Students: Its never too early to start thinking about your post-graduation plans.

And while that task may seem daunting, Engineering at Illinois students don't have to go it alone. The Engineering Career Services (ECS) office is available for all students’ needs relating to career or internship searches or various post-graduation plans.

According to ECS Assistant Director Brian Neighbors, all engineering students, regardless of age, should take advantage of the services offered at ECS. He recommends that undergraduates get involved in their job search as early as freshman year, through career fairs and other activities to gain experience networking and interacting in a professional environment.

“The communication that goes on there is different than the type of communication we’re used to,” Neighbors said. “Talking to employers, learning the professional etiquette, learning what to say, learning what their resume needs to look like.”

The latest career fair hosted by ECS, a two-day event in mid-September, brought around 200 companies to campus and saw over 5,000 students attend.

“If they take one intern or get one graduate, all of a sudden they see the quality of that student and they come back,” Neighbors said.

Located in the Digital Computer Laboratory building, ECS features a 39-room interview suite which Neighbors said is mostly full for on-campus interviews from September through the end of November.

ECS has two primary functions: the first is to service current students, aiding them in the jump from student to intern to fulltime professional candidate by offering services such as resume critiques or mock interviews.

The second focus of ECS is outreach to the other side of the spectrum with the employers. ECS works to build relationships with employers by inviting them to campus and advancing the U. of I. brand among the professional world.

Neighbors sends various employers and companies information and statistics about Engineering at Illinois students and grads, material he says speaks for itself.

“If they come here, they’re going to get the best and the brightest,” he said.

Illinois’ 2011-12 undergraduate class self reported an average starting salary of $66,848, up from $64,836 in 2010-11 and $63,148 in 2009-10. According to the self-reported data, Illinois graduates earned a higher starting salary than nation-wide figures recorded by the National Association of College and Employers, particularly in majors such as Computer Science or Engineering.

Despite difficult financial times, the demand is still high for engineers, particularly those from Illinois, which ranks fifth among engineering schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“There are just less engineers who earn degrees each year than where the job market is at,” Neighbors said. “It’s definitely a good time to be an engineer.”

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Contact: Brian Neighbors, Engineering Career Services, 217/333-1960.

Writer: Chad Thornburg, Engineering Communications Office

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.