TECC 234: Professional Networking Tips and Tricks for Engineers

In this episode, we talk to Sol Rosenbaum, P.E., CEM, an energy engineer and founder of The Engineering Mentor, about the importance of mentorship and networking in your engineering career and explain how it can benefit your engineering career. Engineering Quotes: Here Are Some of the Key Points Discussed About Professional Networking Tips and Tricks for Engineers Engineering school is a good foundation for your engineering career, but it does not teach you much about the hands-on experience and the specifics that you need for the job. Once you leave engineering school, you need mentors who you can turn to for answers. Active networking means that you have a continuous networking agenda that you follow to keep in contact with the people in your network. This will ensure that the people in your network will be willing to help you in the future because you have established a connection with them. During tough economic times, your network can help you to get a job easier because you will know more people and have built connections with them. To approach your network for finding a job, you need to be comfortable with asking someone for help. Never send a message to your network blatantly asking if they have positions open. You could be coming across as rude and unprofessional. Instead, reach out to your network and let them know your situation and what you are looking for, and ask them for some guidance and advice. If they have a job, they will tell you about it if they think you are a good fit. This can open the conversation to more than just a yes or no if you are asking them for a job directly. If you do not think you are a good writer or speaker, most times all you need is a mind shift. Any speaking that you do with your team, investors, or management is, in a sense, public speaking. Engineers should develop their speaking skills to convey their ideas to people correctly, and the best way to do this is through practice. Remember that the people there want to hear what you are saying, and that you are going to be your biggest critic. Having this mindset will help you going forward. To follow your passion, you first need to build the skills and follow the stepping stones to get there. Once you have built the skills and gained the knowledge, you will then have career mobility to get where you want to go. This will help you to grow into your passion instead of blindly following the passion you had when you started your career. There are many other skills that engineers do not seem to mention. Look back on other skills that you have learned outside of your job and see where they can be beneficial to your engineering work. Add these extra skills to your resume where they could potentially be applied to the job you are applying for. There is little downside to getting a license or certification if you have the time, and it is not that costly to get it. Look at the engineers who are currently five to 10 years ahead of you and see what licenses and certifications they most often have — those are the ones that you should prioritize. More in This Episode… In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Sol Rosenbaum, P.E., CEM, talks about the number one takeaway from this show that is focused on mentoring and networking. About Sol Rosenbaum, P.E., CEM Sol is a mechanical and energy engineer who enjoys helping building owners with financially viable energy savings projects. In his early positions, he worked on large scale energy projects where his tasks included climbing through mechanical rooms and calculating and designing the systems, construction and project management, and running through the measurement and verification (M&V) phase. This hands-on knowledge has helped him greatly in his career because he attained a greater understanding of the projects as a whole ...