The past two years have resulted in an increase in the number of African-American graduates and is due in part to the record number of African-American freshmen who enrolled in engineering programs during the 1990s.  The number of bachelor's degrees awarded to African Americans in engineering has steadily increased since 1994 that's the good news!  The bad news is that African-American enrollment has actually declined nearly 10 percent since the numbers peaked in 1993, according to NACME.  It is anticipated that the number of African-American engineering graduates is expected to decline dramatically by the year 2000.  Many deans of engineering schools, critically concerned about their declining enrollments, are wondering why more African-American students are not considering engineering as a career choice.  One possible answer is that only about six percent of African-American high school students graduate with the necessary academic prerequisites in mathematics and science courses.  Another factor is the lack of adequate financial resources for many African-American college students and their families, thus making an engineering degree difficult to attain.  Until more scholarships and academically talented students become available in the coming years, the class of 2000 might become nothing more than a distant memory. 

It has been apparent for a number of years that there is a severe deficiency in mathematics and science preparedness of many high school graduates in the United States, particularly in African-American communities.  This factor alone may have contributed significantly to the alarmingly high drop-out rates from the nation's engineering programs.  In spite of the many support and remedial classes and Minority Engineering Programs (MEP) in place at the college level, the drop-out rate for African-American engineering students remains high.  Other significant factors affecting retention of African-American students include racial and social isolation, particularly on predominantly white university campuses.  African-American students and other people of color are often not included in study groups or are forced to study alone.  As an African-American student, you may often find yourself working alone on team-related projects that require group interaction.  Test files and old exams that are readily available to majority students, who are members of engineering organizations and professional societies, many times never cross the path of an African-American student.  African-American students at predominantly white universities experience academic difficulties and high failure rates, much more so than their white student counterparts.  The traditional remediation approach fails to make a significant impact on performance or graduation rates.  African-American students must formulate study-groups with other students made up of both African-American and majority students who are serious about succeeding.  For you to successfully complete an engineering program, you are going to have to go out of your way to establish study partnerships with students who may not look like you.  In other words, African-American students are going to have to form relationships and friendships with students from various racial and ethnic groups.  It makes absolutely no sense for two African-American students, who just received their tests results and each got grades of 0.0, to think they should study together for the next exam. 

As an African-American student, you are going to have to become more pro-active in your thinking.  Just wanting to become an engineer is not enough.  It is imperative that you network with as many groups in your engineering sphere as possible.  That includes Tau Beta Pi, IEEE, SAE, SWE, etc.  Being an active member in these organizations has its rewards and benefits, both tangible and intangible.  Company representatives are frequently asked to make presentations to engineering organizations, and students who attend these presentations generally learn information about the respective companies, as well as about opportunities for summer internships and co-op assignments.  The key word here is networking.   If you are actively involved in engineering organizations and have had successful summer internship or co-op experience with an above average GPA, you are more likely to be offered full-time employment upon graduation.  Employers are more inclined to extend offers of employment to students with previous work experience than to students who have no experience or who have worked in non-technical jobs.  Employers are looking for experienced graduates and for students who have the right stuff.   The right stuff in this case is all about attitude and maturity.  African-American engineers with experience are in high demand.  And these engineers take off for better opportunities when they are presented.  This means leaving when obstacles are in their path, according to Gene Washington, staffing manager at the 3M Company in St. Paul, MN.  Corporate America is and has become more conservative, and they are looking for people who can fit into their ranks with minimal training and supervision beyond what is typical for an entry-level employee.  African-American students are expected to make the transition from the collegiate environment to the corporate environment with little or no problems, just as their white counterparts.  As an entry-level engineer, you will more than likely be under the supervision of a white male, generally in his late 30s to mid 40s, and employed with the company for at least 10 years or longer.  African-American engineers are under closer scrutiny from their managers and are more likely to be viewed with less competence than white engineers.  Only time and a proven successful track record on engineering projects will alleviate these types of apprehensions.  Some white managers have lower expectations of African-American students who graduated from HBCUs versus white students who graduate from Big Ten type engineering schools, says Milton Hill, Jr., director of employment at Detroit Edison, Detroit, MI.  You must approach your career with the same seriousness as you do with your classes, pledging fraternities and sororities, and other important issues in your life.  You will be judged and evaluated not only on your technical abilities, but also on other important and less obvious measures, including appearance, personal hygiene, communication skills verbal and written, your interpersonal skills, your initiative, integrity, reliability and attitude. 

Intense competition for recent college graduates describes the current recruitment market, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).  Corporate recruiters representing high-tech companies are aggressively searching for students graduating with technical degrees, particularly in the area of computer science, computer, chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineering. It has been reported nationally that engineering, pharmacy, and computer/information sciences are among the five best-paid major fields of study for men and women.  The demand for chemical engineers is robust, according to the National Employment Clearing House (NECH) held at the American Chemical Society (ACS) meeting in Dallas in March of this year.  Over 2,400 interviews were conducted, this represents an average of 2.6 per job candidate and the best record since the dismal job market of the early 1990s started to improve.  In addition, chemical and pharmaceutical firms collecting resumes and interviewing potential candidates at the National Organization of Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers' meeting are strong indicators of the need for more African-American chemical engineers.  If you are majoring in chemical engineering, and even if you are not, technical expertise may not be enough to land you a career in engineering.  Many recruiters are looking for prospective employees who can "fit into the company's culture."  Candidates have to have people skills as well as technical skills.  So competition in the chemical engineering job market is going to be tight.  The offers are first going to the best hires, says Anjalika I. Silva, a staff associate in ACS's Department of Career Services, who tracks recruiting at the NECH. Aerospace engineering is making a comeback.  The aerospace industry has recovered from its worst downturn in nearly 40 years, characterized by declining defense appropriations and a protracted airline recession that caused U.S. aerospace sales to decline sharply. The Aerospace Industry Association's annual employment survey reported that high- tech manufacturers planned to hire an additional 21,000 workers by the end of 1997, and this growth is expected to continue into the new millennium.  The majority of these positions will be for engineers. 

Another indicator of the booming job market for engineering graduates is starting salaries. Employers are having a difficult time filling positions for the first time in a long time.   Companies are paying record salaries to those students who have previous work experience and good grades.  For many companies, the challenge has been how to lure students to interviews and then get them to sign on the bottom line.  And many companies are offering their better prospects signing bonuses ranging between $5,000 and $10,000.  The average offer for computer engineering graduates was around $40,000.  Mechanical engineering majors experienced a 4.8 percent increase to an average $40,117.  Chemical engineering graduates are being offered average salaries of $44,735, with the majority of the offers coming from petroleum and allied products manufacturers.  Electrical engineers received a 4.2 percent increase since September of last year, with an average starting salary of $41,192, while civil engineering majors have not yet reached the $40,000 mark.  They reported a 6.7 percentage increase to an average of $35,251. And, industrial engineers are starting off with an average salary of $39,462 annually. 

African-American students' perception of which companies offer the best opportunities for graduates are often influenced by a number of factors.  Many of these factors are based on personal experience and some are based on opinions from other students.  Perhaps the biggest mistake you can make in evaluating where you want to work is based solely on the salary you will earn.  African-American students are bombarded with offers, and they know they have choices but they may be only looking at the monetary issues and not looking objectively at the other criteria a company may offer, says Milton Hill, Jr., employment director at Detroit Edison.   Many African-American students are somewhat unrealistic in their expectations of what companies can offer them.  Students need to be asking more questions about the companies they interview with.  Companies are looking for students who can impress them during and after the interview.   As a former MEP director and faculty advisor to the NSBE chapter at Wayne State University, here are some important tips I often share with students to consider when selecting a company for permanent employment: 
 

• What career opportunities are available for advancement within a reasonable time period?
• And, what is considered a reasonable time period?
• What are the criteria for advancement?
• Are African Americans actively being recruited and retained within the company?
• Are African Americans in upper-level management positions other than human resources and public relations?
• What types of training programs exist for new employees in the areas of effective report writing, TQM training, and presentation skills, etc.?
• Does the company offer a fast track program for employees with exceptional technical and non-technical abilities?
• What are the typical initial assignments (for the first two years) for entry-level employees?
• Do opportunities exist for international assignments?
• How are recently hired employees evaluated and how often?
• Does the company encourage continuous educational growth and development, particularly at the graduate school level?
• Are new employees assigned to a mentor during the first year?
• Is frequent traveling to different sites part of the job description?
• Have I talked candidly with the person who recruited me as to where I will be initially located?
• Does this location have a significant African-American population within a driving radius of at least 100-200 miles?
• Do I have the technical and interpersonal skills to adapt to the company's culture?
• Is this company engaged in any political, social, or religious activities that would interfere with me being productive and/or an effective employee due to any political, social, or religious beliefs I may possess?
• What will be my starting salary, and how are salary increases determined and how often?
• What does the benefit package contain and when will it become effective?