Unemployed MEng graduate

I wish I could say the people telling us "keep persevering and it will work out" or "there is huge demand in the UK for graduate engineers" were right. I graduated in 2014 and have been unemployed/underemployed ever since. All I have to show for it is hundreds (if not probably over a thousand!) of outright rejections, failed interviews/phone interviews and assessment centres. There are no entry level graduate positions going unfilled. From personal experience there are on average 30+ graduates and otherwise qualified people applying to each job opening. My advice would be to change your career path altogether to something else that respects and values the engineering skills and attributes from a typical MEng graduate.

haha yeah sounds similar to me but i got a different degree
things are going to go down before they go up. i still want another crack at graduate schemes starting 2019. my plan is temp now thru agency, apply for graduate schemes starting sept 2019. hopefully get on one. when have enough money from temp use it for work holiday/internship abroad. then come back start the grad scheme in sept. if didnt get one still in a great position in August/September cos ive got additional year of work experience and hopefully will get on one then

if youre just getting rejection after rejection maybe its your CV or cover letter thats not good enough .

what types of jobs do you do now then. It software engineering?

I recently started working in the microbiology division of a pharmaceutical company. As there's possibility of progression and in-house training courses I think I will just write mechanical engineering off as a bad experience at this point. What I am trying to emphasise to people who seem to be in a similar situation as I have been is do not waste years of your life trying to get a job as a mechanical engineer. There are simply not enough jobs for the number of graduates, so someone has to lose out.

Ah ok. I'm just about to apply for a degree in mechanical engineering. Is the degree worth doing tho because I really like the modules? I was also considering computer science.

Yeah I loved the course, got to study abroad in Toronto and had a lot of fun building a Formula Student racing car. Just a pity the "demand" for engineers has been exaggerated in the UK at least.

yh sounds cool I'm doing mechanical just because you can get into other jobs aswell not just engineering. what uni was that

First of all, I would just like to say it is such a tough time for all of us graduates out there and it is horrible this unemployment. I am one of many of us out there finished uni end of May and graduated 2 weeks ago. I have been out of work for 5 1/2 months, compared to some people this is not a long time I know and there are people out there in a far worst position than me. I just want to share with you all how I feel because I know im not alone. It is soul destroying, for the passed 5 1/2 months iv been on the PC applying, applying, applying and have not had one interview. My CV is as good as it can possibly be in my view. The big question like 1000s of others is 'When will I get employed using my degree?' My parents keep saying to me 'it will happen, it is just a matter of when'. I do feel just useless and awful, I do appreciate parents giving me a roof etc. Any advice people? I know people do PhDs because they cant get work. I have thought about this option, could open up more doors but at the end of the day, working experience is what counts now so best option is to get a job, but I can't!! It's mad out there. Iv thought about looking abroad etc but in the UK the closest job I feel like im going to end up doing after 4 years of hard graft academically, using my MEng in Aeronautical Engineering is in Mcdonalds and I am saying that because it is how I feel. Please give me your advice and help. Many thanks for everyones time reading and I wish us all luck out there. Cheers.

First of all, don't be scared by the numbers. Those thousands of applications per 5 jobs you mentioned consist of 90% extremely poor applications, which are filtered on the application stage and never get seen by the hiring manager. If you have at least a decent CV/Covering letter, which is relevant to the job, your application will go through no problem.
Next, it’s not that there’s a large unemployment and it’s hard for Engineering students to get a job. It’s quite opposite actually. I remember when I helped to hire Engineering interns, we would only see a very few decent Engineering students who would fit to the role… Employers struggle to find the good ones these days. Manufacturing Engineering field is so broad you can fit in almost any industrial/technology company these days. By the way, I suggest looking for a job on the gradcracker website, I used it when I was looking for a job and found it the most convenient for graduate job hunting.
Although I haven’t seen your CV, my general suggestions are:
- Be concise. No one wants to read paragraphs of text, especially the recruiter who look through dozens of CVs on a daily basis.
- Only include job-relevant information in your CV and things that only add value to your resume. When writing something down in your CV always ask yourself this question – "Will this give me a job?", “Will that make me stand out?”, If the answer is "no", then delete whatever you wanted to add.
- You want to emphasise your <b>personal</b> achievements and contributions. This is how you show you are better than the rest of the candidates.
- The summary (the short intro on the top of your cv) is the most important part of your CV. You need to summarise who you are, what are you passionate about, what kind of experience you have and what achievements make you stand out. Make a list of your key differentiators and expand them just a little in the summary.

I know it is tough out there for the fresh graduates and I wish you all the best!

Thanks providing some really good advice. Just one thing though: could you elaborate a bit on what makes an engineering student or graduate "decent" or a good "fit to the role"? I think this is where a lot of people struggle.

It really depends on the company and the job, but in general, by being decent and 'fit to the role' I meant a person who meets the job requirements, who is passionate about the choice of their career path, who knows what they want to be in the future, who is supportive and motivated and who fits to the company culture.

Let me give you an example from an interview I took part in (from the other side of the desk):
The interviewer asks a simple question: "Why did you chose Engineering degree and what has motivated you towards this career choice?".
The one answer was: "My dad is an Engineer and from what he mentioned about what he does at work sound good enough for me, so I thought I give it a go.”
This is not considered as a good answer, because it tells me that you personally are not that interested in Engineering, you don’t have a lot of motivation and you just followed the path of least resistance by doing something your dad has done in the past (or is currently doing).
The good answer would include the applicant telling a story of how they found the passion for technology. Something like “… Since high school I’ve been passionate about cars and motorsports. I always enjoyed getting my hands dirty repairing cars in my dad’s garage because I find the process of fault finding and getting to the stage when you hear the motor run for the first time extremely satisfying. At some point I decided that I want to work for an automotive company which will fulfil my desire to implement the best technological improvements in the field. To do that I decided that I need to get a diploma in Engineering, which will open the industry doors for me and will allow me to grow my technical skills further.”
As you can see, from this answer I can conclude that the applicant is personally motivated, has clear plans for their future and knows exactly why they want to be an Engineer. You rarely see that kinds of answers on an interview unfortunately.

I wish I could say the people telling us "keep persevering and it will work out" or "there is huge demand in the UK for graduate engineers" were right. I graduated in 2014 and have been unemployed/underemployed ever since. All I have to show for it is hundreds (if not probably over a thousand!) of outright rejections, failed interviews/phone interviews and assessment centres. There are no entry level graduate positions going unfilled. From personal experience there are on average 30+ graduates and otherwise qualified people applying to each job opening. My advice would be to change your career path altogether to something else that respects and values the engineering skills and attributes from a typical MEng graduate.

Apply to grad schemes, if you can speak well, do well with psychometric tests and present/present YOURSELF well (a lot of engineers struggle with this...) you will be fine, it's a piece of cake getting a decent grad scheme with a 2.1 MEng from any Russell Group.

I really don't know why I even bothered doing an MSc after reading all of this but its so true omg

Thanks again for the advice. Just a quick follow on: what about before the interview, what is your advice and tips for ensuring that your CV/application gets seen by the hiring manager?

To be honest I sincerely do not believe in MEng or even a BEng graduates not being able to find themselves a decent Engineering job. Of course, you will be rejected again and again if you only made half-decent general CV and you keep sending the exact same copy to all the employers in the hope that one day it will magically get chosen. Even worse when people upload their CVs onto one of those CV accumulator websites and then just sit and wait for a miracle. Determine the industry you are passionate about, find the employers in that field and apply directly!

Also, the answer is simple - if you apply, apply and apply, but get hundreds (if not probably over a thousand!) rejections, then there is something definitely not right. And I tell you that it is your CV that is not right, your application that is not right or you are simply lying too yourself and make up those excuses that you applied hundreds of times and unluckily never got chosen.



I met many Engineering student who were struggling to find a job and told me stories of how they made all the effort, but never were able to get noticed by employers. I asked a simple question – How much of your time did you spend polishing your CV and reading helpful articles? Usually the answer was “…like 3-5 hours, maybe 7” or “…I spent the whole evening creating my CV”.

From that answer I can conclude they have spent less time doing something crucially important for their future and career, than playing video games or going out.

When I was a student (not so long ago by the way), I spent way more than 100 hours in total on my CV, on my wording, on my Covering Letters, before I started getting noticed. Now, get me right, I don’t mean that you need spend as much time, I mean that you need to work on your CV constantly, polishing every little detail almost every day before you start getting phone calls or email responds.

It may sound stupid and unnecessary, but if that what it takes for you to get to your dream job, then do it. Work on your CV, read online articles about how to write a killer CV, seek support from your peers or even better - seek professional support if you are struggling. Your University definitely have a designated student employability team ready to help you. At my University (Manchester Met), they gave me the first push and pointed me in the right direction, which allowed me to understand the industry requirements, understand my achievements in relevance to the job requirements and helped me a lot to be more confident in general.