Engineering Jobs in the Off Road Industry

[hydroslyder]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Chris and I'm a Mechanical Engineer with about 2.5 years of experience and I'm interested in jobs within the Off Road industry. I am coming to this community hoping to gain any potential direction or contacts within the industry. I've been doing some searching and it seems like most companies which cater to jeep upgrades or off road racing are small enough that job listings are difficult to come by or non existent. Being that most companies seem to be in Southern California, living in South Mississippi doesn't exactly allow me to swing by and ask. I'd be extremely appreciative of any information y'all can provide! Feel free to PM.

And because no thread is good until it has a picture, here's a previous project I worked on:

 

[MTG]

I'd make a killer resume that included a portfolio of stuff I've done and ship it to as many places as you can think of...starting with the ones you'd like to work at of course. Good luck! :thumb:

 

[hydroslyder]

Thanks MTG, I'm working on going through and revamping my resume at the moment, have a really great example from a friend. A portfolio of work examples is pretty difficult for me to do because of project sensitivity and/or intellectual property rules. The picture I posted is one of the only projects I've worked on that has images posted online.

I'm hoping for some help not necessarily with an inside line at a company (although that never hurts) but more just some companies to check out that I may not have thought of. Also, with some of the smaller engineering companies in the industry finding contact information that isn't a sales/info desk can be difficult. For instance, I'd love to work at a place like Off Road Evolution, but on their website there is only an info@offroadevolution email address. This may work fine as a place to send a resume but there may be a better email address that I haven't found. I haven't actually sent an email yet, just using this as an example. Just hoping to avoid an email with a resume getting overlooked within a general email inbox.

 

[10frank9]

Just hoping to avoid an email with a resume getting overlooked within a general email inbox.

Try calling Offroad Evolution. They are actually an Offroad shop. Next door is EVO Mfg. THAT'S where you want to be. Not exactly sure they are looking for another engineer, but can't hurt to call and ask. If they ARE looking for one I'm sure they would give you the right email address to send your resume to.

Nowadays I think people get caught up in online resumes and applications and such. There's something to be said about meeting face to face or making a call about something like this. It can actually set you apart from the next guy.

 

[JAGS]

Nowadays I think people get caught up in online resumes and applications and such. There's something to be said about meeting face to face or making a call about something like this. It can actually set you apart from the next guy.

Great point here 10frank. Also look at the professional site LinkedIn. Set up and/or update your profile and search for colleges and others where you want to be. That will possibly create some new resources for you.

Something else you can try is call "say EVO MFG" for example and don't ask for a job off the bat, ask for possible resources and other contacts in the industry. EVO may not have a job, but they prob know 10-20 resources for you. So what's important, one no, or access to 10-20 opportunities.

Network. Network. Network. Best of luck.

 

[MTG]

Nowadays I think people get caught up in online resumes and applications and such. There's something to be said about meeting face to face or making a call about something like this. It can actually set you apart from the next guy.

I would agree. The informational interview is often overlooked.

Thinking about this a bit more I might approach it a little differently then the traditional job search. Keep working whatever job it is you are working, figure out where the holes are in the industry (if you don't know the start attending as many events/tradeshows as you can and figure it out), develop a product, sell it on your own. Maybe you'll make enough to support yourself or get bought out by a big company.

Perhaps Black Diamond Fabrication is a good example? Not less than a year ago he was selling his stuff via facebook and email. Now he is part of rigid industries.

 

[OverlanderJK]

I agree with the others.

Also I would keep working your job your at now and plan to take some vacation and come out to SoCal (if that's where you want to be) and talk to people, set up interviews, go to job fairs and the like. Get as much info as you can.

 

[hydroslyder]

Now these are the kind of suggestions I was hoping to get! Thanks everyone for some great information. It's true, I am so used to the "online job hunt" that I tend to forget about just picking up the phone and making a few calls. Hopefully I will be making a trip out to So Cal this fall and will do my best to incorporate some networking during my time there! So Cal and California in general seems to be the heart of this industry and definitely a place I'd like to be. Thanks again everyone for the great advice, keep it coming if you think of anything else!