Foothill IEEE Section Employment Network
| March 22, 2012 | Posted by Frank Gomez under EmpNet |
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02/09/12
To all Foothill IEEE Section members:
Subject: Employment Network
We in the Foothill IEEE Section EXCOM would like to determine how many of our current
members are in a career transition mode. By that we mean specifically, are you facing imminent
layoff from your current professional position? Have you recently received a lay‐off notice? Is
your contract for services finished or has your EE project been completed?
If you find yourself in this situation, then you would be interested to know that the Foothill IEEE
Section is in the process of forming a local IEEE Employment Network. We have received a grant
for the IEEE –USA to help our members form such an employment network that will facilitate
their moving on to new EE professional employment. We intend to use the resources of our
current Foothill Section members to help set up this network. In turn, we will ask you to become
an active and fully engaged member, and, most of all, to continue with your individual
professional development.
Let us be clear from the onset: going through a period without a formal job is part of every
worthwhile IEEE member’s lifetime experience. Everyone knows of projects being cancelled or
terminated for a variety of reasons; everyone knows of proposals being accepted for reasons
that are not reflective of the engineering talents that were planned and prepared to execute the
task. We in the Foothill IEEE Section do not accept any stigma for any of our members in being
out of work, no matter at what point in your career that you are. After all, as has been noted in
such publications as USA Today, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, in today’s America, many
CEO positions last a shorter time than fruitcake in a refrigerator, or an NFL head coaching job.
(And, may we note for those who track the Super Bowl results, NY Giant coach Tom Coughlin
built a championship team in Jacksonville for many years; he was still fired one morning. Luckily
for the NY Giants and Coach Coughlin, they together found the right opportunity. We know
what happened.)
What we do consider important is inquiring just how you plan to move on to your next EE
position. We in the Foothill IEEE Section emphasize professional development as a continuing
lifestyle activity and commitment. We continue to sponsor professional activities in the
technical areas of the five IEEE Society chapters that we have in Foothill Section (Computer
Society, Communications Society, Power & Energy, Microwave and Antennas MTT/APS, and
Circuits and Systems, including ED and Control Society). In addition, we are in continual contact
with the other IEEE sections in the Southern California area for their technical seminars and
contacts. Further, we have contacts with the IEEE Society chapters in Northern California and
the Santa Clara Valley Section area. Therefore, joining our Foothill Employment Network would
mean that you will be strongly encouraged to work on your professional skills, add updates and
further refinements, and join in our policy of continuing professional development.
We are planning to have several of our current members contact potential employers in the
Southern California area to help determine what actual job opening are now available or are
anticipated to be available. We are planning to review interviewing techniques, the hows and
whys of building your own professional network, and effective resume writing. We are planning
to do all this activity during a series of dinner meetings, at about monthly frequency, with all the
members of our Foothill Employment Network.
Most important is the need for you to fully contribute and become an essential member of our
network. Your participation should be part of your own directed plan for your professional
growth. No Employment Network can guarantee that a professional EE job which will fit your
exact needs will appear in a very short time. However, your active participation can help
increase the probability of such an outcome occurring.
If you are in this Career Transition category, and would be interested in joining the Foothill IEEE
Section Employment Network, please contact our Foothill Employment Network Chair Cash
Sutton III, or Foothill Employment Network Associate‐Chair Bill Grist, at the email contacts listed
below.
Thank you,
All the Foothill IEEE Section EXCOM officers
Cash Sutton III, PACE and Employment Network Chair
csutton@teamglobalnet.com
Bill Grist, Foothill Computer Society Chapter Associate Chair and Employment Network
Associate‐Chair
bill.grist@gmail.com
Frank G Freyne PhD
Chair Foothill IEEE Section
fgfreyne@ieee.org