-16-2019 10:02 AM
    Howdy! My name is Yu, I am a PhD candidate in hydrologic modeling. Recently I am considering finding a job in an industry area instead of pursuing a career in research. The reason why I made this choice is that I found myself very interested in applying what I have learned from research to solve realistic industry area problems. But in the process of applying for jobs, I have confronted with several obstacles and questions as below:

    1. I know that internship experiences are very important to finding a full time job. So, I am actively looking for intern opportunities. But the problem is that I have sent out lots of my resumes but heard nothing from the companies. I wonder three reasons might explain the situation: 1) my international student identity. 2) most of the companies only need bachelors or masters for the internship. 3) my major for the degree is actually Agricultural Engineering but my actual study area is hydrologic modeling (because of the project I worked on. 4) my own ability (skills, achievements etc) to meet the requirements of the job description. I have tried hard to avoid the last reason by applying only very related (to my study area) positions. But I am still not so sure about the first three reasons. Do you think I am right? And if you agree, what strategies do you think should I make to overcome the difficulties? 
    2. Based on the difficulties from finding an internship, I doubt that is it really rare for PhD students (specifically for international students) to transfer to industry area in hydrology engineering majors? If so, what should I do to improve the chances of getting hired in this situation? 
    3. Besides the consultancy, design, construction companies, are there any other institutes or groups that may need combining research part and application part together? 
    4. If transferring to industry area is not a wise choice for right now, should I continue pursuing a career in research first (e.g. find a postdoc position), and then looking for potential opportunities afterwards? 
    Thank you so much in advance if you could provide me any suggestions. 

    Best regards,

    ------------------------------
    Yu Zhang S.M.ASCE
    College Station TX
    zhangyu199002@...
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  • 2.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-17-2019 09:41 AM
    Hello fellow Texan; I was born and raised in Austin. I'm a structural engineer living in San Francisco. 

    Please take my my advice with a grain of salt, it's purely speculation. 

    I would advise simplifying your resume to only what is applicable to the position you are applying for. Condense it to one page. Industry doesn't want CVs. Try to apply for a full time position and not an intern position. 

    Pardon my ignorance on your field but do you need at PE license? Do you have an EIT? 

    I hope my questioning opens some insight and further discussion. 

    regards,


    ------------------------------
    Elliot House
    W.B. Clausen Structural Engineers
    Emeryville CA
    (415)444-4144
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-17-2019 09:21 PM
    Howdy Elliot!

    Feel so glad to see an Aggie replying to my post! And thanks for your advices. I did already simplified my resume to one page, but didn't apply to full time positions as you suggested. Thought it would be better to start from interns. You are right, maybe I should go directly to the full time position application. I should belong to civil engineering area too, and I don't have an FE yet, have heard that the liscenses are very important to enter industry. So maybe I should start from there. Thanks again and Gig'Em! Any further suggestions are welcome!

    Best regards
    Yu

    ------------------------------
    Yu Zhang S.M.ASCE
    College Station TX
    (979)204-3122
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-17-2019 09:44 AM
    Dear Ms. Yu, 

    My name is Kaung, a Master candidate in Transportation Engineering, I understand that situation and I am also facing that right now. In my opinion, there're several reasons I would like to share with you. 

    (1) If the engineering students are trying to get into industry in the United States, mostly all the recruiters want the candidate who possesses EIT certificate (also called FE Licensure). 

    (2) The proportions of the candidate that the companies need in their organization vary according to the degree level. But this situation is not only in the U.S, but also all over the world. For instance, Bachelor would be around 60%, Master level would be around 30% and Doctorate level would be around 10%. So the demands from the company for Doctoral level might be rare. 

    People should follow their dream but at the right moment and right situation. If you think this is not right moment for you, then pursue postdoc, after that you can come back into industrial zone again. But one thing is don't give up easily, hit your best & be patience, because I'm also the same situation with you right now. Best of Luck with your future career. 

    Warmest Regards, 
    Kaung 
    Email: khein@... 
    MCE Candidate '19

    ------------------------------
    Kaung Sett Hein A.M.ASCE
    Tampa FL
    (813)573-5886
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-17-2019 09:21 PM
    Kuang,
    Thanks for your reply and I appreciate your support from the same situation! I agree on your opinion about the demands of PhD students in industries which makes the situation worse for me. And I don't have FE yet, have heard about it already and will definitely go applying for one very soon. At the same time, I will consider going for a postdoc too. Thanks again for your valuable advice and spiritual support! Hope things go well for you too! Good luck to us. 

    Best regards,

    ------------------------------
    Yu Zhang S.M.ASCE
    College Station TX
    (979)204-3122
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-18-2019 01:22 PM

    Yu,

     

    You are very intuitive in that you nailed the two major concerns.  Your resume communicates that you are over-qualified and many companies are moving away from sponsoring work visas because it has become too expensive.  My company is based out of the UK and often sponsored visas in the past.  However, I hear that the approval process has recently become more difficult, and therefore more costly.  

     

    I can't speak to career options for hydrological engineering, but I got my first internship through an externship (2-day job shadowing), and from there, finding my permanent job was easy.  I majored in architecture and wanted to do structural engineering halfway through, but switching majors was not an option because my financial aid would've been cut.  So during my last two years, I focused my coursework, part-time job, and extracurriculars on engineering.  Even so, my resume could not have competed with someone who graduated with a B.S. (let alone an M.S. or PhD!), so this is a case where literally getting your foot in the door is required to make a solid case for yourself.  You can also create these opportunities by volunteering with your local professional society (ASCE!), which will connect you with other industry professionals on a personal level.  Over the years, I've been asked many times by fellow ASCE colleagues to fill vacancies in their companies, so it just comes to show you how valuable a professional network can be for job security and much more!

     

    Best of luck!

     

    Jane

     




    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-18-2019 02:22 PM
    Dear Jane,

    Thank you so much for your reply. I found your suggestions thought provoking! The major two reasons you've mentioned are true difficulties for me. I think everyone has their own difficulty and I need to conquer it by putting more efforts on improving other aspects to make up these two shortages. Some professionals have suggested for me to focus on finding the companies who accept more Ph.Ds. They also provided a list for me. I appreciated their help, and feel so lucky that I posted my problem here.

    I have also heard from my department head talking about his experiences very similar to yours! He also suggested to start from minor steps such as volunteering and building a network gradually. I will certainly take those suggestions from you and him to put my foot on the ground from little opportunities. Thanks again for your best wishes and all the best to your own career!

    Best wishes, 

    ------------------------------
    Yu Zhang S.M.ASCE
    College Station TX
    (979)204-3122
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-19-2019 09:58 AM
    Yu,

    I'll echo what others have said about having your FE/EIT license.  This is something many civil engineering companies will require you to have A) already, or B) within 6 months of hiring on.  So it's best to knock it out ahead of time and put it on your resume.  Secondly, have you tried contacting any of the private companies who might be sponsoring your research or others in your field?  I saw several students utilize this connection that they had with private companies who were sponsoring their/others research to either get a job with that company, or get introduced to another similar one.  Finally, as a PhD candidate, I'm assuming you've likely gone to conferences to present or observe research.  Generally speaking, there are multiple representatives of industries at these and that is a great place to network with potential employers (especially if they are at a conference, as they are interested in the higher level aspects of engineering, they may be seeking PhD hires). 

    I hope that helps and best of luck.

    ------------------------------
    Chase Henrichs
    Crafton Tull
    Rogers, AR
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-19-2019 01:34 PM
    Chase,

    Thanks a lot for your advice. They were helpful for me. Since everyone talks about the FE certificate, I will definitely try to get one first. For the second one you mentioned, did you mean it is a kind of scholarship provided by a company? I have heard about that too but haven't searched for it yet. There might be potential opportunities for companies supporting students but I think most of them request citizenship identity. I am going to present my work in ASABE international annual meeting in July, hopefully I could get some connections with the representatives. (I didn't know that industry area representatives will be there until you mentioned to me!) Thanks  again for your reply. Any other advice is welcome. Have a great day!

    All the best,


    ------------------------------
    Yu Zhang S.M.ASCE
    College Station TX
    (979)204-3122
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area
    Best Answer

    Posted 03-19-2019 11:01 AM
    Hi Yu,

    We probably have a very similar background. I am an international PhD in water resources who chosen to go to industry because I want to plug academia ideas into real projects and do innovations on the current industry line. 

    Pass FE is No.1 to do. Besides that, my experience told me that professional connections are very important. I volunteered to serve on EWRI Kansas City chapter for 3yrs, and I met my current manager during one of the luncheon event. You need build up your professional network via conferences/local chapters/your professors/your classmates etc.

    Hope it helps!

    ------------------------------
    Yanan Ma
    AECOM
    Kansas City MO
    (816)299-7907
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: International PhD candidate in hydrological modeling trying to transfer back to industry area

    Posted 03-19-2019 01:32 PM
    Dear Yanan,

    Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! The points you made are very helpful! I am already preparing the FE. Hopefully I will get it soon. And now I am sure I will put it the first thing to do on my list. Also, that's really impressive you had a 3 years volunteering in EWRI! I get the idea that you need to offer before you get an offer. Social networking is truly a very big part of what I need to improve. All my best to your work and life in the USA! 

    Best wishes.

    ------------------------------
    Yu Zhang S.M.ASCE
    College Station TX
    (979)204-3122
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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