From the Desk of Matthew Clegg

Dear student SME member,

Please know the professional network you build outside of your campus today is far more important than you know.

Steadfast industry connections take many years to form, and in today’s ultra-competitive job market within domestic manufacturing, you must find a way to stand out and be memorable among the growing sea of resumes. I sincerely encourage you to connect with your local senior SME chapter, attend as many industry tours as possible, and start trading business cards with anyone who will shake your hand (yes, you totally can make your own business cards as a student!). These consistent efforts will open doors that allow you to breeze past the long line of job applicants, especially when the engineering manager knows you by name.

What if your local chapter doesn’t have the type or frequency of tours that interest you? What if they don’t have any events at all? Remember, we are engineers! We have the power and the community to design and build what may not yet exist, and in 2014 this is exactly how I became so deeply involved with my local professional SME chapter in Seattle, Washington. Let’s rewind for a moment… I had originally trained to become a classical musician my entire academic career until the Great Recession of 2008, which landed squarely in the middle of my music degree at Central Washington University. In the ultimate expression of “retooling,” I completed my music degree and returned the same fall to study industrial engineering. Three years later, I graduated once again, and moved across the mountains to Western Washington to begin my first job as a management trainee in the heavy construction and forestry equipment industry. Sure, I had built a vibrant network of musicians across the country, but now I was about to enter the manufacturing world as a greenhorn, with no industry connections or experience.

A few months in, I quickly realized this wasn’t going to be my “dream job.” It was time to grow my industry network and think longer-term, so I started regularly attending our Seattle chapter meetings. I quickly learned several key board members had retired nearly at the same time, and our chapter needed new consistent leadership to survive. I stepped up as chair-elect, and the rest was history. Over the next several years, I became a two-term chapter chair and poured myself into building new technology infrastructure, volunteer teams, and local collaborations with other organizations like the American Welding Society and Washington Society of Professional Engineers, which culminated in quality tours and events for our student and senior members alike. Today, I proudly look back on our chapter’s evolution as an SME Member Council representative. I’m continually inspired to see what our chapter has built for our local manufacturing community, as we celebrate our 5th year as a Platinum Chapter.

Let’s now look ahead to next spring, when many of you will graduate and begin the first day of your career in industry. As you prepare for this pivotal moment in life, I ask that you remember this:

Regardless of whether you land your dream job on day 1 or year 10… your dream community - your local SME chapter - is here for you today. With your passion, commitment, and leadership, your local chapter can be an insulated source of lifelong inspiration, connection, and positivity.

I wish you the absolute best in all your endeavors as a manufacturing engineer and thank you for being a vital part of our global SME community.

Cheers,
Matthew Clegg
SME Member Council 2023