Grads: Bonus nice perk, didn’t seal the deal

Money was not the ultimate bottom line in the job choices of some recent UW–Madison engineering graduates.

Dean Zavadsky, a May 1998 graduate of UW–Madison’s electrical and computer engineering department, took a job in June with Hewlett-Packard Corporation in Santa Rosa, Calif., the best of five offers he received. The deal came with a $2,000 signing bonus, which he used to buy new living room furniture, allowing him to leave his tattered college-era couch behind.

All five offers were made before December 1997, he says, “which took a little bit of the pressure off the job search.” The $48,000 starting salary and bonus were more than he expected when starting his search, but other factors were equally important.

Those included the type of engineering work, the company’s location and the amount of work time expected in a given week. He says Hewlett-Packard ranked highest on all factors.

“I really checked into the corporate culture of these companies,” he says. “Was there a corporate philosophy of working 55 hours a week, or could I go home after 45 hours a week and not worry about what would be waiting on my desk?

“I don’t want to burn out,” Zavadsky adds. “I worked long and hard in college, and I wanted to enjoy more free time than I was used to.”

Chris Quanbeck, also a May graduate of electrical and computer engineering, has worked for the past two months with the Motorola Corporation in Harvard, Ill. Quanbeck also had the luxury of multiple offers, and chose Motorola over the three other jobs because it was the most exciting type of work. Since the other offers were in California and Arizona, this job kept him closer to home, which he considered a priority.

Quanbeck says he socked away his $3,000 signing bonus in an investment fund, but had passed up a larger one with a California firm. The Motorola job seemed the most comfortable fit. “If you like what you’re doing, you’re going to become much more motivated,” he says. “It’s more of an investment in your career.”

Sandra Arnn, director of Engineering Career Services, says her office emphasizes those very points when grooming students for the job market. The availability of training programs, the company location, and the quality of life will matter more than tempting salary offers.

“We definitely encourage our students to look at the big picture,” she says. “In two or three years, will they still be in good shape?”