> I think working on a BLM Cadastral crew would be one of the better jobs in Surveying.
Amen. IF you like traveling, wandering around up and down hills, cutting brush and looking for marked stones and bearing trees it's the best there is.
If you want to sit at a desk in a cubicle, shuffle papers, fight with a computer all day and be berated and harassed by obnoxious engineers and impatient clients look to the dark side.
DJJ
I don't care what your resume says!!!
If you can do everything but sign your name.......
> Few months ago, I had a promising interview with engineering firm in Green Bay for a surveying tech position. I thought the interview went well. I was sharing stories from past experiences from internships and school. I got couple laughs from the survey manager and the head office guy and not much from the HR lady. When the question "what is your expected hourly pay", I was unprepared.
>
> One summer I had a SDDOT job and the crew chief was being paid little over 15 an hour. I was talking to a few classmates who are working in the oilfields of ND and they where getting paid 18.
>
> My question to you; what is a good hourly rate for a surveying tech when confronted with this question?
>
> here is snippet of my resume:
>
>
> OBJECTIVE:
> Seeking employment in geospatial sciences or in civil engineering technology.
>
> EDUCATION:
> Bachelor of Science in Land Survey and Mapping
> St. Cloud State University (SCSU), St Cloud, Minnesota. Graduated May 2011
>
> Associate in Applied Science in Civil Engineering Technology
> Southeast Technical Institute (STI), Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Graduated May 2007
>
> RELEVANT COURSE WORK:
> ? Map Design and Presentation
> ? Techniques in GIS
> ? Introduction to Remote Sensing
> ? GPS/GIS Integration
> ? Boundary Law
> ? Cadastral Surveying
> ?Calculus I &II
> ?Technical Writing
> ?Geodesy
>
> RELATED EMPLOYMENT:
> GIS Analyst
> Spatial Analysis Research Center: St Cloud State University
> ? Arrange and create maps
> ? Verify anomalies between parcel database against other sources
> ? Digitize missing parcel and road information into the database
> ? Create driving instructions for first responders
>
> Field Engineer Intern
> State of South Dakota Dept of Transportation
> Survey and create Topo maps for highway improvement projects
> Staking out proposed rights of way lines for land owners and engineers
> Perform quality control tests on aggregates, clays, and concrete
> Collect and record the volumes of material used in various road improvement projects
>
> Right of Way Inspection Intern
> City of Sioux Falls
> Inspected water main, storm, and sanitary sewer in city’s subdivisions
> Update GIS database of public infrastructure
> Assisted with yearly city sidewalk inspection
>
> SKILLS
> Computer: ESRI ArcGIS, ERDAS, AutoCAD, Trimble GPS, Data collector, and Total Stations. Also MS Office
> Package
>
> Certificates: ACI Concrete Field Testing Tech: Grade 1 and passed NCEES LSIT Exam on May 12th 2011
P.L.
> I personally think the days of the big box surveying/engineering firms are over, too many innovative creative small shops these days with the flexibility to turn on a dime as far as business model.
Plus, a lot of those small firms are run by former managers from the big guys and we know all their secrets.
Take what you can get. If you can hang on until the government gets out of the way there should be a surge in demand for surveyors of all types that will level off better than it has been for recent years. If the people don't regain control of the government it won't matter. Those in control will take care of you until they can no longer use you for their benefit, what happens then, who knows.
jud
- Fresh out of school, beer avatar = hint
- Basic field survey exposure
- No experience in the private industry
My advice to you:
Don't worry about the cash too much. I do agree, set $15/hour as a minimum. And ask how much overtime you can get, it brings a fair bit of coins.
If you have a chance, instead of working in a big box firm where your name may not really matter, go visit smaller firms, they may have a job for you if you present yourself with a plan where both parties can benefit. Focus on getting employment with a good mentor for your first 5 years. That should be your primary factor in taking a job. Listen to the elder, walk behind him and pick up the tools along the trail that he forgets every so often.
You have your LSIT passed, that's a big advantage for you.
See it as a 5 year plan. You have the education, get the experience and money will come your way, don't worry about it.
The first 5 years in a career are very important.
Have a beer and make a plan. Where do you want to be in 5 years?
:beer:
> My question to you; what is a good hourly rate for a surveying tech when confronted with this question?
Know a value that allows you to maintain a comfortable living in any environment location. 20hr in California is not the same as anywhere else.
Per hourly rate is a good barometer, but as already discussed this rate can vary with other variables. Overtime, 401k, health care, vacation time, mentoring, selection of available projects to work on, size of firm, cost of living.
> OBJECTIVE:
> Seeking employment in geospatial sciences or in civil engineering technology.
This needs work! It a carbon copy of a 1000 other resumes that all used the same template. Obviously you want a job, hence the purpose of the resume. No need to restate that. What is your Career objective or five year goal? "I would like to use my surveying knowledge and experience to work towards obtaining my PLS" ect.
> RELEVANT COURSE WORK:
> ? Map Design and Presentation
> ? Techniques in GIS
> ? Introduction to Remote Sensing
> ? GPS/GIS Integration
> ? Boundary Law
> ? Cadastral Surveying
> ?Calculus I &II
> ?Technical Writing
> ?Geodesy
INMHO..... Every 4 year school has about the same courses and everyone knows that. What I would rather see is an applicant stating the relevance of these course in the skill section. IE, Confident performing research, writing technical or professional reports.
> RELATED EMPLOYMENT:
I'd expand on what you did in your previous employment. This is probably the most important part of your resume.
> SKILLS
> Computer: ESRI ArcGIS, ERDAS, AutoCAD, Trimble GPS, Data collector, and Total Stations. Also MS Office
Expand on the skills too. Seems like in your past work experience you did more things than you have listed. A big tool in our industry now is knowing the difference in different forms of data, (field survey, GIS, record, digitized) and being able to relate that data together into various software products and final work products. If you understand this and have experience in it, then advertise that skill.
>
> Certificates: ACI Concrete Field Testing Tech: Grade 1 and passed NCEES LSIT Exam on May 12th 2011
Final comment
>I took out 22k in loans. All I got is degree and a LSIT certificate.
I really, really hope you don't think that. You got more that just a degree, and maybe it will take you a while to realize that, but getting a college education and jump starting your career will be one of the greatest accomplishments in your life. Don't sell that short. Now its time to put your head down and get to work.
Good luck with the job hunting, be confident but not arrogant, sell yourself and then follow through.
Cheers.;-)
Thanks for the resume critique Jered! Also for the rest of the forum posters, Thanks! I have several new ideas thanks you and now it is time to follow through.
As for the resume critique, I would start with drop the objective. An objective is useless on a resume. It never helps when applying for a job and could quite frankly hurt you in trying to get a job. As an example, take your current objective: sounds great, but what if you apply for a position and it lands on the desk of a surveyor who cannot stand the term "geospatial science". He says I want a land surveyor, not a "geospatial scientist" and like that, without him ever seeing the rest of the resume, it is in the trash.
Second thing I would change about the resume is the related employment. Two things here, first you are only telling us part of your employment history which is annoying (heck we do not even know how long you worked there!) and second you tell us what you did, not what you accomplished. There is a big difference. Now if you are customizing the resume for an individual placed ad, you may want to use some of these statements to hit the key words in the ad, but otherwise, tell us what you accomplished during that time. Look through your performance reviews, did they have anything glowing to say about your work?
Next up is skills, In short, currently you have none. At least that is how I read this section. You tell me the names of some software and hardware, not what you have done with them or how long you have used them or your ability with them. Take your "skill" of data collector? What brand, using what software and how long did you use it? Did you just see one once? Seriously, I have no idea. There are a lot of software packages out there for different data collectors. This does not tell me one thing about your skills with any of them.
Then we come to your certificates, that looks pretty good. My only comment here (and it goes for the skills as well) is that you have placed them in the wrong place. It is as if it was an after thought. Oh yeah, I still have some white on the page, what else can I put down. The certificates and the skills should be above your employment history. I want to know what can you bring to the table working for me. One more thing here, if you are going to list the certificates, try bullet format as this reads that you passed both the ACI concrete and LSIT on May 12th, 2011. And put the month and year of the LSIT the day just screams "I am green". The month and date says I passed without drawing too much attention to the date where someone sees that you have just passed and is reminded that you do not have too much experience so they will have to put more time into training you than the guy who has no LSIT but has been doing the same work for 5 years. On last thing about the certificates: you have your LSIT, you passed the NCEES FS exam! It is vitally important that you notice details, you are applying for a job where details are important. If you cannot even get the name of the test right, how is someone supposed to trust that you will get the boundary determination correct?
As for your original question: I hate when this is asked and will typically turn this around on them by saying that I am flexible and that it really depends a lot on variables such as my job responsibilities, benefits, and hours. Then I ask them what was the wage that they were thinking for this position. This does not always work, but at least it gives me a chance to see where they are. Remember that an interview is a two way street. You are no looking for a job, any job, but rather you are looking for a job that you fit well.
Oh and I second the comments above, lose the beer avatar, it screams "drunk college kid".
sure beats working! LOL