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Here’s a little more information about my search for a Professional Engineer in South Carolina…

(FIRST NOTE: If you’re not a registered PE, or if you don’t want to live in South Carolina, that’s OK. Just send an e-mail to careers@dieck.us and attach your resume as a Word document. Tell me what it is you do want to do. We’ll see if we can make some progress for you.)

As far as this search is concerned, I am really, really looking for a Controls Engineer with a PE who intends to live in South Carolina.

If you’ve got that part in place, would you please step slowly and carefully to the phone, dial 954-915-0000, and talk to me immediately? The odds are pretty good that you’ll like what I have to tell you. 

STEP ONE – So, anyway, my client wants a Professional Engineer for his South Carolina location, and all the work they do is based around controls engineering. To send me your resume, be sure you have the number 1329 included in your subject line, and attach a Word document in an e-mail addressed to careers@dieck.us

STEP TWO – The big picture. Most of my recruiting is done for controls systems integrators. That’s the deal here, too. What you and I need to understand right away is this: To be my client sort of gets you the Ted Dieck Seal of Approval. I know that some integrators say strange things and then go do some even stranger things. Those aren’t the companies I work for. We can talk about that more later, if you want.

Here are some things that should matter to you a lot about this company and this opportunity: I know the people, I’ve been to their offices, I know their reputation, and I know how they’ve treated past candidates. This is a group with an excellent reputation, amazingly considerate of their clients and employees, and growing in ways that are really remarkable.

STEP THREE – This is where a little self-examination takes place. The reason the company is such a nice place to work: They only hire pleasant, supportive, responsible, qualified, reliable people that a paying customer would like to have around. Teams can count on each other, and customers can count on the teams.

SO, WHAT’S THE OPPORTUNITY? We’re going to focus on a little, tiny office, located in a very pretty part of the country. It’s associated with a main headquarters about a thousand miles away. That headquarters has been growing fast for quite some time. And they added another company. And another company. And they joined with a group of supportive companies. And somewhere in there, they merged with a monster international. And amazingly enough, everything keeps moving happily in the right direction.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE LITTLE TINY OFFICE? Well, the little tiny office is so small that all the employees, including the manager could carpool together and still have room for a cooler and snacks. I think it’s safe to say that that picture is about to change. Over the next year or so, there’s a good chance the LTO (little, tiny office) is going to have more employees. A bunch more. And it’s a pretty good bet that the office will move from one very pretty part of the country to another pretty part of the country a lot closer to a major airport. These guys support projects all over the country.

AND THE PE? WHAT’S THE COMPANY LOOKING FOR? I’m going to suggest, aside from the PE for SC that I’ve made such a big deal about, here’s what’s going to matter most: You’ll need a pretty good background in controls engineering. I do have a little elbow room with this, as long as you’re a registered Professional Engineer (or about to be.) In addition to being professionally competent, you’ll need all those character traits we talked about. (The ones that make people happy to have you around.) You’ll need some flexibility and a sense of humor. I mean, really, these guys are making this up as they go along. If you can help pave the road while you’re driving over it, you’ll be OK. If you’re so rigid about procedures that you can’t adjust to the way this group likes to work – and then change as they change – you’re not going to want to take this trip.

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF THE POSITION? You’ve got to look at this from the bigger perspective to make any sense. Basically, the LTO (little tiny office) is strapped on a rocket booster, and the owners just want this group to be OK. There’s already a manager there. This isn’t a matter of running the office. And there are some good, solid engineers there. The purpose of this position is to add solid credentials to the office and then help this whole side of the organization expand successfully. Are you understanding why it’s so important to be a competent, pleasant human being? This is one of those higher profile positions that could ultimately annoy a lot of good people, and we don’t want to do that.

Let’s just say that we want to find a person with solid credentials who can be a role model. And we’re looking for that role model to help a small team grow into a large team and still enjoy the experience.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? A really interesting potential for your career path. Let’s assume that right now you may be working for an integrator who’s a little strapped. Maybe everything has a lid on it, and your career has hit a plateau. Nobody got fired, but the odds of your personally getting promoted look pretty bleak. Well, here’s your antidote. I’m representing a company that is financially solid, well respected, and clearly has some serious growth on the horizon. You could take your existing Controls Engineering position and move it over to a little branch of a big company, help it grow, and then expand on with the company to manage an entire region.

That’s their game plan. Does it fit in with your style?

INDUSTRY GROUPS – You’ll probably start wondering about what industry groups this integrator serves. I can tell you that – maybe like you – they’ll tell me they do a little of everything. And I’m sure they could. Here’s what I mostly see from this group: Power and energy, some pharmaceutical, and some specialty chemical. They’re frequently around refineries; and sometimes they show up on oil platforms. If you have a background in these kinds of environments, then we’re doing even better.

Controls are a very big deal with this company. Programming is not important for this position. Knowing how these projects are designed is important.

If your resume is dripping with words like “controls,” “design,” and “construction;” then we’re probably headed in the right direction.

And there are the other three things that we also want to see:

– Professional Engineer

– South Carolina

and….

and…

“a pleasure to be around.”

Yep, that should do it.

HOW TO APPLY– If you or someone you know might be interested in this position, please contact me immediately.

My phone number is 954-915-0000.

My e-mail address is careers@dieck.us

We’re working hard to get this position filled right away. I’d be very pleased to talk with you and consider any questions.

Thanks very much.