|
Careers Paths in Materials Science and Engineering (cont'd)
Career Path
The career paths of the survey group span a wide spectrum of industries
and job functions including many types of occupations not in the
field. Among those surveyed, 25% are in occupations that are not
closely related to the field. This fraction is fairly consistent
throughout the various materials degree programs. Those no longer
working directly in the materials field listed a wide spectrum
of fields for their current position. Business related activities
including self-employed or small business owner were the most
frequently noted work activity outside of the field. Patent and
legal activities were another significant category. From a career
planning approach, this information is very useful since it supports
the view that an education in materials can be used as a springboard
into a vast range of fields as well as work activities. R. A.
Ellis recently reported the spectrum of opportunities that are
open to people with engineering degrees ("SESTAT: New Data on
Engineers from the National Science Foundation" in Engineers, Vol.3, No. 4, October 1997). He shows for all engineers that
people working in management increase from around 10% for those
about 30 years old to just over 30% for the older group. For the
materials group, Ellis reports about 20% of the total are working
in management related jobs, a result similar to our survey group
data. Also, the Ellis report shows a broad spectrum of current
occupations for people in the field.
Industrial Sector
Employment across a wide distribution of industry types was evident
from the survey as shown in Table IV. A significant fraction of the graduates, 34%, start their careers
in the primary materials producing industries with metals type
industries being the largest employer at around 22%. The manufacturing
industries are a similar fraction, 35%, with less than a third
being employed across a spectrum of service and other types of
industries.
|
Distribution of Positions in Industry Types
|
|
Industry Type
|
Position (% in Type)
|
|
First
|
Second
|
Third
|
Fourth
|
| Materials |
34
|
22
|
25
|
26
|
| Manufacturing |
35
|
41
|
37
|
44
|
| Other |
31
|
37
|
38
|
30
|
Table IV
Job Functions
The study shows that the majority of people take jobs in production
and research/development for their first position. With each succeeding
job there is a decrease in these two job functions with corresponding
increases in management and sales/service job functions. This
trend is shown in Table V where production and research/development job functions decline
from 78% of the people to about 50% by the fourth position. The
management and sales/service function show an increase from around
10% for the first position to over 37% by the fourth position.
|
Distribution of Job Functions for First to Fourth Positions
|
|
Job Function
|
Position (% in Function)
|
|
First
|
Second
|
Third
|
Fourth
|
| Production |
42
|
43
|
32
|
32
|
| R & D |
36
|
26
|
22
|
19
|
| Sales/Service |
7
|
13
|
17
|
17
|
| Management |
3
|
7
|
18
|
20
|
| Consulting |
4
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
| Teaching |
1
|
3
|
2
|
|
| Other |
7
|
5
|
5
|
7
|
Table V
Company Size
Slightly less than half of the graduates are initially employed
in large companies, those with more than 5000 employees as shown
in Table VI. On the other hand about 39% find initial employment in small
companies, those with less than 1000 employees. With each new
position there is a shift to the smaller companies and by the
fourth position there are over 44% in the smaller companies with
less than 30% in the largest size companies. The number working
in the smallest groups, those with less than 100 employees, is
initially around 13% and that percentage nearly doubles in the
second and third positions and declines back to around 14% in
the fourth position. The survey shows that graduates are working
across a spectrum of company sizes and there was no real difference
when comparing the full survey group with those who were born
after 1960. The results also indicate a direct correlation between
a smaller company size and those reporting a consulting job function
and/or officer of the company.
|
Variations Among Employer Size
|
|
Company Size
|
Position (% in Size)
|
|
Fourth
|
Third
|
Second
|
First
|
| >5000 |
29
|
31
|
28
|
43
|
| 1000-4999 |
26
|
8
|
19
|
18
|
| 500-999 |
15
|
11
|
14
|
8
|
| 100-499 |
15
|
25
|
13
|
18
|
| 20-99 |
11
|
12
|
16
|
8
|
| <20 |
4
|
13
|
10
|
5
|
Table VI
Years in Positions
Much has been reported about job changes and this survey would
indicate job stability for the recent graduates (those born after
1960) with over 36% indicating they are still in their first position.
The distribution of time in each position is shown in Table VII. The survey included promotions within the company as well as
changes to another company and thus changes in position includes
changes within the same company. The longest time since graduation
for this group was 16 years with the average time since graduation
slightly less than eight years. For those who changed positions
most spent less than three years in the new position before changing
again. It was noted that most of these graduates were changing
positions within the same company and this probably reflects promotions
to a large extent.
Recent Graduates Time in Position
(those born after 1960)
|
| Years in Position |
Position (% reporting)
|
|
First
|
Second
|
Third
|
Fourth
|
| Six or more |
49
|
7
|
4
|
4
|
| Five |
5
|
5
|
4
|
10
|
| Four |
3
|
7
|
10
|
8
|
| Three |
15
|
19
|
17
|
23
|
| Two |
6
|
34
|
35
|
40
|
| One |
22
|
28
|
30
|
15
|
Table VII
Factors Influencing Job Changes
Reasons to change jobs cover a wide spectrum but most cited were
related to promotion or improved opportunities rather than salary.
The full spectrum of reasons is listed in Table VIII below. It is also noted that 'Improved future opportunities'
almost double between the second and fourth position as reason
for a change while salary issues decrease by a factor of about
a half. Location as a reason is relatively low and declines to
less than 2% by the fourth position. This probably indicates people
have made decisions relative to location on the first or second
position if location is a factor for them.
Primary Reason for Job Change
(those born after 1960)
|
|
Reason for Change
|
Position (% reporting)
|
|
Second
|
Third
|
Fourth
|
| Promotion within Company |
23
|
35
|
38
|
| New Job/area Opportunity |
20
|
12
|
14
|
| Improved future opportunities |
12
|
15
|
22
|
| Better Job Stability |
7
|
3
|
4
|
| Change in Career Objectives |
8
|
15
|
8
|
| Salary Increase |
15
|
12
|
6
|
| Location |
11
|
5
|
2
|
| Family |
3
|
3
|
6
|
| Other |
1
|
0
|
0
|
Table VIII
Information Sources used to Obtain Jobs
What resources people use to find jobs have been changing over
the years as indicated in Table IX. Networking is the most cited resource used to obtain the current
position for the entire survey group as well as recent graduates.
However, networking was more important in locating the 'First'
position for the recent graduates as compared to the entire group.
One also notes that the recent graduates depended less on 'College
Resources" and more on 'Advertisements' than did the entire group.
'Personal Initiatives' is a larger factor for the entire group
for their current as well as first position than for the recent
graduates.
|
Resources used to Obtain Positions
|
|
Resource Type
|
Current Position
% Indicating
|
First Position
% Indicating
|
|
All
|
Born After 1960
|
All
|
Born After 1960
|
| Networking |
30
|
28
|
12
|
19
|
| College Resources |
18
|
24
|
56
|
42
|
| Advertisements |
22
|
26
|
11
|
19
|
| Personal Initiative |
22
|
11
|
15
|
12
|
| Other |
8
|
11
|
6
|
8
|
Table IX
Factors Influencing Current Job Selection
If we focus on the current job and the frequency of factors cited
we see a different cross section of all the reasons for taking
a job. Virtually all the responses listed multiple factors that
influenced their decision to take their current job. These are
listed in Table X. In this case location becomes a dominant factor along with job
opportunities while salary was the fourth most cited factor. It
is interesting to note that promotion that was the prime reason
for job change ranks last in the frequency of reasons cited for
taking the current job.
|
Factors Influencing Decision for Current Job
|
|
Factors
|
Citations (%)
|
| Location |
38
|
| Improved Future Opportunities |
37
|
| New Job Opportunity |
30
|
| Salary |
29
|
| Better Job Stability |
23
|
| Change in Career Objectives |
17
|
| Family |
16
|
| Promotion within company |
15
|
Table X
 Factors Influencing People to Enter Field
|
