that briefcase contains some papers that are going to make some young men mighty happy the man who carried it was personnel representative of one of the largest corporations in america he came here to the college to interview some young men who will graduate mention earing this june he'll take those records and his impressions of some of the men he has met back with him with other members of the personnel department he will reveal each case carefully when they finish they will offer some men and all expenses trip to the plant by air to look it over first hand before signing up that's backside front isn't it a job looking for a man these engineering jobs are important ones jobs worth doing jobs that will give a lot of satisfaction when they're well done these jobs are looking for young men with ability the demand is greater than the supply and it looks as if it will be for at least another ten years the danger in the situation is that many high school graduates their eyes filled with the glamour of the professional engineer and the size of his paycheck may plunge into professional engineering training without the proper background without without the genuine interest without the will to put in the necessary work but this is a real danger is shown by the fact that one college of ten boys who start an engineering course for drop out by the end of the first year it's pretty much the same story at other colleges well perhaps their time and their money is not all wasted but it could have been spent more wisely a second and more important danger in a shortage of engineers is that many young men who are qualified unsuited to the field will get away because they are not aware of their aptitudes and abilities or because they have an inaccurate idea of what an engineer does or simply because they never thought of it this is a real danger too because our best insurance against war is our national strength national strength the next mechanized era depends on industrial strength and that depends on having a supply of the train people who translate ideas into machinery structures and products and engineers so we'd like to have you think about engineering we hope to show you that engineering is a whale of a broad profession and has in it room for more rightly differing people than you may realize we hope to show you that there are scientific ways to discover whether you are have the abilities to succeed in engineering whether your interests lie in the fields of engineering and whether you have the necessary grip to make the grade if you find that you are qualified and interested it will be up to you to prepare yourself in high school to enter an engineering college with a running start let's begin with the scientific testing program we mentioned even if your school is in a position to provide every pupil testing  counseling it will still be worth your time and the modest current to make use of the testing facilities of some college or university your own state college university teaching is common and many private schools what it looks first of all general intelligence and with your high school records so you see these are both well above average in roughly equal that's good you mean is good because they're equal to pros your high school records it only come to about this point now that would mean that although your ability was good you hadn't used your ability to best advantage in high school if a guy's lazy in high school he's probably going to be lazy in college and that kind of guy will not get through engineering he'll either drop out of themselves or he'll be asked to drop that those two tests we can get through college ok writing you can do better than just get through bill let's take a look at your aptitude test those are the tests i was only about average your competition lassitude is well above average now and space relation wasn't that's the one that looked like a lot of blueprints yes that's right that was the test with the showed you a box taken apart in sections and you had to determine what the box would look like put together again base relations quite high mechanical aptitude very good just because a guy likes to monkey with the motor car doesn't mean he's an engineer maybe it means another mechanic the aptitudes an interest that you just mentioned are more typically associated with the success of mechanical trades and success with that in engineering frequently the guy who takes engineering because he likes to tinker around with automobiles would have been wiser to become an auto mechanic we think it would be better for him to succeed as a mechanic than to fail as an engineer well what does it take to be an engineer well bill we've found that the best engineers now that the two in math and in mechanics as well as sound interest in mechanics math and them science more and more engineering is becoming a scientific field rather than just strictly a mechanical field and the best engineers are a strong in the literary and verbal abilities well let's see the rest of the result ok bill will put the rest of them on the board the mechanical interest by computational interests i also scientific interests very high literary interest lol artistic interests surprisingly but it does mean i could be a good engineer doesn't it if you're really determined to be an engineer aren't you bill for the pattern looks pretty good you look pretty much like an engineer there's one thing bill that you're going to have to watch your ability in the communication is better than is your interest you're going to have to pay real close attention and work hard in those courses that teach you to speak directly and write clearly well why is that because you have to write reports as an engineer and when you write reports you have to make them clear because just as a newspaperman is writing something for someone to read and understand you as an engineer have to do that the easier you make good for them to understand the better impression you'll make as an engineer let's look into this a little more thoroughly of course not all good engineering profiles are exactly like bill's but with those profiles in the test back of them testing services are able to give you a lot of reliable help in picking the right book agent so take advantage of that help today interest in ambition aren't enough unless you're a glutton for punishment you should have a good high school preparation in order to take advantage of college engineering courses so when your high school counselor tells you you should be able to do good work you'll mansome take all you can get you should be able to do good work in chemistry and physics and take both are offered and you must be able to do good work in english too when he tells you that you believe them now what about this field of engineering itself what's it like what does it have to offer perhaps you believe that with your personality engineering is the last profession that could satisfy you but it's take a look at several boys as different as they can be and see what they found out about engineering careers their class it may not be just the same size as yours but our engineers come out of classrooms just like yours all over the country some girls take engineering but it's not a common thing so let's eliminate the girls then let's eliminate those with grade averages below see those with definite interest in other fields and those with that the tubes that fit them for some other work there you have it for candidates who have the stuff to make us look at them individually bob's a pretty quiet person he's known as a rain prefers physics to football why and how do things work this is the type of problem that stimulates bob's natural curiosity when someone mentions engineering to into such a situation benz imagination has given him an idea that is out of date and incorrect because engineering does have a kind of job that will suit bob you see what do you go in the mechanical electrical chemical civil or any other branch of engineering you will find that your job falls in one of these three broad classifications research and development management sales or production now research is probably made to order for bob and it's an expanding field these figures represent engineers employed in research and development in one thousand nine hundred seventeen thousand and government employment sixty two thousand in industry and eight thousand in universities and colleges in twelve years the government almost double the number industry doubled there's and the universities triple their numbers in these fiel research was made for bob he would like this phase of ceramic engineering for instance helping to build a racetrack not a model but the real thing a ceramic racetrack for electrons it is the heart of the synchrotron which is used for nuclear research but research and development is not limited to the purely theoretical feels research followed by development enters into building the everyday tools with which americans make their living how long if we charted our way by sex readings depending on clear skies to find out where we are the radio sexton is a product of research and development it tracks the sun all day rain or shine exactly how do you find out how to build a better plan all engineers don't guess about anything they can measure what happens to a plow when it promises it's up to the research and development men to find out and to apply is findings towards making a better one modern industry can't wait for inventions to happen research and development is geared to find new products and methods constantly and bob the brain trust can find a job that will challenge him one he will like in this phase of engineering there is nothing shy about done he self confident personable so he will he's got a lot of friends he's pretty good at public speaking when done things avenge an earring he imagines something like this a drafting room is the place where engineers plans are processed it's an important place some like it very much and others insist that it's a very good place to start out than those who think he like maybe not nevertheless engineering offers done other jobs that will challenge and use his social abilities and varied interests but see what don's place in engineering looks like