1 General Career Advice from IAB Members As of 8/8/2013 Marvin Love Harris Corp. - Product Assurance Mgr. Take as many of the Quality and Lean Six Sigma courses and get their green-belt certification while in school. This makes them much more marketable and puts them ahead of others that have not followed suit. I talk to them about working in teams. As a new college grad they will most likely be assigned to work with various teams, so they need to develop good interpersonal skills. I stress the importance of taking leadership roles while working co-op’s or on the senior design project. Companies want to see that they can not only function on a team but have shown some leadership potential. And of course the importance of maintaining a high GPA. In today’s market a 3.5 or better puts them in front of others. Steve Snelling Boeing Co. (retired) - Project Mgr. During or soon after college – study for and take the Fundamentals Exam to be listed as an E.I.T. (Engineer in Training), since you may want to take the P.E. exam someday (if you go into Consulting, etc.), and it is much easier to take the Fundamentals Exam soon after college. Try to land a good initial job, and make sure you learn as much as you can, before leaving it. The initial jobs you take your first five years will become the basis for much of your later career direction. Utilize good Project Management and Time Management skills on all of your projects, even if you are not leading the project (it is important to be a good team member on all projects, as well). Try to work a few years as an Industrial Engineer, before going back to school for an MBA or MS in IE. It will help to have some work experience to decide what to study if pursuing a Masters – and you may have it paid for by your company (if you are willing to do it after hours). Try to find a good Mentor (or a couple of Mentors) at the company (or organization) you work for, since it helps to have a more senior person (manager or non-manager) give you some ongoing advice. Try to utilize their time wisely. Donna Servais Office Depot - Dir. Supply Chain Field Engineering Invest time in building relationships with those with whom you deal with and need to influence (up, down & lateral). You genuinely need to take an interest in this. Anything non-genuine will become evident, and you'll have much more fun at work with the people with whom you work with daily! 2 Listen, listen, listen. Listen especially to those who do the work day-in and day-out; I consider them the "experts." It's sometimes difficult to listen to certain people (perhaps they have some annoying traits), but I believe there's usually a golden nugget there if you dig deeply enough. Seek first to understand (as Stephen Covey has stated as one of the Seven Habits of Successful People). Your goal is to understand their objections and find common ground so you can better sell your ideas and get buy-in. Always give credit where credit is due. Be hands-on. Whenever possible, get your hands dirty and do the work to gain a better understanding and insight to the issue you're developing a solution for. This will help you gain credibility. Additionally, accept any rotational assignments in Operations with open arms. The insight this will afford is priceless. Mike Mueller Deere & Co. - Manager, Industrial Engineering Their career development is a journey and they need to continue to invest in their self and develop both technical and soft (people/communication/engagement) skills. By developing their self they are adding value to the company at the same time. Early in their career stay in a functional area long enough to understand and know the business. Even though they want to move up quickly this will benefit their career in the long run, in making better decisions later when in a role with higher responsibility. Sean Genovese Boeing Co. - Industrial Engineer Surround yourself with the smartest people you can find. The best personal growth happens when you step outside your comfort zone. Be mindful of workplace culture and find an environment that will foster your efforts to succeed. John E. Huffman Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. - Technical Fellow Get a (related) Masters degree. Constantly think ahead. Don’t just focus on fighting fires. Finish what you start. Be a great communicator … especially the listening part of communication. Master productivity tools, especially Microsoft Excel! Statistics are powerful! Change isn’t always good. Taking the road less travelled really does make all the difference. 3 Make a life-long financial plan and stick to it. You’re going to earn a lot of money. Be smart about what you do with it. Research is your own secret weapon. Almost everything these days has happened before. Find out the lessons learned from past experiences and then leverage the real opportunity. The real challenge is not in solving a problem, but in formulating it. It’s all about the data. Be patient. You’ve got a long way to go. Noris Torres-Santiago Ciracet Corp. - Vice President Learn analytics and information systems for data mining! Don’t forget to measure! Learn finance! Develop writing and public speaking skills! Never assume things! Stay hungry! Aixa L. Cintron Kimberly-Clark Puerto Rico - Distribution Operations Team Leader Don’t be afraid of obtaining a higher education, such as Master’s or PhD Degrees, since these help in learning more about the area and allows you to be an “expert” in certain areas/tools. Having a higher education makes you more competitive in the job market as it shows your real interest in Industrial Engineering. More companies now are looking for people with higher education as it is an aggregated value to their company. Kazuo 'Kaz' Takeda Disneyland Resort - Manager, Industrial Engineering Take notes. Sounds odd but honestly this is a great trait. Leaders often start talking about projects in detail and also give instructions on what we are wanting from our new IEs. Our expectation is that they are listening and doing what we spoke about, but because the new IE is ‘new’ they likely don’t fully understand what we are asking and are hesitant to ask for clarification. When the new IE returns with their deliverable, often details spoken to prior, are not included - which can give the perception that the new IE is not listening. Those who take good notes can refer to them and check off the items spoken to. If they don’t know, that’s OK since it opens a great conversation with leaders to explain. Ask questions. As new IEs some can be intimidated to ask questions due to concern that it makes them look weak. Totally not true. A good leader expects that the new hire does not know everything - so we expect questions. To exceed expectations, the new IE would not only ask the 4 question but also present a thought solution: “…sorry, I was unclear on xxx. Are you asking that we do yyy to get to xxx?” Ask for feedback, often. Another ‘best trait’ that I have experienced is when new IEs constantly ask for feedback on their work, presentations, style, etc. Good leaders will give specific feedback but if the leader gives ‘good job’, the exceptional new IE will respectably ask: “may I ask for more specifics on what you believe I did well on - as well as thoughts on what I can continue to improve?” Martin Nazareth OpEx Solutions - President IEs are the best bridge between technology and management with significant strengths in optimizing the overall system, project management, general management, etc. IEs should be aware of it, believe in it, proud of it, live up to it, and not be intimidated by other disciplines like MBAs and PMPs. Garry Coleman Transformation Systems, Inc. - Executive Vice President Pay attention to details. The late Hyman Rickover said it well “the devil is in the details, but so is salvation.” I am reluctant to trust the work of an engineer who has not demonstrated their ability to pay attention to detail. Learn to shift focus from details to the big picture and back to details again - as the situation requires. This takes practice. Your supervisor and upper managers are busy people. Learn to summarize succinctly and get to the point, particularly what is needed from the supervisor/manager. They will appreciate it when you use their time efficiently. Danny Faucette Tindall Corporation - Vice President of Industrial Engineering & Process Improvement Your degree and education (what you know) got you the job; the contributions you make (what you do) determine how far you will go in your career. Never be afraid to take on the tough job that no one else wants to do. To paraphrase George Patton, “A good plan, executed today, is almost always better than a perfect plan next month.” There are three levels that people generally fall into: 1. Some people can never recognize that a problem exists. Be able to recognize, analyze and accurately describe a problem. 2. Some people can recognize a problem, but don’t know what to do about it. Be able to devise a sound, reasonable solution to the problem, using the appropriate analysis tools that you have acquired along the way. 5 3. Some people know what to do, but just want to tell others what to do about it. Be an active part of solving the problem. What I look for is someone who can say “here is the problem, here is how we might go about solving it, and here is the part I’m willing to play in finding the solution”. At one time I used to give my engineers the following familiar quote, framed for them to keep in their offices as a reminder - it sums up what I am trying to communicate above - I cannot say it any better: "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt - in his speech at the Sorbonne). Ben Amaba IBM - Worldwide Executive Industry Solutions Write down a strategy with the help of a board of advisors that you have assembled. Successful people move on their own initiative, but they have documented where they are going before they start. They have also committed the goal into memory and operationalize their actions repeatedly. Go the Extra Mile to include others in your plan including industry groups, companies, peers, and consortiums. Always have a Positive Mental Attitude and act enthusiastically if you believe in your mission. Control your emotions and look for the truth. Balance your faith, family, philanthropy, profession, and physical health – “A sound mind in a sound body, is a short, but full description of a Happy state in this World: he that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants either of them, will be little better for anything else.” – John Locke.