A Graduate Mechanical design engineer was laid off during the probation period. They laid him off one month into a six months probation period.
This happens a lot more than most realise, and it usually is caused by a few reasons, but today, I will give one example of why this might happen.
You may have said during an interview you can Draft at an intermediate to advanced level:
To a graduate engineer, it means they can use all the commands competently and quickly.
To a seasoned draftsperson, this will mean something completely different; it will mean
1. You are quick and accurate.
2. Probably with 2000 plus hours or more as a minimum, so allow 1.5 years of working on getting this sort of experience accumulated.
3. They will expect you to have worked on a range of projects and have been able to complete General arrangements, sections and details views and can lay out a drawing proficiently to get the message across to the contractor/s.
So from my perspective some simple rules to follow:-
A. After six months, your quality improves, and so does speed and accuracy and your basic understanding of what needs to be on drawings, standard Notes, how to lay out drawings better with sections and details etc. This means you have been drafting for 1000 hours, and you are at a basic level
B. If you read this, you might think, well, why not train up the graduate for six months etc. Firstly, they might, but they are looking at 30 k plus to develop someone over six months, and with no guarantee they will stay
C. You have to determine whether it is worth it, can the budget handle the cost, plus you still have to deliver the project deliverable
D. If they see the potential they will persevere, but if they are not 100% sure, they will let you go.
So in this scenario, it is more of a miscommunication between what a Graduate understands as intermediate to advanced to a professional design draftsperson.
All the very best in the years ahead
Mark Healy, the Graduate Coach
