Those walking across the graduation stage are beginning a new chapter of their lives as new graduates, new hires and new engineers. On this episode of Just a SEC, our student hosts are joined by Sabrina Pardoe and Claire Riordan from the Class of 2020 to discuss what it's like to be someone with a job lined up after graduation as well as someone who had to successfully pivot and find a career after a bit of searching.
Those walking across the graduation stage are beginning a new chapter of their lives as new graduates, new hires and new engineers. On this episode of Just a SEC, our student hosts are joined by Sabrina Pardoe and Claire Riordan from the Class of 2020 to discuss what it's like to be someone with a job lined up after graduation as well as someone who had to successfully pivot and find a career after a bit of searching.
Congratulations, Class of 2021, you guys came to Aggieland during a hurricane and are departing Aggieland during a pandemic. But we are so grateful to have you as our newest former students. Today's episode features two of our recent mechanical engineering graduates, one who had a job lined up right after graduation with an engineering focus, and another who successfully navigated the job market during the midst of the pandemic and pivoted to technical consulting. My name is Ritika Bhattacharjee and you're listening to SoundBytes.
Drew DeHaven:First, we'll be talking with Sabrina Pardoe. She's been a rotational engineer at TechnipFMC for over 11 months now. She graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from Texas A&M in 2020 and she's going to explain to us what the new hire process has been like throughout COVID. Sabrina, can you tell us a little bit about what your experience has been like?
Sabrina Pardoe:So, right now, I'm a rotational engineer. So, what that entails is... It's basically a two year program where you're going to be in a given group for eight months, and then you switch every so often. But because I had an internship with the company previously, I kind of have an expedited process, so I'm only given two rotations and where I'm currently right now is in subsea strategy, or product management. So what it entails, or one thing that we're really focusing on, is there's a new group that was called New Energy Ventures, and we're actually looking into renewables and where, kind of, the energy industry is going. So, it's very exciting to be a part of those early discussions to see what is going on, what are the steps we need to take? Because, obviously, oil and gas isn't going to be here forever, or it may kind of wind down. So what are other revenues, such as wind energy, wave energy, that we can go through?
Ritika Bhattacharjee:To any of our new graduates, what's some advice that you would give them about the job application process? What was it like for you, when you first applied to TechnipFMC, and I know you mentioned you had an internship.
Sabrina Pardoe:So, for me, whenever I first applied, it was through an internship. So, I know our full-time process is a little bit more rigorous and I was lucky enough to get a full-time offer right after my internship. But it was that typical, like, interview process, I met them at the SEC Career Fair, so that was a really good step in a really good caliber kind of moving forward. Some advice that I would have, especially within this COVID environment, is to put yourself out there. And it's one of those things where you may not realize like, yes, everyone's like, take initiative, take that step forward. But it's so much harder when you're by yourself in your apartment, and you just have a screen in front of you. So take that extra initiative, whether it's something on LinkedIn or finding out who's actually the person hiring. It's really expanding that network and building what you can to kind of move forward within the process. Because what I've learned a lot right now is network is a lot. Like everything. And that's the big thing: Is even when you get into a role, you may be stuck within a group. But don't limit yourself with the group that you're in, kind of expand beyond that and expand your horizon. And it takes that extra initiative. And it may be kind of scary to set up a meeting with someone you've never met or never talked to. But that... Building your network is a really good thing.
Drew DeHaven:I was just gonna say, I feel the exact same way. Because sometimes, like, going in and trying to reach out and stand out on, like, a virtual platform, it's intimidating, but I just have to remind myself,"I'm just talking to a screen right now, this shouldn't be that bad to go out and introduce myself to someone new or find a new opportunity."
Sabrina Pardoe:Yeah, exactly. And it's one of the things that you realize, or I've kind of realized with work is, with being virtual, you lose a lot of those nonverbal communication cues, whether that's in meetings, or in anything else, because if there's a video that's not on, like, you're just audio, but if the video is on, you kind of get some facial expressions, but you don't really get body language, so you realize how much, like, those nonverbal communication actually goes into effect with kind of reading the room or understanding what's going on.
Ritika Bhattacharjee:A lot of what you've mentioned, has been things about the work that you do in a technical standpoint, as well as in reading body language and reading those communication cues. Do you feel as though there were specific classes in your engineering degree that helped prepare you to note those things or do you just naturally have to go in and be super observant?
Sabrina Pardoe:So, for me, I think engineering really set that, like, basis of that structure. But it kind of wasn't really until I started working and I had a mentor that, like, asked me these very specific things of, "Do you understand like your strengths and weaknesses? Do you understand the difference in cultures whenever you're working with a lot of people?", and it was one of those things where I had never thought about it, like, I know, within school, it was one of those things where it happened and it was kind of like in the back of my mind, but actually, like, saying, "Here is the concrete things that you need to do." And that was just a mentor that had reached out to me, and we just kind of kept talking. So that's another really interesting thing to see.
Drew DeHaven:So, since we're focusing somewhat on graduating seniors in this episode, what would you say your experience has been like as a new hire, especially during COVID, right now?
Sabrina Pardoe:So, it's been I want to say a little bit difficult, because starting full-time remotely, not really getting to meet anybody in-person and we're still mostly at home. So that's the, that's definitely the difficult thing. How it's been remotely is, again, putting yourself out there, setting up those random meetings with other people, just so you can kind of get to know people, it's really putting yourself out there. And, at least for us, we have some teambuildings at work to kind of help and under... So you can get to meet some other people. But that's been... It's been The difficult thing, because you don't, at least for me, as a new hire, you don't really have that network. I don't know, everyone else, versus like people that work like 5-10 years at the company, they already have their network. They already know who to reach out to. And I've actually... I've had these discussions with some, like, people higher up than me. And it's one of those things of, it's really, like, it sounds we-- I know I keep repeating this, but if you set up just like those little meetings with people, whether it's 30 minutes or an hour, just to get to know them, at least for me, in my experience, I haven't had any kickbacks. Like, "Oh, I'm too busy, I can't do this." Like, everyone, no matter the caliber is willing to spend a few minutes out of their day, so I can understand their experience. But they can also see where I would like to go within the company.
Ritika Bhattacharjee:So, thinking a little bit about that. I think that's awesome, that you are so comfortable in taking that initiative and reaching out to people. What advice would you give some of our shyer engineering graduates who maybe have not had an internship at the company they're starting or applying for? How do you network? Even if you don't know the exact people? Is it just the same thing? Do you have to ever think before you reach out to somebody?
Sabrina Pardoe:See I do because I can also be a little bit shy at times. And what I've done is if you have a mentor, someone kind of above you, you can ask them, and they're really good resource to say, "Oh, I'm interested in this specific group. Do you know anyone from that group?" and that mentor... I've had that mentor or that person above me, that manager would reach out to the other person, say, like, "Hey, like Sabrina is going to, like, may reach out to you anytime." So that initial bridge has kind of already been covered. So then all I have to do is just set up anything. So, that's where I would go is go with that first manager that you probably will meet, and then they can help you meet other people because they've already had that established network.
Ritika Bhattacharjee:So, I know something you mentioned a little bit earlier in the conversation was learning about different cultures and being able to communicate cross-culturally? How do you manage that as a new engineer? Do you just take cues? And I know Zoom is a little bit different, or whatever your conferencing software you have to use right now. But how do you..? What advice would you give new engineers who are coming into the workforce, and learning to be culturally competent in that way, who maybe have not had a study abroad experience?
Sabrina Pardoe:So what I have discovered is though, because our company is global, so we've got people in the UK and Norway and Rio, Paris, like, kind of all over. And what I have learned is, it's one of those discussions I've had with someone I feel more comfortable with saying, "Hey, how do you communicate with different cultures?" Because people in Brazil are going to maybe be a little bit more relaxed than people in Norway, and it's just the culture and it's how things are. So, it's learning about that communication. And a lot of that is just asking to say, like, here... Like if you're ever in a meeting, understand the different stakeholders or the different people coming into the meeting, and then you can say, like, do I need to be more technical and more rigid with how I'm doing it? Or do I need to, like, have a story that flows through?
Ritika Bhattacharjee:Our next guest is Claire Riordan, mechanical engineering Class of 2020. I had the privilege of working with her on the engineering choir's inaugural officer team, and she was also a TA and a Fish Camp counselor during her time here at A&M. She'll be starting her job as a consultant this summer.
Claire Riordan:Career stuff has always been something I've been very interested in. My dad has been in the big business world for the whole time that, you know, I've existed. And I always found it very interesting. So, it was never something that I was, like, shy to I always was interested in, like, when do I need to go to career fairs? And, who do I need to talk to? Let's network. You know, I was like,"Oh, so fun." Things like that. So, for me, it was really, like, different throughout each of my steps in college and then after college. I also was able through my dad to talk to people from other companies just about their experiences and their expertise. So, really, for me, it was about opening up as many conversations as possible. And I did that a lot while I was in college, but not as much. But that was a fundamental part of my process once I graduated. So career fairs and having conversations with companies while I was at A&M was important, but you're very much just... You're in the process with the campus recruiting and with what companies are used to. So, if you're not following that process, exactly, it can be kind of hard to get stuck between the cracks. Like, in my position, my internship got cancelled because of COVID. And it was an in-person internship. So, it couldn't happen online. So once I was out of that internship flow, and I wasn't in a company's steady stream of campus recruiting, it was harder to find the niche to get attached to to start getting that process started. And when you can't find that line to attach to, it's like an ocean, you know, you have no clue who to talk to or where to go. So, my goal was just have as many conversations as possible. So, while I didn't have a job yet, you know, every day, I'd have some kind of something scheduled to talk about someone's market and what they're working in, what they think available job opportunities are, where they think they're available places to work, what they think is valuable now, where they think work is headed, just so I can get people's ideas of what might be good options.
Drew DeHaven:I really like that metaphor of being kind of out in the ocean once you graduate. And it's something I haven't thought about. But you're totally right. When you're at A&M, you have all these campus recruiters coming to actively seek you out. But, once you graduate, that responsibility really gets placed off on you. Can you tell us a little bit more about how you got your current job and what role you're going to be doing there?
Claire Riordan:For a little bit more background, my dad is a consultant. He's been in management consulting and retail for years. Like, forever. I always thought it was really interesting and I didn't really know what it was. But it's problem solving. Right? But for the business world. So, I always thought I was interesting, because you know, that's what I like about engineering. I think that's what most engineers like. I always like to say, like, when people talk about engineering, they're like, "Oh, you like math." I'm, like, well, it's getting a degree in problem solving, really. But through months and months of the career search process, and, you know, applying to jobs that I thought I was overqualified for, applying to jobs I was under qualified for. Eventually, it was just frustrating. So I, you know, I got my options, broader and broader. And, so, eventually, I revisited some of the consulting companies, he had been, like, "You might be interested in this." And so I looked into one of them. And I thought, it looks interesting, but, you know, I'm not sure. So I'll at least talk to them. So, I took the interview. And in that very first interview, I remember leaving and thinking,"Oh, I'm not going to get this job. I... They don't want me I'm not ready for this job." Because it's... The job itself is technical consulting, which is essentially software cloud based consulting for companies. And I'm a mechanical engineer and don't have that much CS experience. So she was like, "It might be CS heavy. You know, are you going to be able to deal with that?" And I was like, honestly, I don't know. But I'm willing to try, which is true. I think truly about myself, that I can excel at something if I try. But, you know, I'm going to be honest, if I don't know. So that was what I told her. And she was like, "Okay, fine." So, you know, somehow I kept going through the interview process. And part of consulting is case interviews. So, that was kind of the last round. But it was different than other case interviews I've done before where it was algorithm focused. So it was focused on how can we take this problem and make an algorithm to fix it, but it's more like pseudo-code, like, algorithm, but in terms of a structured problem-solution. And the way I was able to work with my team through that was really interesting, because it was like I've done consulting through an engineering mindset. And that combined my strengths in a way that I hadn't seen before at another job. So it made me really excited.
Ritika Bhattacharjee:Thank you so much for all of the wonderful detailed information. I know that's going to definitely help new grads. Could you speak a little bit more about the process and the involvement? Like, did you reach out to people through LinkedIn? Did you talk to your dad, who you mentioned was a consultant, to get ins in the industry? And what do you think would be appropriate action for somebody looking for a job in the same way that you were?
Claire Riordan:So, I would say there are a couple different key ways that I used my networking to help me in the job search. One of them definitely was my dad and I will say that that's, you know, a privilege for me to have because he was so connected in the business world for so long. However, there's a lot of work that I did for myself, as well, before graduation and on my own. I will say part of it was LinkedIn, although I hear a lot of people saying that LinkedIn is, like, a huge tool that they use for networking and connecting, but I had a lot less success with that than I felt like I had heard from other people. I think the most helpful thing that I did to help my networking during the career process was definitely the career fair. And it was always very nerve wracking to me. And I'm sure that for me - a very extroverted person - it's probably less nerve wracking than for most engineers. But, even just having one conversation where I got someone's contact or an email, and then following up later, gave me a higher step than someone, you know, someone else and gave me connections that I was able to follow up with throughout my entire career process.
Drew DeHaven:I think, I really resonated with what you said about LinkedIn and applying online because it feels so hard to get people's attention when you're just messaging them on an online platform or filling out an online application. Because I've heard of people filling out like over 50 online job applications and not getting a thing. And that rejection, that... You know, at least for me, that process is not not fun. One question I wanted to ask you is, from graduation to where you are now, what has the process been like emotionally of having to go through and find a job and put yourself out there like that?
Claire Riordan:Oh, man, that's a big question. Definitely ebb and flow. There was a strong period... So right when I graduated, I was in the process of interviewing with a couple companies and I had something that very much seemed like an offer, in the way that we had been talking and the way that everything was structured. It felt very much like they were invested in me as a person. And, then, they just sent me an email saying no. And the contact that I had didn't even really talk to me about it until later. And I ended up finding out that it was because of some skill that I didn't have, which they could very clearly see on my resume and that I had been very transparent about throughout the process. So, having that happen right after I graduated and having to essentially start over right then and there when I felt like I, you know, had something ready, definitely didn't make it a good start to the process, again. It made it feel very hard. And I think one thing that happens a lot to people is that you so rarely hear back about the things that you work so hard to get, you know, like you said, applying to 100 applications just to hear back even from two is very defeating, especially when you feel like you are, rightfully so, qualified for the positions you're applying for. So, then, even getting to an interview or further or to the end, just having to start over again, is very demoralizing every time. And, the reality is, is that honestly, it's a lot of luck, if they decide to accept you. It can depend on anything from how that interviewer's feeling that day, to, you know, when you happen to interview, like, did you interview right after they had lunch when they were a little sleepy? Were you the very first one to interview? Well, you might have not been as fresh in their mind, so they remember this other person more. There are a lot of factors that are out of your control, that may lead to you not being picked over someone who's the same as you on paper, just because of that, and also because of unconscious bias. People may look at your resume or your skill set and, you know, not even be aware of the fact that they're, like, "I don't think they'd be as good." For someone who, you know, doesn't have a lot of technical experience on my resume, but has a lot of very solid experience in the real world with, you know, things that are relevant to any job position, I worry a lot that they'll look at all my Fish Camp leadership and say, "Oh, that's just some, some college kid, you know, joy, happy celebration thing she doesn't know." When that gave me a lot of really good work experience that has helped me thoroughly throughout. So, you know, there... It was important for me throughout that to remember that, every time I got a rejection or didn't hear back or even got all the way through and didn't get the job that it wasn't necessarily because I didn't deserve it and it doesn't always have to do with the fact that I should have had it, it's just that for some reason that time I didn't. And that the important part is that if you don't keep trying, you're not going to eventually get it.
Ritika Bhattacharjee:So, I know from my experience working with you, you are so in tune with yourself and you know exactly what you want. What advice would you give a new graduate about finding that passion and finding that sense of direction of this is what I want? This is what I don't want.
Claire Riordan:I think that's maybe a question that lots of people never answer. I would say my best advice is actually to not worry so much about what is your passion There's a lot of emphasis put, especially right now with, like, there becoming more openness and acceptance about pursuing your passion. With that comes a lot more weight with, like, "Okay, what is my passion, like, I don't want to waste my time, let me do what I'm meant to do now. Like, I want to get on the path of doing what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing right now." But the reality is, is that for a majority of us coming out of college, we've really never been in the real world, we have only been in the schooling systems. So, I definitely think it's important to keep an objective balance about pursuing your passion. For me, what that looked like, was keeping my opportunities as wide as I was comfortable keeping them, which for me was having, like, around the edge of my net was stuff that I was fine with, but made me slightly uncomfortable in an okay way, you know. Like, I'm willing to challenge myself to reach this wide for jobs. And keeping jobs available for me that I think I could connect to in some way. But not necessarily jobs, where I was like, "Oh, this is perfect for me." Because I also am aware of the fact that I don't actually know what it's like to do a job in many of these industries, yet. And even if you know, I like the company, or I like the idea of what I'd be doing, you don't really know what the day-to-day looks like until you're there. And even within the same job title, it can look so different at every company and every part of the country, or other countries, you know? So it's... For me, it was just important to say... To keep in mind the values I wanted for companies, I was looking for; always asking them about diversity and inclusion, what they were looking to do for sustainability. Those are things that are important to me with the company that I'm going to be supporting. But not getting so into the nitty gritty of exactly what I'd be doing. Because for me, it's more important to experience that and learn and then being willing to say I'm ready to move to something else if it's not right for me.
Drew DeHaven:Thank you so much to Sabrina and Claire for sharing their experiences. It was great to hear about how y'all are starting your careers despite the challenges of COVID-19. While soon, things may return back to normal, the advice that they shared will always be relevant. And, whether you have a job lined up or not, it'll always be important to be confident, bold and persistent towards achieving your goals. Best of luck to Sabrina, Claire and all of our graduating listeners out there who will soon be starting their careers. Thanks and Gig 'em.
Hannah Conrad:Thanks for listening to the Texas A&M Engineering SoundBytes podcast. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Texas A&M University System. SoundBytes is part of the Texas A&M Podcast Network. To find more official Texas A&M podcasts go to podcasts.tamu.edu