Hey guys,

I'm a Mechanical Engineering student who's recently completed my studies. However, I've yet to land any engineering positions or experience. What advice would you give to an engineer in my position?

- I'd definitely apply for the next set of graduate positions, but main bulk don't start again until at least March, and even if one was successful, programs wouldn't start until the end of the year, which leaves me with a year to do other things. If I was to rely on the next set of graduate positions, what should I do in the meantime, like what would be an good job to get until then?

- I've been constantly applying for positions I've found through various sources such as the internet, newspaper and recruitment agencies, but have found that the main jobs that come out recent months tend to be more experience focused. As a result, I have discovered that all of them have failed as more qualified applicants have always been available.

- I'm thinking of cold calling, but not sure where to start. I find that larger firms tend to have a lot of information available to research but will always have graduate and vacation programs in place with set dates for applications. In contrast, the smaller firms (e.g. through Yellow pages), tend to have close to no information, which makes planning rather difficult. Also, searching "mechanical engineer" in yellow pages tends to give a lot of company titles that appear more mechanic and automotive repair related than engineering.

Thanks,
Steve