Advice for recent Purdue Nuclear Engineering Graduate

[PurdueNuke]

What are your job search suggestions for a recent Bachelor's degree graduate from Purdue's Nuclear Engineering program with no work experience in the nuclear field?  Which career paths do you think are the most beneficial for those starting without nuclear experience?  After looking through multiple job listings, I'm not finding any without nuclear experience required.  Do such positions get posted or are they typically filled by recruiting organizations?

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much for you time.

(Yes, the forum's related FAQ, and numerous posting on this thread have been reviewed.)

[HydroDave63]

No college job fairs, career counselors or anything, after 4 years?  What kind of a diploma mill are they running there? 

[OldHP]

No 'summer' internship?  Not the Purdue I remember!   

[ddickey]

I work with a recent Purdue Nuclear Engineer graduate. We are Apprentice NLO's.

[Mounder]

NDA is always hot field, but getting a job as a criticality analyst will pay the most.  Find the companies that specialize in these areas and look at their job pages or just search via Indeed.com.

[Mounder]

The guy is getting a nuclear engineering degree from Purdue and is not a nuke navy vet and you want him to be a Non-Licensed Nuclear Plant Operator (NLO)? brilliant    http://www.nei.org/Careers-Education/Careers-in-the-Nuclear-Industry/Help-for-Your-Job-Search/Sample-Job-Descriptions-and-Salaries/Non-Licensed-Operator

[MMM]

So what are you suggesting then? NLO is currently the only ops position available, since he lacks any type of supervisory experience, which is required for RO/SRO. There are other nuclear jobs available, but they might be tougher to get into without having done an internship.

[Nuclear NASCAR]

I was surprised by the number of engineering graduates we have in our NLO group, other than the fact that an NLO starts out making more than a newly hired engineer.  We even had an engineer use his degree to qualify to come into one of the maintenance shops, not just for the pay but also because he's a hands on person who likes to fix things. 

[GLW]

So what are you suggesting then?.....

..... but also because he's a hands on person who likes to fix things. 

I construe what is being suggested may be that regardless of education there is much to be learned and experienced beginning with the hands on work, there is much with which that experience can enhance an individual's formal education as that individual progresses through a career, and perhaps, the arrogance and lack of respect towards a "working man's" contribution by the educated elite in this society is hardly exceeded by the arrogance and lack of respect towards common men exhibited by inbred, high born, Eurotrash,...

yup, that's what I construe,...

[Laundry Man]

Just an observation over many years in the business.  Te way to the top of the heap is Operations.  Start at the bottom and work your way up.  Never saw many Site VPs or Plant Managers that didn't have a license at one time.
LM

[GLW]

Just an observation over many years in the business.  Te way to the top of the heap is Operations.  Start at the bottom and work your way up.  Never saw many Site VPs or Plant Managers that didn't have a license at one time.
LM

and all that being said it may be the OP is asking about a career in the "nuclear field" and the forum coterie is focused on commercial nuclear power generation,...

so, until the OP returns and helps steer the conversation where the OP wants to go, the thread is stuck with comops centric Dilbertisms,...

[PurdueNuke]

Purdue a diploma mill?  Hardly.

Simply looking for advice from those currently working in the business in addition to those from academia as the two can be different.

First thought was to align along with the defense contractors, but realized that may have been due to the influence of campus.  As I've read more about Energy providers I'm leaning more that way, but really wanted to get advice from people who are in the field(s) themselves.

Not having experience is difficult and I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.  For example, is gaining experience via an outage worker the only way in?  Covering my own travel expenses as a recent grad make this a problem and yes, problems are to be over come.

Thanks for your responses, and any others that you direct my way.

[Rerun]

Sequoyah was less than 40% ex Navy Nuke and had a great ops department

[MMM]

Just an observation over many years in the business.  Te way to the top of the heap is Operations.  Start at the bottom and work your way up.  Never saw many Site VPs or Plant Managers that didn't have a license at one time.
LM

My CNO never held a license. I was surprised to find that out.

[ddickey]

Purdue a diploma mill?  Hardly.

Simply looking for advice from those currently working in the business in addition to those from academia as the two can be different.

First thought was to align along with the defense contractors, but realized that may have been due to the influence of campus.  As I've read more about Energy providers I'm leaning more that way, but really wanted to get advice from people who are in the field(s) themselves.

Not having experience is difficult and I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.  For example, is gaining experience via an outage worker the only way in?  Covering my own travel expenses as a recent grad make this a problem and yes, problems are to be over come.

Thanks for your responses, and any others that you direct my way.

NLO is your way in.

[Mounder]

I steer recent grads towards DOE site positions rather than NRC commercial reactor work.  The person went to Purdue, may have roots in the area, and would be perfectly happy at Argonne National Lab. I would take an entry level position at LANL, ORNL, LLNL, INL, BNL, or ANL over commercial reactor work.

[GLW]

I steer recent grads towards DOE site positions rather than NRC commercial reactor work.  The person went to Purdue, may have roots in the area, and would be perfectly happy at Argonne National Lab. I would take an entry level position at LANL, ORNL, LLNL, INL, BNL, or ANL over commercial reactor work.

with DOE funding stagnant that entry level position could remain the only position for a long time,...

energy services companies have the most rapid career growth, albeit traveling, a lot of traveling, will be involved,...

that traveling can and often includes China, Taiwan, Switzerland, India, Eastern Europe, Africa, Japan, sometimes even Latin America,...

when you're young and unattached, it can be a pretty good gig,...

[ski2313]

The guy is getting a nuclear engineering degree from Purdue and is not a nuke navy vet and you want him to be a Non-Licensed Nuclear Plant Operator (NLO)? brilliant   

Our NLO ranks are full of engineers, including nuclear engineers, and ex-Navy is not the rule around here (less than 50% come from the Navy). Also, I think the payscale you referenced in the link may be a little out of date ($145k last year with OT).

[Rerun]

There you go ^^

[Nukette]

Apply to Clinton Power station as an EO,  there is a job posting currently up on their website or Indeed.  They love the Purdue engineers for some reason

[tr]

Some plants have great introductory programs for new graduate engineers where you focus on training and get rotated through the various plant departments for the first year or two.  Palo Verde's Legacy Engineer is one such program, although it's very selective.

[ddickey]

FYI Xcel Energy is hiring an Engineer I Nuclear.