This is a question that will become an important interview question from prospective employers. The pandemic has created a unique generation of engineering graduates that have had to deal with extraordinary challenges. Thus, employers are going to want to know how young professionals managed to survive and thrive through this crisis.
An individual’s response to this question reveals an individual’s ability to deal with unanticipated scenarios and their adeptness to overcoming adversity. The more successful candidates will show the impact they have made and the strengths they have gained from the experience.
Many young people are responding that they “took a gap year waiting for things to return to normal.” Unfortunately, there will be no “normal” after the pandemic and a response like this shows naivety and not being economically realistic. For instance, while hiring in many companies has ramped down or almost halted, students who assume they can just find a job until the germs go away and die, need to re-evaluate their plans. These students will be in competition with millions of more experienced workers that have lost their jobs and are aggressively seeking permanent full time opportunities rather than a short term opportunity for someone to fill their time while they wait for life to return to the way it was.
Employers are seeking innovative and positive people that show that the individual is prepared for anything and will be resourceful.
They are also looking to see what personal actions and community involvement students participated in. For instance, in IEEE-HKN (Eta Kappa Nu) honor society, hundreds of HKN student members were the first offering online tutoring for kids whose parents needed help home schooling their kids while parents struggled to balance working from home. Other great examples include the students who have engaged in using their engineering skills to 3d print PPE for local nursing homes and other at-risk populations through IEEE-SIGHT (Special Interest Group for Humanitarian Technologies) projects.
Every engineering student comes out with technical skills, but the ones that used them in ways that demonstrated their compassion for humanity will be the ones that companies will jump to hire.
What’s next?
Regardless of what engineering field an individual pursues, automation and robotics will become an intimate teammate throughout every discipline.
Robotics and technologies that help alleviate human contact to reduce the spread of disease will become commonplace. The most familiar applications of robotics include space exploration or manufacturing, but we will see more applications of specific application-based robots in our everyday lives. This includes disinfecting robots, health monitoring robots in schools and community spaces, delivery services and food production.
The pandemic has also renewed the importance for robust internet security, privacy and access to internet service. When the pandemic necessitated every social and educational interaction to move to virtual platforms, we became aware of just how inadequate and ill prepared the world was to move online. Furthermore, it also highlighted how inequitable the availability of these services is throughout the world, despite living in a global economy.
What will be the enduring impact of the pandemic on graduates?
Just like children of the great depression, where previous generations became very frugal, reused and saved almost everything, we will see the behaviors of pandemic graduates change too. They will not take anything for granted and always be looking at scenarios of risk and alternative sources to ensure they have a plan of action in place when materials, supplies or even jobs are interrupted and lost.
As engineers, we know we must always keep learning, but now we must think of ways to execute innovative ideas when traditional assumptions of manufacturing and supplies are not readily accessible or cost-effective to obtain or transport.no
This generation will also have more empathy and champion safety and resources for those individuals that have been essential to keeping food supplies and the agricultural pipeline functioning. These individuals have traditionally been the most underserved invisible populations and now are the most vulnerable to virus exposure. Thus, the new engineers will not only be the architects of new technology but will be champions of social change.