NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK
“CONNECTING THE WORLD TO ENGINEERING” TELECONFERENCE
FEBRUARY 24, 2004

Q&A Session

So let’s begin with the University of Calgary. Please go ahead with the first question.

Good Morning, this is (name deleted for privacy purposes) calling from the University of Calgary. I would like to thank you for the conference. We found the discussions to be very interesting and there were a lot of interesting points raised for the students. My question is “If you were a student graduating from a college or a university and you were going into a job interview, what is the most important question you should ask the recruiter?

Alan Boeckmann: This is Alan. I still conduct interviews for recruiting. I find it is very helpful. The things I look for in a student are two features that they can bring across in that interview. One is eagerness and a willingness to succeed and to provide the energy to put into their career that they have put into their education. The second one is intangible and I would classify it as flexibility and this means the ability to not be completely fixed on their own direction or on self-opinion, but have a willingness and curiosity to really take advantage of any opportunity presented. At Fluor in particular that is an extremely valuable asset because we may ask a new engineer to immediately go on an assignment to somewhere they have not considered before. We may ask them to go and get training in an additional parallel field to promote working in a team environment. So it’s dedication and eagerness combined with flexibility that has to come across in the interview to enhance the chances with Fluor.

Joe Lillie: Terry this Joe, I think you raised a good issue. It is a two-way interview. It is not only Fluor or some other company simply interviewing a prospective employee; it is that prospective employee interviewing their employer, so the questions in both directions are very fair. I would suggest asking what kind of leeway or creativity is offered in the job. Will you be given an opportunity to go down a path that you see could be beneficial to the company or will you be restricted by company guidelines as to what path. Do you have a follow-up question, xxxxxx?

Student: That is exactly the question I wanted to ask, what should the candidate be asking the employer, so thank you very much.

Joe Lillie: Let’s go to the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Student, Computer Engineer major, 2nd year: I would like to ask Mr. Boeckmann a question. In your opinion what would be best for developing nations such as South Africa: having a global corporation such as Fluor coming into the country and helping to develop the country’s infrastructure or having the country setting up their own companies using global workforce and using their experience to help benefit our country?

Alan Boeckmann: I think that’s an excellent question. Of course having worked in South Africa, I would think that an international company that comes in and provides the program management skills to do very large complex projects, combined with the local companies that know the local codes and criteria and possess an innate knowledge of the resources and/or technical challenges that will affect that particular application works best. To be successful you need both. I think the real forward-looking countries that are developing take advantage of both to continue to develop the capabilities in the country. Fluor has worked in a number of countries and we find that as we impart that technical knowledge we actually develop (inaudible). But that’s okay. I think that the stronger the industry is from any location and the more competition that is there, makes the entire industry better.

Joe Lillie: Is there a follow up question?

Student: No follow up question.

Joe Lillie: Now the University of Surrey.

Student, Chemical Engineering major, 3rd year: Our question is directed toward Mr. Boeckmann. There have been notable, recent efforts in certain large engineering driven organizations to improve the transparency of corporate policy especially with regard to areas such as sustainable development. As prospective employees of such organizations we welcome this. Would you share our view and if so, can you give examples of how this is happening within Fluor Corporation.

Alan Boeckmann: I would be happy to. The answer very directly is that yes I do share your view. Clearly a company today as a global citizen must be a proactive member of the sustainable development coalition. We work in a globe that has finite resources and we work in an economy that has dynamics that can be improved on by the actions of corporations. At Fluor we operate in a number of countries by virtue of the local governments and citizenry and we take that responsibility very seriously. When we enter any location, if it’s a first location, we come in with an eye to improve not just the local area, but the technical skills and the infrastructure, and as we create an industrial plan we like to leave behind, if that is the case, or stay and enjoy an improved situation. Our employees are encouraged through our Fluor Foundation to become involved in the community on a voluntary basis. The company supports those efforts. In addition, we work with our clients or hosts of the company in the areas of environmental protection and make sure that we take good care of the environment through the development of the industrial plan. Fluor had become a leader in the drive to combat corruption, which I think is an initial part of sustainable development. I absolutely agree with your premise that it is a major issue and it is one that Fluor does take very seriously.

Joe Lillie: Is there a follow up question

Student: Thank you for your response. No follow up question.

Joe Lillie: We will go to Texas A&M University.

Student, Chemical Engineering major, 3rd year: Our question is directed toward Mr. Boeckmann. I noticed you have a great amount of technical field experience and I am very interested in the business side. I noticed that younger engineers are moving up faster this way. Would you recommend having an MBA or getting more technical experience first as far as the time period going on now, what qualifications are necessary?

Alan Boeckmann: Well, I would hesitate to make a general recommendation. It depends on the individual and what their skills and inclinations are. There is one piece of advice I can give. I do believe if you are going towards an MBA, and again this is more individual, but if I can generalize I really see those who get the greatest leverage out of their MBA have some general industry knowledge first. Specifically in our industry I have found this to be really key. That technical or general practical knowledge and experience combined with the MBA gives a powerful combination to move on through the business or managerial ranks. I would highly encourage direct experience of at least two years prior to going back to the MBA.

Joe Lillie: Do we have a follow up question from Texas A&M?

Michelle Ford: Yes please.

Student, Chemical Engineering major, 2nd year: Do you recommend as far as technical work experience, more like co-op and internship focus and then get the MBA or actually getting experience as an employee of your company?

Alan Boeckmann: I think you can work either way. Again, it depends on the individual application. Certainly co-op is a very valuable opportunity to gain work experience and to integrate it along with your education. It depends on the amount of exposure you get with that and again that is an individual situation. Whether it is gained through the co-op or as a direct employee with field experience either way would suffice. I would make sure that you have a good grounding in it before you move off and into the MBA. As I say that, please understand that this is a general recommendation and does not apply to every individual. Everybody has his or her own combination of what leads to success. Please take my comments as general comments. If you are specifically moving into an MBA, this by no means implies that you will not be successful.

Joe Lillie: University of Calgary, are you ready for another question?

Student: Yes we are. Students graduating from a college or university are looking at their career path over the next decade. We talked about the various experiences you had. Would you recommend that it would be a good strategy for them to gain experience from a number of companies, for example, working for a company for two years and then moving on to another company and doing this three or four times or does that show down the road that a person is unreliable and will not stay with a company for the long term?

Alan Boeckmann: Again I have to qualify my answer. There is more mobility between companies today than there was twenty years ago. In my case, I worked for two companies since I graduated and I learned a lot in those two years. I learned that I wanted to come back to Fluor for one thing. I had some valuable experiences. I wouldn’t discourage someone from moving on. The real key is looking for the meaningful opportunity. Don’t move simply because you have become frustrated. I think you have to move with good reason and good logic behind your career progression. There is a benefit of being more stable. That doesn’t mean working for the same company for 30 years. I think you clearly have to have the ability to stay with a program and see it through to the objectives you set. Being able to achieve them is what I look for. If I look at the resume or during an interview and I get the sense someone is moving around too much, I come to conclusion that they haven’t stayed through the program to realize their objectives. If someone moves after achieving the main objective or programs that is a different matter. I just would be sensitive to that as you look for the opportunities that may unfold for you throughout your career.

Joe Lillie: This is Joe and let me add to that. If I look at a resume and that individual tends to change jobs quite often I would have to ask what prompted them to move from one company to another. There is nothing wrong with it, but if you are in that position, you should be willing to defend why you moved. I would hope it is for a reason to advance or better your career or yourself. Don’t move around just to have more lines on your resume. That is not going to help you for the long haul. Do we have any follow up from Calgary?

Student: No that answered the question very well. Thank you.

Joe Lillie: Okay, University of Pretoria.

Robert Delurray, Computer Engineering, Senior: Everybody in South Africa seems to be studying things related to the computer industry and our department here especially is probably the busiest department in the engineering faculty. We were wondering, what do you see over the next ten or twenty years and do you see the industry becoming overpopulated?

Alan Boeckmann: I will answer that question with a bit of interest. My sons who are studying engineering are both in computer engineering. We did dialogue this within the family as well. I think there is a chance that it could become overpopulated in certain areas. I think that if you look back over the last twenty or thirty years the staff phenomenon has occurred in different degrees. What you will find is there will be continued technological advances without a doubt on an even more accelerated basis within that field. This will invite other opportunities to branch out and move out into newly emerging fields in that arena. The dynamics tend to even out over time. I have encouraged both of my sons to take that degree and get into a meaningful application as soon as they can and then assess where they go from there. They can continue to get technical experience and get into up-to-date new arenas, and work up to moving into the business side of things. So I think there is that possibility but continue to be vigilant and watch the dynamics around you and test your own opportunities and look for things to differentiate yourself.

Joe Lillie: Alan Boeckmann has mentioned his kids and I would like to mention mine. I have a son and a daughter and they are both electrical engineers and I am proud of that. I will offer to you the same thing I have offered to them. That is, use your educational time to develop your skills and don’t box yourself in while you are a student into some category that you think will be available to you when you get out of school. Things change fast and you may not in the early stages of your career have as much control of that career as you would like to have. Be flexible in developing those skills. Utilize the time to develop good core engineering skills and some of those good communication skills and then you become marketable to the point where you can then find a job in whatever the hot topic happens to be at the time. Is there a follow up from Pretoria?

Student: No that answered the question very well.

Joe Lillie: Surrey, a question from you.

Student, Chemical Engineering, 3rd year: My question follows onto the previous question. A number of UK University students majoring in engineering feel the technological subject is in decline with a drop in the numbers of students; is this a worldwide trend and what do you believe is happening? Should organizations such as Fluor strive to reverse such a trend and if so how?

Alan Boeckmann: I am not sure I think it’s a global phenomenon, but it is occurring actually in a good part of the United States as well the UK. I am not sure I can put my finger on the reason except to say that we are very much involved in furthering the profession and we encourage students to not just enter the profession but to stay with it. That is another reason why I was so eager and honored to be co-chairman of National Engineers Week. We participated in a number of programs in the start in what I would call the elementary school age and introducing people to engineering and encouraging them to stay in the technical subjects in school. We have programs for students in high school, we have programs involving mentorship to help develop those interests. I think it is a commitment that our company makes and other companies do as well: to drive the knowledge and the awareness of how great this field is and what satisfaction you can get from entering it.

Joe Lillie: Do we have a follow up from Surrey?

Student: Yes, do you think that sponsorship programs and scholarship paid for by the industry are the way forward to a solution in this problem?

Alan Boeckmann: Again, I think it is a solution. Through the Fluor Foundation we work on a global basis to work with universities and basically put them in a category where we call them targeting universities, where we develop a long term relationship with that university and that relationship involves finding an executive sponsor to form a personal relationship with the administration and the professional associations at that school. We provide funding on an annual basis for capital programs and funding scholarships for students in the engineering field. It is a very proactive involvement. We have found that as we develop relationships with those universities we are able to have an influence on curriculum and we are also able to work on identifying the most motivated student and hopefully encourage them to come and work at Fluor.

Joe Lillie: Thank you Alan and thank Surrey. Now let’s go to another question from Texas A&M.

Student, Electrical engineering, Senior: Congratulations on your 2003 Excellence in Construction Award. I have not had much opportunity to design in my coursework so far. Are there opportunities in the industry to develop design skills or is this something generally reserved for those with higher degrees?

Alan Boeckmann: Let me speak to the engineering construction industry specifically. For students coming out of college and moving into the design arena of engineering construction, what we have found helpful because of the uniqueness of our capital industry, we actually take students and put them through some programs that are directly applicable to the capital programs that we employ. We do have a training program. We also encourage the development of other skills: presentation skills, communication skills, writing, and so forth. Most companies do that and I found that it manifests itself a little differently. Any company that is one you consider you should look for that opportunity based in the technical applications.

Joe Lillie: When you do start working, keep in mind that you are the manager of your career. You need to be working with the leadership in your current organization and finding opportunities to better utilize your skills. It is a two way street there again, the employee and the employer. Is there a follow up from A&M?

Student: No, thank you very much.

Joe Lillie: We will go around again. Calgary, are you ready?

Student: You were talking about the globalization of business and that is the reality of the work place today. What would you recommend to a parent of a young child, realizing that English is generally accepted as the international business language, if they wanted them to learn a second language?

Alan Boeckmann: I think you have a number of choices there. I think clearly, and not specifically since I think that any one of the following is an outstanding opportunity, I think that Spanish is clearly a significant opportunity and I would think that Chinese is one that is emerging as one that is very likely to be handy. But I think that any language after that, any of the romance languages, or any additional Asian languages would be ones that I recommend.

Joe Lillie: And let me add a little to that. If you are fluent in more than one language, make your employer aware of that. I know that at Bell South we had a program to continually inventory with employees who spoke what languages; when they were expanding to other countries they could look to those students that were fluent in various languages. Is there any follow up from Calgary?

Student: Thanks very much, no follow up questions.

Joe Lillie: Okay, Pretoria

Student, Computer Engineering, 2nd year: I have been reading a book about integrating computer systems with one another and more into the lives of humans and helping people work smarter and not harder. The WC Consortium is developing a matrix calling it Matrix 12 and calling it oxygen. We have always been told to work smarter and not harder in the workplace. Can you explain what smarter is in the engineering context?

Alan Boeckmann: That is an excellent question. Harder doesn’t hurt. Smarter really is where the success lies. One of the things about engineers, I find through my experience is that we’re subject to the temptation to over engineer or do things for technology’s sake. I think that clearly the best solution is always one aided and abetted by technology. But in some cases the easiest or the simplest to implement in fact may be the most economical. At Fluor we have a system that is a knowledge-based system. Part of working smarter with this knowledge-based system is just overcoming some of the bad habits we may have developed over the years. One of the bad habits is that we like to hoard information. In fact, in a knowledge based system the most valuable participant is not the one that accesses it to derive the information it is the person that puts the information into the system, puts in best practices and puts in knowledge. Today on this particular network, an engineer or designer working in any part of Fluor Global, if they have a problem or technical challenge, they simply get on that system and they can either search for the solution that may have been posted or they may put their own question on the network only to find that maybe an hour or two later, they may have several solutions from around the globe from their counterparts around Fluor World. The ability to use that system allows them to work smarter where in fact they may have had to work much harder in the past to conduct their own research to be able to come up a possible solution.

Joe Lillie: Do we have a follow up from Pretoria?

Student: No thanks, that’s it.

Joe Lillie: Okay, University of Surrey.

Student, Chemical Engineering, Senior: Recent media coverage has noted that organizations such as Fluor Corporation appear to be playing a prominent role in the reconstruction of Iraq and suggests that corporate influence or the current US administration is a major factor in this. Would you say that such coverage is accurate or helpful? Thank you.

Alan Boeckmann: I will be very candid. I do not believe it is helpful. We are in fact playing a role in the reconstruction of Iraq, and the job that we probably have the largest involvement in is the resurrection of the electrical distribution and generation system for the central part of Iraq including Baghdad. That was necessary to provide a significant amount of human services to improve the quality of life in that area and to improve the overall security in that area. Our company has gone to great lengths in the execution of that work and put a very secure network around those that work there. And to date, as I knock on wood, we have not had instances that would threaten our personnel. We have been successful in executing the tasks that have been put in front of us. It is not high profit work and for those that do not believe that, our books are able to be audited, we are a public corporation and you can see the margins we get for that work. So , it is not a high margin work. This work is done for several reasons. We have a long term interest in Iraq. We see the ongoing work as an opportunity to engage in that country. Once there is a developed government, a rule of law, a valid banking system, you will find that that country will attract investments and it will result in a very vibrant country that will be a great opportunity for its citizens, and we want to be a part of that. We look at it as a long term challenge and I think that some of the election year politics and the coverage that goes along with that turn it into something more mercenary and that is just not the case.

Joe Lillie: Thanks, Alan. Do we have any follow up from Surrey?

Student: Yes we do. Seeing the current situation, if in the next year’s election, a new president is elected into office, does Fluor’s situation change in Iraq?

Alan Boeckmann: That is hard to say. I would say that my guess is probably not. Again election year dialogue tends to highlight differences that may not become different once that application becomes a reality. Fluor works hard not to take political sides when it comes to elections and we have done well regardless of the parties in power. Our key to success is providing value and being able to provide solutions and to do it on a competitive basis. We typically don’t get labeled as a company that does make significant political contributions and align ourselves with one party or the other. I think that is just good business and it makes long term sense.

Joe Lillie: Okay, thanks again Alan. Let’s move to Texas A&M, do we have a question?

Student, Chemical Engineering, Senior: Yes. As a chemical engineer, there are a lot of fields we can enter, but the main fields include chemicals, oil, and gas. Do you feel that the opportunities for a chemical engineer will be limited more or less if we enter a non-traditional field such as food processing or semi-conductors?

Alan Boeckmann: Not at all. Interestingly enough, if I just take a snapshot of Fluor over the last five years. Keep in mind that Fluor is a company whose marketplace depends on other companies making investments. If other companies decide to invest and build capabilities for manufacturing that is our marketplace. We get a good view of the overall health of each of those industries at any given time. If you were to look over the last five years, the chemical industry itself has been in a trough of negative positions. The fields that have been strongest for us over that time have been the life sciences, the pharmaceuticals. We now see emerging very good markets in microelectronics. I think that any of those fields offer tremendous opportunities or challenges. Even though I did say that the chemical field is in a trough it is showing significant signs of recovery and a significant amount of new investments being planned by the major companies in chemicals. So I think there are a number of great opportunities in the industry; as you go out and consider your careers I think you should do what you think is best for you and what suits your talents and interests and be aware of the economic dynamics that are offered in those industries.

Joe Lillie: Do we have a follow up A&M?

Student: No, we don’t, thank you.

Closing remarks, end.