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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Engineering
They are talking about this topic: Occupation-Specific Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers in the automated packaging industry would like candidates who have experience with PLC (programmable logic control) and automated packaging.
| "We're finding that a lot of young engineers right out of college have good basic engineering skills. But we're in the automated packaging equipment industry where some of those skills transfer over, and some don't. Some skills just have to be learned on the job. But, we're seeing some good people." | Northwest |
| "As far as the electrical engineers, we're finding more of those are probably not what we're needing initially for packaging, which is working with PLCs [programmable logic controls] and doing some programming. It seems like when you're getting electrical engineers some are familiar with the programming and some haven't gone into that area. So, it's a mixed bag." | Northwest |
| "To find a mechanical engineer who knows automated packaging equipment is almost impossible. Not completely, but almost." | Northwest |
| "I was talking about looking for experience, and when we talk about hiring someone out of college, they have been very well prepared in general. And then we can kind of mold them. But sometimes we need someone who can just hit the ground running. What we find is—we're in the packaging machinery industry—that we may hire an experienced engineer that has never been in this industry, and it's almost like starting over for them just to learn our industry. And then, of course, they require a significantly higher salary, but they don't bring us the value right away. When I'm looking for experience, I'm looking specifically in our industry, and that is what's so difficult." | Northwest |
| "So, the electrical applicants aren't as strong for what we're looking for—especially in the PLC programming. A lot of these machines have circle-type motors and they need to be programmed. They're just not getting that type of education, and I know it is probably more job-specific, so we have to do a lot of that training when we hire them." | Northwest |