Minnesota Steel's Mesabi Nugget Plant and Polymet Mining Corp.'s proposed metal mines are expected to require 1300 new full time employees. A VP from Cirrus spoke to my mechanics of materials class last Friday and said they would soon be hiring 40 new engineers. Already today, there are 75 of you, who I have taught, who are working as engineers in this region. I expect this number to double in less than 3 years.
If you don't already live up here, but think you might want to, you will have lots of upcoming opportunities. That is good news. Better news is that supply and demand are in your favor and salaries are already climbing. Even better news is that the people I know who work in these industries are quite happy with their work environment. They like their work and they like their colleagues as well as how their companies treat them.
TBL-It is a great time to be an engineer in NE MN!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Making Sure to Cover your Bases
My Dad, who is a retired elementary teacher, told Angie and I when we were starting our teaching careers, "the three most important people in the school are the secretary, the janitor, and the cook. Make friends with them and your life will be great. The cook will make you a cinamon roll, the janitor will make sure your room stays clean, and the secretary runs the school." Over the first 20 years of our careers, we can point to numerous cases where this has proven true.
Of course the opposite can also be true. Get on the bad side of any of these people and you can pay dearly.
This happened to me last Thursday. We hosted Women in Engineering Day for 150 high school girls. With Brad, Rachel, Alisha, and Amber all moved on, this event fell back to me to coordinate. I thought I had everything covered - all of the presenters were lined up and arrived on time and ready to go, the building was ready, the supplies were ready, the maintenance staff knew what was going on, the cooks had the meals ready, we were set.... But who did I forget to tell? The college's main receptionist! The point person who answers the phone and talks to people who walk into the college center. First thing Thursday morning, she got 3 phone calls and 2 walk-ins. She didn't know the first thing about us having this day on campus --- BAD Ron!
Fortunately, she is a very kind and forgiving person who does not hold a grudge and by Friday morning I was out of the dog house.
The lesson to be learned here is to always be thinking about the important people who support what we do in our professions.
Of course the opposite can also be true. Get on the bad side of any of these people and you can pay dearly.
This happened to me last Thursday. We hosted Women in Engineering Day for 150 high school girls. With Brad, Rachel, Alisha, and Amber all moved on, this event fell back to me to coordinate. I thought I had everything covered - all of the presenters were lined up and arrived on time and ready to go, the building was ready, the supplies were ready, the maintenance staff knew what was going on, the cooks had the meals ready, we were set.... But who did I forget to tell? The college's main receptionist! The point person who answers the phone and talks to people who walk into the college center. First thing Thursday morning, she got 3 phone calls and 2 walk-ins. She didn't know the first thing about us having this day on campus --- BAD Ron!
Fortunately, she is a very kind and forgiving person who does not hold a grudge and by Friday morning I was out of the dog house.
The lesson to be learned here is to always be thinking about the important people who support what we do in our professions.
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