Ready for Takeoff! A Winning Process for Launching Your Engineering Career is the creation of Dean Millar, director of the Engineering Career Institution. Millar's book was written to accompany ECI courses, which prepare engineering students for the workforce by teaching them vital job-hunting and professional success skills.
The Engineering Career Institute (ECI) is a program unique to UB that primes engineering students for vocation and places students in paid co-op assignments at engineering firms.
"Dean Millar's book captures the advice and knowledge of a wide range of experts in career development, including his own," said Harvey Stenger, dean of the School of Engineering. "The book is a must-read for any student who is starting to think about what they will do after they graduate, which for many students is their first semester as a freshman."
Ready for Takeoff! is the course textbook for EAS 396, a one credit, pass/fail course that provides intensive industrial orientation for pre-employment along with detailed instruction on how to conduct a winning student employment job search.
The semester includes 30 hours of presentations from industrial managers on essential career-success subjects such as leadership, communication, teamwork, total quality management, and value engineering.
Subsequent to this course, students who have found jobs will enroll in EAS 496, which is an engineering co-op. This is a two-credit course that provides up to three work periods of engineering-related employment. Co-op students are employed full-time on paid, credit-worthy technical assignments in industry, with emphasis on practical application of engineering coursework.
"I definitely plan to take ECI courses in my future," said Ray Longo, a sophomore engineering major. "The difficult process of job hunting is only made worse by the economy, and I have heard great things about the program's results from fellow students."
Ready for Takeoff! was designed to be a supplemental "go to" guide for all ECI coursework. The book begins by instructing students to identify their own unique skills and abilities and identify how they match openings in the job market.
Millar also explains to students the fundamentals of a successful job hunt, details how to compose a résumé that highlights their skills, and bestows interview and follow-up pointers.
Additionally, Ready for Takeoff! contains contributions from over 30 industry leaders, including CEOs and engineering directors, who explain the basic principles of project management, value engineering, quality engineering, and professional ethics. Throughout the book, Millar covers the finer points of success in varying fields such as motivation, teamwork, and interpersonal skills.
Millar's enthusiasm for personal and professional development began when he served as a training and education officer in the U.S. Navy. His desire to help students fulfill their potential and use their greatest professional strengths and passions to discover a market niche was a motivating force in his creation of this book.
"Ready for Takeoff! is designed as a job-search and career-launch handbook, which can be helpful to anyone, not just engineering students," Millar said. "I am truly passionate about helping people to achieve their potential, and in doing so, enjoy ongoing happiness."
The book was previously only available to students enrolled in the ECI, but is now widely distributed to a national audience.
The book is available in the UB Bookstore and at a variety of online venues. Reviews and editorial comments are available on Amazon.com.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
