I wanted to know if most engineers get jobs offers the semester before graduation? Or is it done independently on your own time kind of thing?

If anyone can help me out that would be great.

I'm sure that this is true in every faculty, and that is if you do well enough, companies will notice. Top firms are always scouting for the brightest talents. Don't overlook the value of the competitions that McMaster provides, as they are almost always sponsored by companies looking for recruits.

So to answer your question, If you achieve high standing (marks, competition wins, recommendations from profs) in your graduating class, chances are you will be contacted.

Originally Posted by muons

I wanted to know if most engineers get jobs offers the semester before graduation? Or is it done independently on your own time kind of thing?

If anyone can help me out that would be great.

You should definitely NOT count on being contacted with a job offer, that's just not the way most engineering fields work for the average student. In the years leading up to your graduation you should be doing a variety of things to build up a network of people working in your field. If you prepare properly and do well in your program, you should have a good chance at having a job offer when you graduate. You should expect to have to send out numerous resumes and attend numerous interviews in order to get an offer. Here's some ideas for things that you can do to improve your chances:

• compete in competitions
• go to local networking / engineering job fair events
• join IEEE/SPIE/PEO as student member or whatever is appropriate for your field
• volunteer with the engineering society / EWB / other engineering related clubs
• work as part of a project team within engineering (e.g. solar car)
• build relationships with upper year / graduate students (they'll be already in jobs when you're trying to find one)
• participate in co-op
• excel in project courses
• build your "soft" skills (presentations, report writing, interview skills, etc.)

There are also plenty of resources within the Faculty to help you to reach your career goals, here's a place to start: www.eng.mcmaster.ca/ecs

As a final note, don't stress out about getting a job right now since you don't even know which field you'll end up in yet. You'll have plenty of time to start working on your career plan after you get through your first year.

You may wish to check this out, too: http://www.talentegg.ca/focus/engineering

Originally Posted by muons

I wanted to know if most engineers get jobs offers the semester before graduation? Or is it done independently on your own time kind of thing?

If anyone can help me out that would be great.

Your best chance for that is to have done co-op. Most of my friends who have done industrial co-ops already have jobs secured.

I, however, have to work my butt off and apply to many, many jobs (over 40 at this point... and I'm being picky because I want to stay in the GTA!), and I know lots of people who haven't heard anything back until June or July... so I'm not too worried (yet).

You have to put the work into networking, bottom line. Generally, you won't get a job over Oscar or a company website unless you have ridiculous marks and exactly what they're looking for, and a ton of people apply for those. You need to meet people and take bajillions of business cards!!!

Ok, end of my rant.

tl;dr: Do co-op, apply to lots of jobs, NETWORK