Can your D start her own thread? You seem frustrated that all our suggestions don’t work for you…maybe they’ll be helpful for her???
2 Likes
I get that you’re asking about human factors engineering. I’m just confused about exactly what you’re asking about human factors engineering. I don’t think anyone here will have any particular insight about that specific field.
Which means that we can only give more generic advice. Or your daughter will have to get info from people with expertise in human factors engineering, i.e.,
1 Like
Well, I tried. It is interesting that all posted jobs require years of experience, and there is no training anywhere…
Yeah, that’s a frustrating and unfortunate reality of some job markets, including engineering.
For hiring, experience in an internship or job trumps pretty much anything else including college prestige.
That’s why I was trying to find out more details about your daughter’s internship experiences. It matters where she did them, and there’s a way she can spin things on application materials to give recruiters more of what they’re looking for.
Sometimes, but not always, a masters degree can “count” in a hiring manager’s mind in lieu of job experience. I don’t know if the specific programs she’s considering will help her job search or not.
It could be that her resume is getting stuck in automated purgatory and a human is never laying eyes on it. That’s why it’s so important for her to read that resume wiki I linked, and to exploit any connection she can to get human eyes on her app materials.
1 Like
Her training is going to be in an allied field which will get her resume picked out of a pile vs. candidates with no experience in anything relevant.
So two years as a salesperson/customer service rep for a medical equipment or device manufacturer. Or a year working for a large hospital system doing intake and exit interviews for patients about their experiences with specific types of equipment. Or an actual rotational program with one of the big suppliers where she’ll start in finance, get moved into operations, get moved into marketing, get moved into IT and then after the two year program is over, she can pick a functional specialty.
Not all degrees provide a neat on-ramp; hers is one of them.
3 Likes
Not really, unfortunately. All jobs are asking for specific expertise on FDA requirements. On top, she actually wants training position, not expert one, but they simply do not exist. Everyone wants already “baked” expert.
I don’t know if this is helpful but I pulled the Purdue first destination survey results for bachelors in BME’s
These are top 25 employers for new grads, so presumably these companies will accept students without experience:
Epics Systems
Epics Healthcare Software
NIH
Abbott
AbbVie
Ambu
DePuy
Edgile
Eli Lily
Intuitive Surgical
Kimberly-Clark
Merck
Micropulse
NextSense
PACIV
Paragon 28
Peter Pan Seafood Co
Pfizer
P&G
Project Farma
Purdue
PWC
Regeneron
Smith and Nephew
St. Mary’s Hospital
1 Like
Thanks. But not in the Human Factors field unfortunately. And as you can imagine a Master’s degree in Human Factors Engineering that does not cover medical equipment is waste of money and time if you want to work in Human Factors medical equipment area. That is why the whole post was created.
I think Blossom’s advice to look at an allied field is spot on, hence the list of companies hiring new grads. Your daughter may need to be more flexible in getting relevant work experience where ever she can.
2 Likes
She will not be the first, last, or only new grad who needs to pivot. But going back to her professors- who presumably have actual, relevant knowledge, contacts and experiences-- is never a waste of time. Even if she gets ONE name from them of someone in industry willing to network with her- that’s one more name than she has right now.
But at a certain point- pivot time. Getting in to Medical Equipment- in any function- is probably better than taking a survival type job waiting tables to pay her rent, no?
2 Likes
Perhaps I should be more blunt. Things are not great at all for BME jobs right now. New grads even worse. New grads focused on a niche field even worse. New grads focused on a niche field with limited industry internship experience even worse (still not sure if your daughter’s internships were academic or hospital or industry).
While it’s possible she’ll find a holy grail job in human factors medical devices, I’m guessing a pivot will be necessary. That’s why we’re describing an all-hands-on-deck aggressive approach to her getting a job.
She can go to grad school, but none of us can predict if that will be beneficial for her specific situation.
If she decides on grad school, great. She’ll have 1-2 years to try to put something into place once she finishes. But she’ll need to be very savvy and proactive, seeking and following advice from those in-the-know.
If she decides not to do grad school, she’ll almost certainly have to hustle like crazy to get a job, even one that is just remotely related to her ideal field.
I’m sorry that this is the reality, but unfortunately it just is, even if it’s difficult and demoralizing. Best of luck to her. She’ll land on her feet but it will take creativity and tenacity. There are jobs to be had, but she might have to start in something rather unappealing.
2 Likes
And to add to Wombat’s fine post- this is reality for EVERYONE graduating right now (or having graduated without an offer in hand like your D.) The oil and gas engineers are pivoting (there is hiring but often not where a kid wants to be and not always in the functional area the kid is interested in), the Civil engineers are a bit at the mercy of waiting for the federal budget to pass to see what is going to happen with “shovel ready” infrastructure projects which get both state and federal financing; the finance majors are being put on a slow walk to see if the recession is going to be localized or all over the place all at once, the marketing majors are suffering from reduced consumer demand due to tariffs, and EVERYONE in health care seems to be put on hold right now wondering what is happening with Medicaid/Medicare and how deep the “we will never cut Medicaid/Medicare” promises from last November will go. If the cuts are deep, the entire industry (pharma, managed care, hospitals, allied health professionals, devices, research of all kinds, etc.) is going to be put on ice.
So parents should encourage their kids to be broad (i.e. go wherever the jobs are, in whatever industry) and deep (if their particular niche isn’t hiring right now, find a nearby niche and go for that along with everything else). Human factors is an important discipline in automotive , aviation, industrial design, etc. So these are important sectors to explore.
I still think the D should post her own queries- will get more helpful responses once we find out how many of her professors have offered to help her (hopefully more than one) and how broad/deep her search has been…
1 Like
This post was not about finding job. It was if anybody had experience in this field and how to brake in it. Apparently, there is nobody with such expertise.
I’m not understanding the difference between finding a job and breaking into a specific field. Are you asking if she can volunteer or take part in a post-graduate internship in her field?
2 Likes
Ok. I was asking if people have experience in the field how to break into this field. It was not post about how to search for jobs in general.
I’m sorry you aren’t getting the answers you hoped for.
I would encourage you though to share this thread with your daughter.
You have some very knowledgable posters giving very good advice.
1 Like
A quick search on indeed seems to show some internships for current students. Maybe one (very risky) approach could be to enroll in the least expensive masters program she can find and then apply for these specific internships. This seems very far-fetched though.
1 Like
I was hoping that someone had some family member in this field or some knowledge. This is because I saw some historical posts about Human Factors Engineering suggestions.
I hired Human Factors professionals when I worked in Aerospace/Aviation. As far as I can recall, the only entry level roles were for mechanical engineers. Mid-tenure (i.e. with experience) came from many disciplines- but they were trained elsewhere.
We were pretty agnostic about industry. Automotive, Medical, Industrial, Construction Equipment… if the experience was relevant in terms of the HF expertise, the learning curve for our particular issues would be pretty easy to master.
So two approaches for your D- either drill down on HF and broaden the search to every single industry where it’s relevant, in every part of the country. OR- drill down on Medical Equipment and get an entry level job in whichever function she can get hired into- business development, investor relations, sales, communications, technical writing (a great field btw…someone needs to translate/be the bridge between the R&D, business, medical professionals) etc.
After a year or two of learning the ropes, she switches into the industry she wants, or she gets promoted into the function she wants.
Still think her professors are her best shortcut here…
7 Likes