Would anyone kindly give some advice for me?

[seriskale]

I just graduated this May and got my degree in chemical engineering. I have been actively looking for a job related to my field, but nothing is coming along too clear. Although I have been heard that I will be making 60~70k a year, less than a quarter of my colleagues, including me, got a job related to the field.

I just went to talk to the navy's recruiter yesterday and was informed a little about this nuke program. It seems that I can get a good work experience within the navy as well as navy network. I'm trying to make this big decision whether I should join or not.

I was just wondering what will happen if I were to be discharged after my initial contract. Will I suffer hunting jobs again or will I be able to work as an engineer afterwards?

I am 24 right now and by the time I complete my duty I'll be 30. I'm hoping when I get discharged, I will be guaranteed to have stable job with a good salary.

Please give me some opinions to help me making my decision.

[retired nuke]

I'm kinda wondering what restrictions you are putting on your job search. ChemEng is supposed to be a growth field - Petroleum, manufacturing, waste, darn near everything can apply to chemical engineering.
What assistance is your school providing for the job search. A placement rate <25% for an engineering program sounds pretty low.... even stupid degrees like sociology and women's studies do that well. I'd be offering to provide loud and public reviews of the placement rate of your college unless they step up a bit.
Are you restricting the location too much?
If you want to get into commercial nuclear power, there are openings in engineering, that with time can lead to OPS.

Stable job with a good salary is not the current paradigm. Even the electrical utilities are cutting back on the defined benefit pension, long term employee expectation....

Good luck. I don't think that navy nuke is going to improve your job chances, and you still have college loans to pay back while you serve.

[seriskale]

I graduated from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. My GPA is around 3.3 (3.28 if you are strict about it). Our school's placement rate is pretty high. Although, I'm wondering as to why many of our colleagues, including me, didn't get a job in the field.

I never restricted my location. When I'm applying jobs through online I always say that I'd go wherever in the U.S... But for some reasons, I never get a good response. Well, not through online application at least. I went to the school career fair around two weeks ago and talked to some of the recruiters. Procter and Gamble recruiter emailed me and wanted to conduct the interview on campus. However, school just hit me real bad saying that they don't provide on campus interviews for alumna. I contacted recruiter, she said she will try to work on another plan for me. I'm not too sure if I should count on that since she will have many applicants and candidates.

I was wondering becoming an officer would increase my chance afterwards. Hell, even if I can't start myself as an officer but start as a nuke and work my way up, I'd do it. After all this job hunting hardship, I've learned my lesson to not slack off a minute and be diligent my butt off.

I don't know. I'm just really frustrated because my future doesn't seem too clear. I've sent over 400 online applications and countless e-mails. I never expected I would encounter such things when I decided my major. In fact, this is the total opposite from what I've been told. True, I didn't study super hard, but I worked hard enough to pull above average grades.

I'll be attending another career fair though on 10/10, just so that I give my last shot to look for jobs related. I also got another interview for a lab-technician position. It is a contract position, however, and I'm wondering if I can have myself back to the engineering career in the future. The main reason why I went to talk to the navy recruiter was to seek for more option. Becoming a nuke seemed very charming to me because I thought I would gain some working knowledge of real-world stuffs.

[MMM]

I'm going to start with the jerk portion of my response first. Read what you've written in the posts you've made. If you're resume looks anything like this, there is almost no way you'll get an interview. Your post is riddled with grammar issues, I can only assume your resume has the same problems.

Now that I've taken care of that, you really are in one of the easiest to market fields. I'd suggest you have someone look at your resume to make sure there are no glaring problems with it (a lot of people here will help with that) and possibly talk to a recruiter (e.g. Bradley-Morris, Orion, etc.). Another option is to look at specific companies (e.g. Chevron, BP, any major nuclear company, etc.), search their career section and apply that way. By the way does your college have relations with any specific companies? If so, look at them.

Before you join the military, make sure it's because you want to serve, not because you're desperate for a job. The military is not like anything you've experienced before and it won't provide you with any experience in chemical engineering.

Good luck.

[cheme09]

Can't get a job with a 3.3 in Chemical Engineering, or can't get the job you want?

Don't know how much your school taught you about job hunting, but it's not just as simple as sending a resume and filling out an application. It is also just as much about the interview. The resume/application just gets you the opportunity to talk to someone. You can't just breeze through an interview. That's even more important than having a kick a$$ resume.

And you're in NJ? That's like a hot bed for chemical engineering jobs with as many companies are up in the NJ, PA, NY, DE area.

To answer your question about being marketable after doing the Navy: if you wish to be a chemical engineer, going to the Navy for 6 years will not get you any good chemical engineering experience. In the eyes of the company you'll be applying to, you'll just be an individual with a Chem E degree that's a little older than those just graduating at the time. You'll have pretty much no engineering (chemical or otherwise) experience. You'll have just a little familiarity with being in a plant. In summary, you'll be on par with a new Chem E grad who has had 1 or 2 internships at a plant...except that new grad will have just finished a Sr. Design project and you'll be older and 6 years removed from doing anything chemical engineering related, probably struggling to remember your reaction kinetics or how to derive the mass and heat transfer equations needed to design a stripping or distillation column.

[HeavyD]

Let me toss this in here; receiving a commission as a Naval officer is NOT signing up to be an engineer.  You're going to be a program manager on a divisional level, i.e. Machinery Division, Electrical Division, Reactor Controls Division, etc. 

That comes AFTER you spend time at SWO (Surface Warfare Officer, if you end up that path) school in Groton, CT then 18 months on a non-nuclear ship like a destroyer or frigate as a division officer for some division.  After that 1st DIVO tour you'll go to Charleston, SC, for 6 months of Nuclear Power School, followed by 6 months of prototype training either in Charleston, SC or Ballston Spa, NY.

After all that, you show up on a carrier, either in Norfolk, VA or San Diego, CA or Everett, WA or maybe in Yokuska, Japan.  By this time you'll have roughly 3 1/2 years left on your commission.  During that time you'll be expected to qualify as Propulsion Plant Watch Officer on a plant that you've never seen before, integrate yourself into your new division, get yourself up to speed on who your sailors and Chiefs are, figure out who is who as far as the "hot" runners, the middle-of-the-roaders and the derelicts while juggling all of the nuke and non-nuke programs that you'll be responsible for.  After about a year of being qualified, the Navy will ship you off to start studying for your engineer's exam.  Based on past experience, that can take upwards of 6 months of your time.  By this time you'll be down to around 18 months, maybe less, until you have to either extend your commission or resign it.  The Navy will toss some decent sized bonus money in your face and you'll either take it and stay or decline it and resign your commission, becoming a civilian with zero years of experience as a Chemical Engineer.

The purpose of this paragraph isn't to rain on any of your plans; it's called a reality check.  Naval officers are meant to be leaders.  Nuke officers don't do anything that resembles being an engineer for the vast majority of their time on Active Duty.  If that is the reason you want a commission, you're going to be disappointed and resent the Navy for not providing you something that honestly, isn't a realistic expectation.  If you want a commission in order to serve your country, develop leadership skills and add some leadership experience to your resume, then by all means head down this path.

Lastly, MMM is on to something VERY important; if your resume reads anything like your posts, it's going to be an uphill battle for you.  Your resume is a potential employer's first chance to look at you.  Your poor written communication skills, which is a vitally important skill both as an engineer and as a Naval Officer, don't paint a picture that makes a manager think "This recent college grad is someone I want representing my department in our company.".  Tough and brutal appraisal?  Yes.  Honest and up-front?  Absolutely.

Gamecock and Spekkio are our resident members who most recently were officers on Active Duty.  Ask them for more info.

Best of luck and don't rush into this decision.  Otherwise, you could waste at 6 years of your life doing something that you may despise.   

[spekkio]

Gamecock and Spekkio are our resident members who most recently were officers on Active Duty.  Ask them for more info.

I concur with everything posted in this thread.

OP, take a hard look at your resume and internship experience. Also make sure that your cover letter is specifically tailored to every job you apply for. If you spend less than 2-3 hours on a cover letter for each application between researching the position, the company, writing, and editing, then you're doing it wrong. Considering that you claim you've sent 400 online applications, I think you're doing it wrong.

There are people/threads on this site that can help you make sure that all of your i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

The Navy is not a chemical engineering job placement program. As a division officer, your job is to learn the basics of tactics to put warheads on foreheads while reviewing a division's paperwork and maintenance plans, and bridging the communication gap between any major issues with MM2 X that might need higher level attention.

The closest you would be to an engineer in the Navy is the Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) program. I'm not sure what the requirements are for that, though, and your first few years of your career will generally be spent earning a warfare qualification followed by going to lots of meetings.

[seriskale]

I see. Thank you all for the advice.

I will tell the recruiter that I will rethink about this whole process.

And yes, I know my grammar can be pretty horrible if I don't pay too much attention. In fact, English is like my third language.

[a|F]

I see. Thank you all for the advice.

I will tell the recruiter that I will rethink about this whole process.

And yes, I know my grammar can be pretty horrible if I don't pay too much attention. In fact, English is like my third language.

+1 for being receptive.  Need more of that around here.  And at my plant.  And my house.

[MMM]

It sounds like you're trying to use the fact that English is your 3rd or so language as an excuse to be lazy (kidding). Really, it gives you an answer if you get the dreaded, "What's your biggest weakness" question, just remember to explain how you're handling it (paying extra attention when you write).

Assuming you are fluent in at least one other language, make sure that's on your resume, then look for larger/multi-national corporations (GE is a good example) and apply there.