ENGINEER - MECHANICAL DESIGN: Employer

MECHANICAL ENGINEER: ROLE PLAYING SCRIPT FOR EMPLOYER
Ms Arlington, Fall 2008

It is Spring 2008. You are the manager of a new Smucker’s production plant, being built in Ann Arbor, Michigan as an experimental redesign to save money in today’s economic climate. Your plant will manufacture jam, jellies and new products that come from regionally grown produce. By creating a state of the art facility placed in a region where the ingredients are readily available, the company hopes to save on fuel and labor costs, and produce products as part of their new “From the Tree to Your Table!” promotional campaign.

You want to hire a Design Engineer who will help with the manufacturing process of new products as well as make improvements to the manufacture of our existing products. Cost efficiency and reliability will be key to this process. The person hired will work with other members of the engineering staff to ensure that production is completed in a timely manner, and quality is paramount. This person must have a strong technical background, excellent time management and organizational skills and the ability to work as a member of a high-performance team.

You must fill this position quickly and have interviewed many new graduates. Positions at Smucker’s are highly sought after. The competition is fierce among many applicants. You are well aware that some of the most successful engineers are MTU graduates and were pleased to meet Ms. Roberts at the MTU Job Fair last fall. She is graduating in May with a 3.5 GPA in Mechanical Engineering. You’ve been hiring for these positions for many years now and know the type person who would fit well into the culture at Smucker’s. Every once in awhile an applicant comes along who shows you something special. You know immediately that this person would be of great value to the organization for many, many years, and you sometimes soften on driving a hard financial bargain because of the person’s exceptional potential. You’re never quite sure what that “something special” is, but you know it when you see it, and you see it in Ms. Roberts.

You interviewed Ms. Roberts yesterday. You were impressed with her experience, her poise and her work ethic as revealed when she discussed her education, skills and passions. Ms. Roberts has exactly the qualities you seek in this position, and the experience which should make it easy for her to begin immediately with only “on the job training”. At the end of the interview yesterday you offered her the job as the Design Engineer in your new Ann Arbor facility, and asked her to return today to set her salary, benefits and start date.

As the consummate professional and department head, you offer competitive salaries. Www.wageproject.org tells you that the salary range for a Design Engineer I is $58,000 to $69,000 with a median salary of $64,000 for the Ann Arbor area. The benefits for this position add another $28,000 to the compensation package.

MECHANICAL ENGINEER: EMPLOYER (2)

Because Smucker’s is such a desirable employer and so many fresh-minted graduates want to work here, Smucker’s typically pays new hires at the low end of the salary range. This is even more important in today’s prolonged recession.

Last year, the starting salary for this position was $58,000. You don’t see any reason to start with an offer much higher than that since Ms Roberts is just graduating. In fact, three people you have hired for similar positions have already accepted offers at that salary. The benefits package you are offering for this position is $19,000.

Ms. Robert’s meeting is the last piece of your work for the day. You have to leave in 15 minutes to catch a plane back to Orville, Ohio headquarters.

When you and Ms. Roberts sit down to talk, your opening lines to her are:

“We’re so pleased that you want to work for Smucker’s. You’ll be a wonderful addition to our team.

We have just a couple details to settle, then you can sign our contract, and we’ll see you after graduation.

I am authorized to offer you a starting salary of $58,000. You will be entitled to the standard benefits package all new employees get of $19,000, and we’d like you to start here on June 1st.

If that’s okay with you, please read over this contract, sign it and you’ll be a Design Engineer with our new Smucker’s Ann Arbor plant.

See how she reacts. Listen to her. Write down what points might persuade you to raise this offer. Write down what language she might use would make you hold the line and not raise her starting salary and why. Write down what objections you would raise if she wants more money. Discuss thoughtfully with her, because you want her to accept your job offer.

In this discussion, see what is the lowest starting salary and benefits package that you can get her to accept and get her to accept a specific salary in the 15 minutes before you have to leave.

Remember, you made her a job offer because you were very impressed with her. Now it’s time to get her to work for Smucker’s. Good Luck!