The reports are not good. In the last quarter of 2008 the US economy had its biggest three-month job loss since 1945. Since December of 2007, 3.6 million jobs have been lost. January 2009 job losses were large and widespread according to the US Department of Labor (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Close to 600,000 jobs were lost in January alone. The unemployment rate for the US rose from 7.2% to 7.6%. In addition, close to 8 million people are underemployed- working part time but preferring to be working full time. 2. 1 million workers have become discouraged and have stopped looking altogether and are not even counted in the unemployment rate.

The highest unemployment rates are in the Pacific region and in the Eastern parts of the US. California unemployment rates were among the highest, reporting in at 9.3%, in the US DOL report dated January 27, 2009.

First Quarter announcements of job cuts include some huge cuts in companies that are household names. Many are employers of technical professionals.

Companies cut swiftly and deeply in response to declining demand and the economic slowdown. As sobering as the numbers are, there is reason for optimism. The technology that makes information available in real time allows for a much more rapid response to both downturns (layoffs), and recoveries (hiring). The correction may already have happened. Companies may have over reacted to bad news and might end up having to hire to fill positions that they need to meet demand as the economy recovers and as the Obama stimulus package is rolled out.

Depending on your situation, you may not be as bad off as you think. The current national unemployment rate for college graduates is actually only 3.8%. Technical professions have unemployment rates below 2%. For high school graduates the rate is much higher at 8%. The unemployment rate for individuals with less than a high school education is dismal at 12%.

As the economy recovers, there is going to be huge pressure on the labor pool. President Obama’s stimulus package promises to create 3 to 4 million jobs. Engineers and computer scientists will most likely fare better than most other professions in the stimulus package. Many ready-to-go projects that will be funded will require engineers to bring them to completion. Watch for opportunities to emerge in all areas of infrastructure development. The big winners will include: heavy construction (roads, bridges); water and wastewater projects; IT security; e-health programs; defense; energy, alternative energy and energy conservation projects; and transportation (high speed rail, light rail, intra city and inter city systems).

Amazingly, many companies that hire engineers are still hiring and a number of segments of the economy are still growing. The task is to find out where and to act accordingly. Companies attending Career Day 2009 represents an excellent opportunity to connect with companies hiring technical professionals. Be sure to be there and ready with your resume.

Companies can now sign up for Career Day 2009 at http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career/.
We opened sign ups in November and the response has been very strong considering the economy. This is the biggest hiring event for technical professionals in Northern California. Students and alumni turn out in droves to connect with potential employers. It is our single most productive hiring day. PUT MARCH 6TH ON YOUR CALENDAR!!!

We now have 67 companies signed up to attend the CSUS College of Engineering Career Day 2009 which will be held on Friday, March 6th. This is amazing! We are seeing steady demand for our majors in spite of the economy. Companies are surveyed about their hiring plans in conjunction with the sign up. The 67 organizations now signed up report having a total of 1925 openings! Here is the breakdown by majors:

45 will be hiring Civil Engineering majors
33 will be hiring Construction Management majors
15 will be hiring Computer Engineering majors
15 report hiring needs for Computer Science majors
27 report hiring needs for Engineering-Electrical & Electronic majors
30 will be hiring Mechanical Engineer majors
10 report hiring needs for Mechanical Engineer Tech. majors

The Power Engineering Society and IEEE is hosting a career event called Industry Here For You

This event will offer all engineering and computer science students a chance to network with leaders in the computer, energy, electrical / electronics industries, and will also include government organizations that are hiring!

Meet representatives and learn about career opportunities!!!

Feb 18, 2009 - 12 noon to 1 pm
California Suite 3rd floor of the Union Bldg
Pizza will be served

Participating companies will include:

• Ca Department of Water Resources
• California ISO
• IEC
• Intel
• PG&E
• SMUD
• Western Area Power Administration

Career Day is March 6th! Is your resume ready?

Tau Beta Pi is sponsoring a two part resume workshop.

Part 1: Resume Writing with Cici Mattiuzzi

Wednesday 2/18 4:30 – 5:30 pm
Riverside Hall Room 1015
Learn resume writing skills, see examples, and get your resume started.

Part 2: Obtaining a Job and Resume Review with Dr. Dan Noren

Thursday 2/26 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Mendocino Hall Room 3011
The first hour will be tips, advice, and general insight into the process of obtaining a job, including the search, first contact, interviewing, and offer negotiation. The second hour will be peer review and feedback of your resume.

PLEASE NOTE: To attend the second workshop you MUST bring a complete resume. This workshop is about fine tuning the resume you have, not starting one from scratch.

Pizza and refreshments for both workshops will be provided by Tau Beta Pi. We hope to see many students and alumni in attendance.

The Registration deadline for EIT Exam with State of California is February 20, 5pm
For Details visit: http://www.dca.ca.gov/pels/e_exam.htm.

Tentative Schedule EIT Review Sessions Spring 2009

Sponsored By Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
For More Information Contact Pat Homen:
homenp@ecs.csus.edu

Exam Date: Saturday, April 25

Hi CiCi,

The CA Energy Commission is opening the Electrical Engineering exam again so any of the EE Seniors or graduates who want to take the exam can again apply. The deadline is 2/13. To qualify, the individual needs an EE degree from an accredited institution or be a senior and graduate within a year (I think). We had a great response the first time around and this exam will be a written exam, not a oral exam. Plus, once the list is developed, many times other state agencies will use the list to fill their positions. So the individual may have even more job opportunities than the Energy Commission.

Anyway, this exam has not been given for several years so this is a great opportunity. Plus the state government is hiring in this area because some agencies are funded by special funds and are critically not impacted by the current general fund shortfalls.

Mike

Examination Plan:
This examination will consist of a 100% performance exam that may include an in-basket activity and preparation of written materials. In order to obtain a position on the eligible list, a minimum rating of 70% must be attained in the examination.

Applicants, who filed in November, do not need to reapply. Please note however, that the exam has changed from 100% Qualifications Appraisal Interview to 100% Performance exam that may include in-basket activity and preparation of written materials.

Scope:
Questions in the performance test are designed to test broad knowledge of the topic under consideration and candidates should be prepared to respond to a wide variety of issues, both technical and procedural.

Job Duties:
Under direction, the Electrical Engineer initially performs the less complex field and office electrical and electronic engineering work; with training, performs electrical designing, drafting, and inspection work of average difficulty; and does other related work.
Positions exist in Sacramento with the California Energy Commission.

Salary Range:
Range A: $4608 - $5334
Range B: $5276 - $6409

Minimum Qualification:
Registration as a Senior in such a curriculum will admit applicants to the examination,but evidence of graduation must be provided at time of appointment.

Education:  Graduation from a curriculum in electrical or electronic engineering accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, or equivalent qualifications.   
 
OR 
 
Possession of equivalent qualifications which may be demonstrated by qualifying in a written examination covering basic electrical engineering and by graduation from college in a curriculum which includes the courses normally included in a standard four-year course either in electrical or electronics engineering.

Knowledge of:

• Computer theory and operation;
• Mathematics related to electrical engineering;
• Electrical and electronic theory and practices;
• Modern electrical apparatus, communications, instrumentation;
• Direct and alternating current circuits;
• Methods, materials, tools and equipment used in electrical and electronic construction work;
• National Electronic Code and Electrical Safety Orders of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Ability To:

• Do electrical and electronic design work;
• Make neat and accurate drawings and technical sketches;
• Make electrical calculations;
• Inspect electrical installations;
• Specify necessary equipment and materials;
• Accurately interpret drawings, circuit diagrams, and specifications;
• Maintain cooperative relations with employees whose work is being inspected;
• Analyze situations accurately and take effective action;
• Make effective oral and written reports.

Application Deadline: February 13, 2009
All applicants must submit an Application (STD 678) no later than the final filing date.Applications personally delivered or received via interoffice mail after 5:00 p.m. on the final filing date will not be accepted for any reason. Applications and/or resumes submitted via facsimile (FAX) machines or electronically mailed (e-mail) will not be accepted.

Filing Instructions:
File by mail or in person with:
California Energy Commission
Selection, Training & EEO Office (EL ENG)
1516 Ninth Street, MS #52
Sacramento, CA 95814

Applications may be obtained at the State Personnel Board, any Employment Development Department in California, or the California Energy Commission. If you wish to download the application go to www.spb.ca.gov/Employment/documents/capp.pdf.

Accepted applicants are required to bring either a photo identification card or two forms of signed identification to each phase of the examination.

Do not send applications to State Personal Board

Fore more information please visit: www.energy.ca.gov OR Contact at: (916) 653-6532

ONLY INDIVIDUALS LAWFULLY AUTHORIZED TO WORK IN THE UNITED STATES WILL BE HIRED

Hi Cici,

I wanted to let you know we have nine IT open exams going on at the moment that FTB will be hiring from!! I have another one opening up next week and SPB has plans for more. We also released the Staff Programmer Analyst and Senior PA promotional exams last week. If you have students that meet the minimum qualifications (grad students or ones with more than 2 years experience). Each exam has different qualifications. Students and alumni of your programs may qualify for more than one exam.

On another note, the State Personnel Board has opened the statewide exams for the Systems Software Specialist II and III ( Technical and Supervisory) classifications. These four exams were formally Dept of Technology Services (DTS) exams. Any candidates that were on the DTS’s list are still on the list. The names of candidates already on the list will be merged by score and rank.

Once they have a reachable rank (1,2, or 3) they can then apply for the job opportunity notices in that classification by going to the State Personnel’s web site (spb.ca.gov) to view vacancies. Candidates on any list can find open positions and apply directly to the hiring manager. This is important. Candidates do not have to wait to be called! They can find the perfect job and apply!!!

Please tell your EEE majors that our Telecommunications Department is hiring from these exams for more technical positions. The jobs can be found on the web site below. They will be hired as telecommunications engineers. We have our own phone system. We hire hardware as well as software people!

I know in this down economy you are probably being contacted by many experienced CSUS alumni. Please point them to these exams. They are a great way to get into state service and at a very competitive salary and with great benefits and reasonable job security.

Visit www.ftb.ca.gov and just click on Careers!

For more information on the hiring process and other open IT exams, please go to: www.spb.ca.gov

Thank you! Keep those great CSUS candidates coming our way!

Sally Bennett
Franchise Tax Board
IT Recruitment Program Coordinator
WWW.FTB.CA.GOV

PMC-SierraTM is a leading provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductors for enterprise, access, metro, storage, wireless infrastructure, laser printers and customer premises equipment. The company offers worldwide technical and sales support, including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the PMCS symbol and is included in the S&P 500 Index. For more information, visit www.pmc-sierra.com`.

Job Duties:
As a member in this group you will be responsible for design and/or verification of digital integrated circuits or FPGA’s at the block level or top level of a VLSI device. Responsibilities could include contributing to device feature set definition, designing and / or verifying device features, performing development activities such as Formal Verification, Design for Testability and Static Timing Analysis.

Location: Roseville, CA

How To Apply:
Please submit your resume and cover letter online at www.pmc-sierra.com/careers. (Req 291851)

Minimum Requirements:

Education Required:

• Masters preferred
• Overall grade point average of 3.0 or higher with an average of 3.5 or higher in major

Experiance Required:
• Experience with or knowledge of one or more areas of the ASIC/FPGA development flow:
• RTL Synthesis, Formal Verification and Gate Simulation
• RTL verification using coverage driven verification techniques
• Static Timing and Timing Closure, including signal integrity
• FPGA place and route for FPGAs from Altera, Lattice and/or Xilinx
• Logic Design with Verilog or VHDL RTL
• Able to write clean, readable, and maintainable code

Beneficial Experience:
• Experience or academic knowledge of the design and verification of interfaces and controllers for high speed serial protocols such as Fibre Channel and PCI-Express
• Experience or academic knowledge of 10G Ethernet and traffic management algorithms
• Understanding of ASIC designs; with design at or below 130 nm technology node
• Knowledge of x86 system architecture
• Familiarity with the use of In-Circuit Emulators, Logic Analyzers and Oscilloscopes

Other Requirements:
• Must have strong oral and written English skills; including conversational English
• Self-motivated, pro active team player

March 18, 2009 (multiple interviews times are available)
Start time 9:00am
End time 4:00pm

Majors Sought: EEE

Length of each interview: 30 min.

For position details: http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career/iss/students/

Contact:

• Go to www.aja.com. Click on Company/Careers.
• Send resume to jobs@aja.com.In e-mail subject line: write CSUS Hardware Engineer.
  No Phone Calls.

AJA will review resumes and e-mail you an appointment time if they are interested in you for interview to be held in RVR 2006.

Candidates will get a phone call or email if AJA Video Systems is interested in interview them!

US Residents or Permanent Residents only.

The South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies manages the US DOE sponsored University Turbine Systems Research (UTSR) Program. The UTSR Program includes Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowships (GTIF) which place higher level students (preferably graduating seniors and advanced degree candidates) at major US energy organizations which are members of the UTSR Industrial Review Board (IRB) (see following list). Under the guidance of industry experts, selected students will complete 10-12 week 2009 summer projects in a variety of technology areas.

The GTIF program has been so highly regarded by both the IRB organizations and participating students that about 80% of the past student participants have been employed in related permanent positions after completing their education.

I am contacting you to request the widest possible dissemination of the attached GTIF descriptive flyer and student application form to candidate students. Interested students may also apply at www.clemson.edu/scies/utsr/UTSRStudentFellows.htm and obtain further information concerning the GTIF program, including stipends, reimbursement for travel expenses, etc.

The deadline for submission of applications to the 2009 UTSR Gas Turbine Industrial Fellowship Program is February 27, 2009.

For more information please contact:
Richard A. Wenglarz, Ph.D.
UTSR Manager of Research
South Carolina Institute for Energy Studies
Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29634
rwnglrz@clemson.edu

Job Duties:

Website:
• Oversees daily content management of Capital Public Radio website.
• Performs content updates as needed including custom and static pages.
• In conjunction with IT staff, administers content management system (CMS) including managing staff user access and permissions.
• Manages and upgrades code base for public website, CMS, and other web applications.
• Administers web application databases.
• Performs periodic back-ups of code base, website content, and data.
• Serves as primary contact with 3rd party web and database server hosts.
• Monitors website usage and creates periodic reports.
• Monitors remote web server and database server uptime and takes appropriate action when services are down.
• Manages Capital Public Radio domains, capradio.org email accounts and aliases.
• Promotes public web services.
• Develops new web services and applications for external and internal customers.

Online Media Delivery:
• Oversees live and on-demand online delivery of media.
• Manages on-demand audio file upload, storage, and archiving.
• Monitors usage of live and on-demand media and creates periodic reports.
• Monitors remote live and on-demand streaming server uptime and takes appropriate action when services are down.
• Promotes online media delivery.
• Develops new, value-added, media delivery for listeners and members.

Other Responsibilities:

• Works cooperatively with IT department at all times.
• Assists Membership department with online fundraising and online fund drive progress tracking at all times.
• Participates in station fundraising and promotional activities.
• Manages organization Intranet including staff access.
• Provides input into the multi-media/web division budget, revenue, and expenses.
• Participates in relevant department staff meetings.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• A minimum of 2 years secondary education in new media, computer science or related field or 3 years experience in web development
• Database driven/dynamic websites
• Intermediate ASP.NET coding
• Basic MS SQL Server database management
• Basic Windows 2000 Server Administration
• Basic IIS 6.0 web server management
• Advanced HTML, XHTML, and CSS coding
• Web accessibility, cross-browser compatibility, and standardized coding
• Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver
• Excellent written and oral communication skills

Preferred Experience:

• Web Application Development
• Graphic Design
• Search Engine Optimization Techniques
• Experience with online social networks
• Basic XML, XSL, and JavaScript
• RSS, Podcasting, live and on-demand streaming audio
• MS Access and VB Script
• E-commerce or online fundraising

How To Apply:Apply online via website: www.fccccareerpathway.org.

Saturday - April 18, 2009

The College of Engineering and Computer Science Needs Your Data

Please report any offers that you have received to ECS Career Services Web site:

http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career - click on the "Just Hired" link.

If you got a student position we need your data.  

If you have graduated in the past few years or if you are graduating this semester we need your data.  

The information you share is used for ABET reports and to help me identify trends in employment and salaries.

I keep your info confidential.  I only report the data!  I use your contact data to confirm and to keep in touch with you.

Employers are hiring from the resumes posted at http://www.ecs.csus.edu/career. If you have not already posted your resume on the ECS Career Services Office Web Site, now is the time!!! Just click on the Post Your Resume button!

Managers from local companies, including HP and Intel report contacting candidates through the system. If you are not on the system they cannot find you.

Students are reporting multiple offers from using a combination of the resume posting service, the JETX job listings, and from Job Fairs.

Employers are able to search your resume now with key words!

I also send resumes out to companies so send me a soft copy in MS Word at: cici@csus.edu