A little advice/help for a not-so-recent graduate?

[apate60]

I've been using this site for a while to check for opportunities, but I'm new to the forums here.

I searched through a few threads about advice for recent grads and picked up a few tips I hadn't heard before, so that was great.

My situation is a little different from the typical posts I saw, however. I graduated a little less than two years ago with a B.S. in nuclear engineering from UIUC. I immediately took a job with a family owned retail store thinking it would be temporary for a few months while I found a better job. I have been working there continually since graduation. I received my EIT license a few months after graduation as well.
EDIT: I should mention that I have passed the BMST and POSS exams as well.

What I have been searching for these last two years is an AO position to get started in plant operations. I live in the midwest, and was able to get a few interviews in the earlier stages of my hunt, for which I was not properly prepared. I can only blame myself for that. What is troubling me is that since those early stages, I have not been contacted for any interviews.

My experience and extracurriculars were never that strong to begin with, another shortcoming of mine. But my resume has not changed significantly, but I have taken advice from some contacts I have in the engineering and nuclear industries to make changes in the layout and descriptions.
I know companies would prefer fresher graduates, but am I really being handicapped that much after a year and a half?

If that happens to be the case, then what options could I pursue to fix it?

I have skirted the idea of returning to school, but it seems like an immense waste of money to do that just to help with a job search. And I am not even entirely sure how much it would help to begin with.

It feels like I'm stuck right now. Any advice you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. A new perspective on things would definitely help.

Thanks

[GLW]

....It feels like I'm stuck right now. Any advice you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. A new perspective on things would definitely help.

Thanks

Scroll up and left click on the term > Career Path > ,....

At the top of the new window there will be a Search button with a dialogue window to the left of it, there will be a magnifying glass to the left of the dialogue window, type the acronyms AO and NLO into the dialogue window, remember to put a space between the acronyms then left click on the Search button,...

Midway down the next window will be a thread titled Advice for incoming NLO/EO/AO's?, in that thread you will find at least one post from a user with the username ski2313, left click on his username which appears next to his post,...

About 2/3 of the way down you will see a link titled Show the last posts of this person., left click on this link,...

Read all of the posts from this user, all of them, click the thread links at the top of these posts to gain an idea of the context of those posts, keep coming back to the posts, rinse lather and repeat until you are done,...

Take notes, be inspired, and realize a person who actually owns their destiny, keeps on hitting it, learns from every challenge and setback, pays attention to those who have gone before and seeks their insights on how to make it and then you will know how to make it, how hard it can be, how easy it sometimes seems, and how much better it is to own your life than to blame others because you do not have the life you want,...

Good luck is good, but it's better to make your own,.....luck that is,...

[apate60]

Thanks for the heads up. I found a great thread he started that highlighted his overall path. I'm reading through it now and have it bookmarked for later as well.

[orangery]

The universe is listening and has answered you!

Exelon posted NEOs for Clinton on June 3. Good luck!

[apate60]

I saw those, and a pair of other Exelon sites had eo positions too.

I applied to those with a revamped resume.
Oddly, Clinton was where I took the POSS and BMST tests, and the site of my first interview. Hopefully I can get another shot at it or any of the others.