Graduation is an exciting milestone in someone’s career, yet it can also bring a sense of being overwhelmed. The journey post-graduation is filled with self-discovery, growth, and inevitable challenges. Among the myriad of choices companies, like LotusWorks, become significant guiding forces and can play a pivotal role in kickstarting careers. These companies contribute by offering essential tools, mentorship programmes, and the right environment to foster development. LotusWorks, in particular, frequently offers roles for engineering and technical graduates on a global scale, supporting them as they navigate their paths.
LotusWorks is a company that believes in the potential of fresh minds, ensuring that its graduates flourish, even in challenging environments. From tailored roles to suit your skills and knowledge to mentorship, LotusWorks ensures that recent graduates are valuable and contributing members of the technical teams. After all, today’s graduates are tomorrow’s innovators and LotusWorks is committed to nurturing that spark.
4 Top Tips for Your Graduate Journey
- Networking: Networking at events relevant to your career can have a strong impact on your future career. It is important to attend seminars, join professional groups, and do not be shy to introduce yourself. Broadening your network is all about making connections.
- Lifelong Learning: Graduating does not mark the end of your learning, instead it is merely the beginning of your learning journey. Be it through online courses, workshops or reading, there are countless opportunities to enhance your knowledge. LotusWorks recognises the importance of continued professional development and learning and places a strong emphasis on their educational assistance programme to allow employees to upskill in their relevant disciplines. In addition, LotusWorks is a CPD certified employer with Engineer’s Ireland, which is testament to the provisions in place to allow continuation of professional development through Engineer’s Ireland courses. It is estimated that 40% of core skills are going to change over the next 5 years, therefore, it is important to continue upskilling in your engineering and technical career. (Early Careers Employer Survey, 2023)
- Staying Up to Date with Industry Trends: In the age of rapid technological advancements, it is crucial to stay updated. Being outdated in your field can make you obsolete. AI, cloud computing, and robotics are all contributing to the requirement for up-to-date skill sets, and employees need to be aware of what is happening in their industry to ensure they are relevant.
- Importance of Soft Skills: While technical knowledge is essential, soft skills like communication, teamwork and emotional intelligence are the unsung heroes. We need to be able to communicate and be a team player to all work towards and achieve the shared end goal. This relates directly back to the LotusWorks core values of Accountability, Excellence, Honesty and Teamwork which all help to drive our goal of achieving service excellence, demonstrating the importance of soft skills in engineering and technical disciplines.
Technical and Engineering Graduates CV Tips
Crafting a CV is the first step towards launching a successful engineering career. By emphasising relevant skills, tailoring your CV for each application, and avoiding common mistakes, you’ll be well on your way to landing that dream job.
- Choosing the Right Format: There are several formats to choose from for your CV, but for technical and engineering roles, the reverse-chronological format, where you list your most recent experiences first, often works best. This allows employers to see your most relevant experiences right away.
- Highlight Relevant Skills: When detailing your skills, it may be best to divide them into two categories; soft skills and technical skills. Soft skills include abilities like problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills. As opposed to just listing these skills, try to provide relevant examples of how you used these skills in real-world situations. For technical skills, ensure you list the software tools and methodologies you are proficient in. Whether it’s CAD software or a specific engineering technique, make it clear what you bring to the table.
- Showcase Real-World Experience: Make sure to delve into all the hands-on experience that you engaged in as this demonstrates your abilities and skills learned. Include internships and projects, even if it is a relevant school project. These demonstrate to the employer what you are capable of.
- Volunteering and Extracurricular Activities: As a graduate, you may not have an abundance of work experience, therefore, adding any volunteering experience or other extracurricular activities you take part in can help to add weight to your CV. In addition, such activities help to shape you as a person by telling employers that you are proactive, versatile and have a broader world view.
- Recommendations and References: A former employer or academic professional can be used as a reliable reference source for you which helps to give your CV that extra edge.
- Avoid Common Mistakes: Grammatical errors, length CV’s, and the use of too much jargon to bulk out your CV is not recommended. Ensure you proofread your CV and consider getting a second proofread and opinion on your CV by a peer or mentor.
10 Reasons why you should apply for a technical or engineering role at LotusWorks?
- Diverse Opportunities: LotusWorks is strategic partner of choice and offers services in various sectors including pharmaceutical, semiconductor, data centers, medical device and manufacturing. This diversity can provide recent graduates with a range of opportunities and experiences, aiding in the development of a versatile skill set.
- Learning and Development: The company is known for its commitment to employee growth and development. Recent graduates can benefit from training programs, mentorship, and opportunities to work on challenging projects, which can significantly enhance their professional skills and knowledge.
- Innovative Environment: LotusWorks has a reputation for fostering innovation and staying ahead of the latest industry trends and technologies, with their robust continuous improvement programme and initiatives. Working in such an environment can help graduates to stay competitive and develop a forward-thinking mindset. According to the Early Careers Employer Survey, 2023, small-medium sized enterprises (SME’s) offer a more diverse experience in small teams, closer to leadership, opportunity to make a change and to have social connection and interaction.
- International Exposure: The company operates in multiple locations, offering employees the chance to work on international projects. This can be valuable for recent graduates looking to gain global perspectives, the opportunity to travel and experience working with diverse teams.
- Career Advancement: LotusWorks is known for recognizing and rewarding talent. The meritocratic culture can provide motivated graduates with ample opportunities for career advancement.
- Sustainability Focus: For those interested in environmental sustainability, LotusWorks has a strong commitment to implementing eco-friendly practices. This can be appealing for graduates wanting to contribute to positive environmental impact. In addition, LotusWorks places a strong emphasis on the power of corporate social responsibility and “giving back” to the community.
- Team-Oriented Culture: The company fosters a collaborative and inclusive work culture, which can be particularly supportive for recent graduates as they integrate into the professional world. Diversity and Inclusion is of vital importance in LotusWorks, with over 650+ LotusWorkers coming from diverse backgrounds, experiences and locations.
- Employee Benefits: LotusWorks offers competitive salaries and benefits, which can be an essential factor for recent graduates.
- Client Interaction: Graduates will have the opportunity to interact with various clients, helping them to develop client management skills and understand the client’s perspective, which is invaluable in any industry.
- Diversity and inclusion Reputation: LotusWorks has established a solid reputation in the industry and having the company’s name on a resume/CV can enhance a graduate’s profile.
Conclusion
Graduation is the commencement of the next chapter in your career. While the path may feel uncertain, with the right guidance, determination and a touch of insights from companies like LotusWorks, the sky’s the limit. Why not check out some of our employee stories, written by current LotusWorkers who delve into their journey to becoming a LotusWorker and the reasons they enjoy being part of the LotusWorks team. Click here to read: https://lotusworks.com/category/employee-stories/
Want to know more? You can meet a LotusWorks representative at the following career fairs both in Ireland and the USA this Autumn:
- TU Dublin Engineering Careers Fair on October 19th – https://www.tudublin.ie/for-students/career-development-centre/careers-fairs-and-events/
- Mass Maritime University on October 5th – https://www.maritime.edu/career-services/career-fair
To find our current graduate roles, keep up to date with our careers page here: https://lotusworks.com/all-jobs/
