paleenglish1

Hi All,

Hope you are well!

Has anyone had experience with working as the above? I am currently a Building Services Engineer (Electrically biased) in the UK, from what I have seen it looks like my job translates to an MEP Engineer. Are there any requirements for me working in the States?

Any help/information you have would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Guindalf

Did you read Pulaski's Ways in the Wiki at the top of the USA page?

You would have to find an employer willing to spend several thousands of dollars to get you a visa to work here. Does your job require/have you got a degree or are you qualified in a skill that may not be easy to fill on the States?

Who would be most likely to hire you? Would it be the private sector or government? If the latter, the chances of them sponsoring you for a visa reduces considerably.

Not saying it's impossible, but I would think it's highly unlikely your qualifications would get you in, given the information provided so far.

Rete

The poster has not given all the facts in his post.

He has a green card since Nov/Dec 2014, obtained through marriage to a US Citizen.

They were hedging their bets on whether they would be staying in the US dependent on their ability to find US employment when they arrived. Apparently they were unable to obtain gainful employment in the US and have returned to the UK. It is also unknown as to how long he has been outside of the US and if his green card is still valid.

Perhaps paleenglish1 will enlighten us.

Guindalf

A good example of why we need the facts in the post to be able to give accurate advice!

OK, ignore my earlier post.

scrubbedexpat099

Every State is different anyway.

Pulaski

Irrespective of any other issues, I will pretty much guarantee that without a US address no potential employer is going to show even the slightest interest in hiring the OP.

scrubbedexpat099

True

Seems like his initial visit was to CO.

paleenglish1

Hi All,

Sorry I didn't give all the details. I will have to check my info section on here, I'll try to get them all in below.

I'm female firstly . I have my greencard, & we have a US address. My husband is stationed overseas, so technically we are still "Stateside". I have a BSc first class honours degree that from what I have managed to find so far should transfer, obviously this may depend on the State...... I am unsure as to whether I would need anything additional to work in my role. I am expecting to have to undergo some training/learning due to the differences in the countries (i.e. standards, voltages etc).

Has anyone had any experience with these job roles? Even here when I say my job title it's not well known, which is fair, I had never heard of it till I saw the advert in the paper for the job!

Thank you all

Mangaboy84

electrical engineer seems to be the key job title in the USA, I've been doing some searching but was waiting till i landed myself.

if you was doing Design i would look at consultancies because a design engineer seems to be more to do with cad drawing productions than say cable sizing / lighting calcs

You dont need a licence as such to do the work but all the drawings have to be stamped by a licensed engineer within the firm whom is legally allowed to be called an engineer (think like charted engineers in the uk but worse i guess XD ) so you will have to look into getting your degree formally reviewed, making up course credits just to get to the first step of working towards the PE licence unless u have CEng already which makes it possible to transfer

Recruitment firms seem to be the best way to get your foot into the door, otherwise its just a hard slow grind finding a job i believe (i hope XD)

scrubbedexpat099

When are you moving, where are you moving?

As Mr P said until you are, you are going to have a really hard job getting past the first cut.

paleenglish1

Mangaboy, thanks for the info! Consultancies seem to be the way forward then! Although I am currently using cad & Revit as well. I normally try to design straight onto the drawings/model when I can.

Am I right looking down the MEP route? I have seen some Architectural Engineers but I don't think this is the right field. I will look into getting my degree reviewed.

I will get my CV sent out to some recruiters, thanks . Sounds like it worked out well for you?

Boiler, Hubby has currently applied for jobs in CO & TN stateside.

Mangaboy84

im not sure about the MEP route sry, My degree is in building services but i've always taken the electrical biased route with my job and plan explaining that to my future interviews that although my degree is M&E subjects, im Electrical experienced.

talking to a friend who's already made the move, it seems Revit is very popular now so any experience should be good on the cv.

You might wanna look over your CV and update it to reflect the american style Resume

Architectural engineers i bet are just Architects or maybe some structural engineers possibly

I cant say i've started yet, just been looking at the ground work to start doing interviews after i get married in Nov

Bob

You want to find one that's not a knob and stick to the one, don't send out to multiples recrutiers or you're reducing your chance of getting anything.

They take a 30-60% negotiated salary as a fee, so they scatter gun your deets to anyone they think might be interested so if you have a couple of recruiters, doing the same thing, a company that gets the info twice will probably bin you so they don't have to figure out who gets the finders fee.

Canveydave

As a recruiter I can vouch that the above is total fiction.

Firstly, if I was getting between 30-60% of salary as a fee I would have retired about 10 years ago.

Secondly, Spamming out resume's to different companies speculatively is a sure fire way of making no money whatsoever. Without terms in place the company would just hire the person with no legal recourse to me charging a fee.

OP I am by no means an expert in your field, I work with Renewable Energy companies, but my company is focused solely in Engineering. Happy to point you in the direction of a relevant contact here if you want.

Thanks

Bob

I guess it depends on the field.

They're bottom feeders in my field and that's exactly how they operate.

They're very good for very select, head positions and that's about it.