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Final Year Engineer Seeking Grad Job Abroad

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  • 25-10-2013 6:17pm
    #1
    NUIG_Student
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭


    I'm a final year Biomedical Engineering student and I am hoping to get a job after I Graduate in either the USA or Canada but I'm currently unsure where to start looking? Should I start emailing companies over there asking about jobs or do I wait until I graduate?

    Can anyone offer any advice on this?
    Thanks
    Tagged:


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    #2
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,276 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    Have you considered Europe - your degree recognised, no work permit issues and a better work life balance than any thing you get over there! Novartis are always looking for good people in Basel and run an excellent graduate program.


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    #3
    NUIG_Student
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭NUIG_Student


    I haven't really considered Europe as i thought the language barrier would present difficulties, but it's something I will look into. The graduate program for Novartis looks great, but they seem to be more of a pharmaceutical company, which is more suited to various science degrees rather than a degree in Biomedical Engineering.


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    #4
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 10,276 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    NUIG_Student wrote: »
    I haven't really considered Europe as i thought the language barrier would present difficulties, but it's something I will look into. The graduate program for Novartis looks great, but they seem to be more of a pharmaceutical company, which is more suited to various science degrees rather than a degree in Biomedical Engineering.

    Well I just through that out there as an example... but there are plenty of European companies out there offering graduate programs, so do some research. Also you need to understand that not everyone goes to college over here so a university degree has more value!

    And as I all ready hinted the work live balance is very good, people are not expected to regularly work OT, take calls out side work hours and so on. Yes you work hard during work hours - no chit chat around the coffee machine, but when you're done you're done.

    As for language, most large companies actually use English as the working language, especially in the smaller countries such as Switzerland, The Netherlands and so on. So you are at an advantage as it is your mother tongue! Most companies will also offer support to help you learn the local language - often in-house courses as there will be many employees interested in learning the language.

    Where I work we have a few Irish guys, all techies so language is not our strong point and yet we all managed to learn enough German to banter, engage in political debate and what not with our Swiss/German/Austrian colleagues. It is a bit amusing at times thought to be in hot discussion with another Irish person in German, but that is part of the fun!

    Language is not nearly as big a barrier as most English speaking people thing, it just requires a bit of effort to begin with, but it is much easier when you are actually in the environment.


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