<p>One of my friends is majoring in Civil Engineering and will be graduating this spring. He has a decent GPA and experience, but he's burnt out from all those years of school. Throughout his life, he's been pushed by his parents in middle school, by overly competitive peers in high school, and by himself in college.</p>
<p>So, would it be a good idea for him to take 3-4 months off after graduation to relax and do some fun stuff (going skydiving, learning how to surf, going on a roadtrip, etc)? Would the gap on his resume be a problem to employers when he starts looking for a job in fall? Also, is it harder to find a job after graduation than when you're still in school? He won't have access to on-campus recruiting, but he will get to spend all of his time looking for a job instead of splitting his time between work and school. It seems that all the emphasis is on finding a job before graduation, and he has little interest in doing that now.</p>
<p>He should really try to find a job before graduation, if only because of the resources the school will offer. Bear in mind that many employers (particularly large ones) expect or even require a gap between graduation and the start of employment - if you are bringing in 100 new hires, you don’t want them all staring the same week! I had a 3 month gap between graduation and my first day of work for this very reason.</p>
<p>It will depend on the employer as to whether they want you to start working right away or not. For my first job, the company wanted me as soon as possible. It was hard to convince them to wait even six weeks, although I had to move across the country. They already had projects which needed to be staffed right away.</p>
<p>You can do those types of things while working… most engineers don’t work crazy hours consistently. </p>
<p>Tell your friend to think of it this way: Say he makes $50,000/year at his new job. How does he feel losing essentially $12,500 - $16,667 to delay working for 3-4 months? I’m all for breaks between graduation and employment, but IMHO, 3-4 months seems excessive for most cases.</p>
<p>A short gap will not be a big deal. You could easily pass it off as time spent figuring out what you want to do with your life rather than just wanting to take time off. If he takes 3-4 years off it could be a problem.</p>
<p>He should definitely try to find a job before he graduates. Most likely he will be able to find one where he won’t have to start immediately. If he cannot, that’s unfortunate but at least he has a job. I think there was about a 3-4 month period between when I received my offer and when I started. It was a nice break where I didn’t have to worry about job related things and could just have some fun.</p>
<p>I also agree that an intentional 3-4 months break might be a bit long. 1-2 months should be more than long long enough unless he absolutely hates CE and wants to get away from it as much as possible, in which case he is going to have other problems.</p>
<p>Anyway, let’s say that he doesn’t bother to look for a job now but waits for only a month after graduation to begin his job search. Would that be fine, or would he still be at a great disadvantage since he didn’t look for a job while he was still in school?</p>
<p>I’m just wondering whether the problem comes from the length of time off or from his decision to wait until after graduation to look for a job. I think I can convince him to take only a month off after graduation before he begins his job search, but I probably won’t have any luck in getting him to look for a job now.</p>
<p>
I don’t think he hates CE; I think it’s just a severe case of burnout from school in general. Right now, he’s done with almost all of his CE classes, and this semester’s work is mostly filled with General Education course requirements. He said that this semester drags, that he can’t wait to get out into the “real world”, but he has no motivation to “multitask” (look for a job and do schoolwork).</p>
He would still be at a great disadvantage. Once he starts looking, he will have a couple of months of searching before he is likely to even get interviews, perhaps a few months longer to actually start a job. If he waits a month after graduation to start looking, he is probably going to be 6 months out of work before landing a job… if he even can. Remember that this is not a great job market right now, and even with great credentials it can take a while. Add into it the fact that he will be going it without the resources of his college, and with having to explain his lack of motivation (“So, Mr. Andrews, why are looking for a job now? Did you not get any offers, did something fall through?” “No sir, I just could not bear looking for work.”). He is setting himself up for a much harder time.</p>
<p>I agree with the others that it might not be a good idea given the current job market. Depending on the company size and their need to fill the position, it could take months before you are initially contacted.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t have problems with a little time off after graduation. Some hiring managers will have a problem with it and some may ask what you were doing between those gaps. They may be understanding about the time off or they may frown upon it. Every hiring manager has their own opinion and some may not even notice the time gap from the resume. It’s like wondering whether they will catch that typo you overlooked. </p>
<p>If they ask what you were doing in the gap, hopefully the response was that you were doing something productive. Be prepared for that question, because it will pop up. For me, I had a gap after my graduation. I think maybe 2-3 interviewers asked what I was doing in the gaps. I usually said the economy wasn’t too good, but I tried to stay productive by working on my hobbies with automotives, helping out family members in their shop, and spending a few hours a day scanning through my usual sources for job openings.</p>
<p>None of my interviewers ever asked why I didn’t get a job right after graduation. It might act as a good behavioral interview question to see what you think are your weaknesses.</p>
<p>It seems that spring break has reduced the severity of his mental burnout, so he’s not going to wait until fall to begin looking for jobs. Here’s a timeline of his plans now:</p>
<p>Now until May 13 (last day of finals): Try to finish the semester with grades good enough to maintain his GPA.
May 20th: Graduation ceremony
Late May: Grades for his final semester come out
Mid may to Mid June: Travel the country, go whitewater rafting, hike, and have fun
Mid June to ???: Fill out job applications, network, and cold call companies until a job is found.</p>
<p>He still doesn’t have any motivation to look for jobs now, no matter how much I’ve tried to convince him to do so. But then again, he’s the type of person who thrives in the face of adversity. When the unemployment rate began rising rapidly in 2009, he shrugged and said “what goes up must come down”, and he feels better after a string of bad days because “the law of averages says I’ll have some good days coming up”. When I mentioned that the job market was tough since there’s only one opening for 8 unemployed people, he said “well, I feel sorry for those other 7 people, because I’m going to be the one.”</p>
<p>Anyone willing to predict when he’ll find a job?</p>
<p>I am willing to predict hard times ahead for him. If he DOES find a job, it will probably be one less desirable than that which he could have obtained starting now. Motivation and dedication are traits that companies really look for in new hires, and he is demontrating neither…</p>
You may be right. But more than 80% of the class of 09 didn’t have job offers before graduation. The class of 08 wasn’t much better off (only a quarter of them had job offers before graduation):
[For</a> class of 2009, degree doesn?t mean a job - Business - U.S. business - Made in America - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32468172/]For”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32468172/)</p>
<p>What happens to all of those students? Do they become part of a lost generation that’s doomed to working minimum wage jobs for the rest of their lives? Or do they find work related to their major after one or two years?</p>
<p>The issue with the economy simply makes any particular field more or less competitive than it was the year before. The “best” tactic for any given field is to make yourself as competitive as possible, as that will increase the odds of getting a job and improve the quality of job you get. Perhaps he won’t get a job offer right away, but whenever he gets into the game he is going to be competing with people who DON’T have 6 months worth of burnout, who still show passion and the ability to push hard for what they want. Your friend is going to be fighting the appearance that he is going to crumple under pressure, or cut and run if the job is “too hard” - issues bigger than GPA for many companies.</p>
<p>I think your friend is giving up in the fourth quarter. Perhaps he cannot get a job right now, but this strategy sounds like a concession to make his diploma an unused piece of wall art.</p>
<p>“You’re running a marathon and have less than half a mile to go. I know you’re tired, but you’re in first place. There are many other runners who are right behind you, so you’ll have to make a choice: Are you going to press on and win that race, or are you just going to walk the rest of the way and get a finisher’s medal?”</p>
<p>One more thing: if he doesn’t get a job somewhat related to his major soon, he’ll either have to get a menial job or go to grad school to avoid resume gaps and the perception that his skills are decaying. The prospect of more years of school should be enough to shock anyone who is burned out from all those years of high school and undergrad.</p>