I am an Electrical Engineer who is aspiring to work in Building Services Engineering Industry.
I have overall 7 years experience working ..
First 3 years worked as an Electrical Engineer (Overseas) in various aspects of operation & maintenance of power systems i.e. Power generation, Transmission & Distribution in a Power Plant
Past 4 years i have been working Sales mainly in retail, lighting & Energy Efficiency solutions.
Now finding it difficult to get a junior/ intermediate or even entry level role as i don't have building services consulting experience. So am caught in this vicious cycle of rejection "Can't get a job because no relevant industry experience & vice versa"
I understand and can relate pretty much all the essential skills required for Electrical Engineer role in Building Services but always get rejected in terms of having experience in building services.
Can't apply for graduate role either nor for Electrical Engineer. The Junior or intermediate role are very competitive as they look people with industry experience. Feels like I'm stuck in a limbo.
I have been trying to showcase in my CV all the relevant skills, competences & personal attributes needed for an Electrical Engineer in Building Services.
I am based in Adelaide and pretty much cold call all the consultancies here but no luck for any contract, casual or even the last resort voluntary work to gain experience ( of course without pestering & sounding desperate)
Need to fix this career pickle i got in to ASAP. I feel i wasted my last four years working in Sales as i realized now that all I'm just doing is Box moving and finding it ever difficult now to get an Electrical Engineer role in pretty much any domain.
Will further studies like doing Masters in particular course or relocating to bigger city help?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
PS: My Electrical Engineering Degree qualification is certified by Engineers Australia and i have recently got my Australian Citizenship
It sucks, but that's what happens. Possibly the only way would be to look at getting a sales job in the industry and try to move sideways, but even that's going to be difficult. If you're really lucky and someone is prepared to hire you and train you, then good, but if not, then you're stuck. companies here just don't want to train people, and mostly look at previous experience, meaning once you've worked in one area, it's like you're branded to only do that.
Unfortunately, I'm in a similar situation, how you start your career is what determines the direction you are going in. Unfortunately that means very few do actual technical 'engineering' work, which is really sad when I keep hearing 'STEM shortage', as to me that phrase is just just reflected in reality. Turning it around then means you have to basically start over again, and many companies just don't want to give someone a chance at something new.