Thermal Spray Jobs Search

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In continuation with a couple of previous posts, lets say you have located the perfect few thermal spray organizations which interest you based upon your specific field of interest in thermal spraying be it thermal spray research or production coatings and the like, you now need to write a good resume to get you to the interview stage for the thermal spray position and after that, landing that perfect thermal spray coatings job. All of the efforts put forth thus far will not mean anything if these last two steps are carried out incorrectly. As discussed before, thermal spray coatings technology is a great field to build your career; hence you need to pay a little bit of attention to writing a good resume and doing well in the interview that will follow.

Firstly, be honest when you write your resume. Thermal spray employers are not idiots. They can see through fabricated stories and truth stretching statements about plasma coatings clearer than one thinks. Your education credits need to emphasized. Next, if you have had previous thermal spray and plasma coatings experience either during education or at various companies afterward, then state that experience without adding fake claims. I came across the resume of a thermal spray engineer that said that he had designed and built tooling for several jobs at his previous coatings employer “that saved the company two million dollars annually ” The question that came to my mind was, “so this person interacted heavily with the cost accountant of his company ( if they had one ) and verified that the savings were consistent year to year.” So everything after that statement, I simply ignored and discarded. He may have genuinely designed first class thermal spray tooling; but I would have re-worded it as “ designed and built ingenious thermal spray tooling that allowed jobs to be processed faster with less thermal spray powder wastage.” This sounds believable. So, please stay away from ridiculous claims unless you have data to back up and present during an interview in which case say so boldly; for example, “through the use of my tooling, my company saved 15% in thermal spray powder costs – this data provided by our cost accountant will be presented at an interview.” Vague claims of responsibility are transparent and should be avoided. For example, if you had been tasked with coating arc-wire sprayed samples for your professor as part of your duties that he later analyzed for various in-depth metallurgical characteristics, then do not lay claim to the whole research project that may have been carried out over several years and manifold amounts of money depending upon the scope of the project. You are better off simply stating “performed hands-on nickel chrome aluminum yttrium arc-wire coatings samples for organization’s research project.” Remember, believing you are an honest person is an important aspect. I don’t think there is any argument there. Additionally, list your favorite thermal spray articles, your favorite thermal spray authors and the like. Here you have to be careful who you list; for example, try to avoid staunch enemies in the field – this will get you nowhere I have seen people list their favorite sports and recreational activities – that is 1980's style resumes. In today’s competitive world, employers are not really interested to know that you prefer football over golf or vice-versa; they are more interested in what they are getting for the money they are putting out.

During the interview phase, continue with the same character of the resume, namely no overstating abilities or accomplishments – just the truth. However, showing off your true thermal spray knowledge is completely welcome. After all, you want the interviewer to know how knowledgeable you are in your field. What is the point underselling ? If you have truly developed new customers for your company, then bravely state so. Use technical terms rather than service shop slangs and manufacturer part numbers wherever possible. For example, say that “the bond coat should be nickel aluminum” as opposed to “the bond coat should be Metco 450NS”. The person on the other side of the table may not have Metco as his preferred supplier and this may cause problems. Employers like technical people to speak technical tongue and not slangs and jargon. Sometimes, it is preferable that you restate the same number in two different units; for example feed rate in pounds per hour and grams per minute. I strongly recommend carrying a pocket conversation calculator to the interview and pull it out and use it occasionally. It may not mean anything technically, however, that is a powerful sales tactic. Hope this post was helpful in framing thoughts on your thermal spray employment search.