When one is asked a question, the first reaction is to jump immediately and authoritatively to “The Answer is X.”

However, a preferable response is to first consider whether it is the right question; that is to say, if you might serve the client better by rephrasing the question for them, and then answering that.

A question that often comes up from engineering students in Spring is, in various forms, something like “do you know of firms that have opportunities that I can apply to?”

It’s not a bad question, and fair enough, finding out what people know about firms in the industry is useful data collection. However, instead of providing a simple answer, it seems first one might want to ask the question “What are considerations in finding the right firm for me?”, so that one reviews the process for lining up one’s career following a useful trajectory.

Hopefully you are more to the right side of this (Wikimedia)

When one is looking for those initial positions, and perhaps looking a few steps beyond that, what are some considerations if one wants to work in, say, the renewable energy field?

Let’s discuss several basic characteristics of firms and after itemizing those, we can consider how they can serve you differently throughout your career:

1. Firm Size
2. Firm Role
3. Job Intensity
4. Vision Match

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MSc students at the Iceland School of Energy where I’ve taught often ask for suggestions about appropriate thesis topics. Sometimes we find challenges in research or industry that we stockpile and could in theory parcel out for purposes such as these. Yet instead of individual suggestions, let’s discuss an overall process to gather, winnow and select topics in a way best suited for the candidate.

This will make more sense later – thanks JLB

There are four general principles one can consider when choosing a topic that requires investment of months or years of effort, and will have a bearing on life later. These principles are:

1. Motivation
2. Specificity
3. Fit
4. Flexibility

Let’s discuss.