Boeing

The work can be pretty fast-paced, and the subject matter is exciting to anyone with an interest in aerospace. Good cross-functional teamwork, where "wrench turners" and engineering types are able to work side-by-side to solve issues or improve processes. Pay is reasonable for the area, and the benefits and 401K are industry-leading.

Being a new employee in engineering can seem aimless. There isn't much of an onboarding process involved other than meeting your manager, being shown your desk, and getting the stack of boxes containing your computer and accessories.

While there is a high-level orientation all employees go through, there's not much to speak of when you get to your work location. The experience feels disorienting to someone who isn't quite sure what is expected of him, and you get the sense that many questions you have to bug your co-workers with could have easily been answered had there been some form of organization with getting you up to speed.

Previous employers have had this in place, and the transition from being green and aimless to having a clear picture of responsibilities and role was smooth and relatively painless. At Boeing, it's more of a dive into the deep end of the pool when:

• You don't really know how to swim.
• You're not sure how deep the water is.

I'm devoting the entirety of the Con section of this review to this one topic, because I feel it's absolutely crucial to get it right, and that Boeing has to do a better job with it. I've been in my current position for over 10 months, and in many cases, I still feel clueless about some things. It's not that I haven't asked the right questions, it's that there are questions I had no idea I was supposed to ask.

On top of this is the added stress of the Performance Review process, where you're given vague items that you have to address, without even knowing how exactly the PR process works (another item that could easily have been covered within the first week on the job).

For first-line managers in particular, don't abandon your new employees to their workstations with wishes of "Good luck!" and "Godspeed!"

Understand that the culture and systems that you are used to day in and day out can be completely foreign to the new employee. Don't take for granted that there are some things that have to be spelled out early on to avoid conflict days, weeks, and months later.

To neglect this very important aspect is to risk losing a potential high performer to another company due to a lack of direction.