Civil engineering job market?

Question

Hi everyone:

I graduated from University of Ottawa recently, currently holding Bas civil eng./option in structural .

I am wondering how is the job market for civil so far, which region i can find jobs relate to civil eng. easily.

Answer 1

Most markets are pretty weak in residential and commercial construction, and that's only going to get worse in the near future as the American economy gets closer to recession (...hope you didn't have your heart set on designing skyscrapers right out of school). A few regions have very strong transportation markets right now (mostly in the western states), so if you have bridge-designing skills or want to work as a general civil engineer helping design roads, you can find work pretty easily out west. The energy market is booming all over the country right now, so if you can get in with an energy giant like Exxon or Chevron, or if you can get into a giant civil firm that has an arm in energy like Bechtel or URS, you'll be sitting pretty for a while.

If you have any training in geotechnical engineering, you could get a job just about anywhere. There seems to be enormous demand for Geotechs right now for some reason (probably low supply). There's a lot of levee work out west in California, and you can only imagine what's going to come out of the Midwest when all of this flooding is over.

I'm not familiar with job market north of the border, however.

Answer 2

Well of all engineering disciplines the civil engineer probably in one of the least volatile jobs out there. There is a bit of slump as far as building right at the moment so the number of opening is a bit more limited than usual... but once you find a position its not likely to be outsourced. You pretty much can have that job as long a you want it. So you are in great shape. Its going to require a bit more persistence and patience than usual right at the moment to find an opening is all.