CEng & IEng Professional Registration Application Interview Tips
Professional registration sets individual engineers and technicians apart from those who are not registered. Gaining a professional title establishes a person’s proven knowledge, understanding and competence to a set standard and demonstrates their commitment to developing and enhancing competence.
Greater influence within own organisation and industry
Demonstration of work ethic valued by employers and customers
Improved career prospects and employability
International recognition of competence and commitment
Evidence of expertise and hard work
Enhanced status leading to higher self-esteem
Credibility with peers across the profession
Recognition as authorised countersignatory.
If you are here, it is likely that your are already a member of an appropriate professional institution that is able to offer either IEng or CEng accreditation through the Engineering Council.
If you are not yet a member of an institution, you can find out more here --https://www.engc.org.uk/professional-registration/how-to-register/
Why become professionally registered? -->https://www.engc.org.uk/professional-registration/why-become-professionally-registered/
Additional info -->https://www.engc.org.uk/glossary-faqs/frequently-asked-questions/professional-registration/i-am-interested-in-applying-for-professional-registration/
A Professional Review will include two components:
• A review of documentary evidence
• A Professional Review Interview (PRI)
Tips for Professional Registration Application
Some institutions offer interim registration (Engineer), so be sure to ask about this. You can apply for IEng or CEng Interim Registration to demonstrate that you are part way to full professional registration. If you are already professionally registered, you can use it as a stepping stone to help you move from one engineering registration to another.
Be realistic: consider the most suitable registration for you, not just because others have it. For example, IEng might be more suitable for you within your role or as an interim step. Only you will know once you have read the UK-SPEC.
Read the Engineering Council UK-SPEC (https://www.engc.org.uk/ukspec) to familiarise yourself with the requirements for your level of application (CEng or IEng).
Before you begin your application, prepare a detailed resume detailing your duties and responsibilities for all the positions you have held within your career.
Ensure you have a fully comprehensive CPD record in place, which can be demonstrated. Your institution is likely to define the minimum number of CPD hours per year, but you should naturally want to record your CPD anyway as a personal record for your future career path.
Within your extended resume ( CV ), indicate the areas in which you believe you meet the relevant competencies (A through to E) of the UK SPEC to assist you in describing your experience. This is a good exercise to help draw out your competencies.
Produce a Development Action Plan: This is your short, medium and long-term career development plan beyond becoming Professionally Registered. What are your goals and how will you achieve them? There is no set format for this, but it must be included alongside your main application form. A good format might be Short term (0 – 12 months), Medium Term (13 – 36 months), and Long Term (37 – 60 months).
When writing your application, it is best to start with the most present role first and then work in descending order.
Your application description/experience should flow well, be full sentences, and avoiding bullet points. Remember the application is yours so it must describe the actions you took. Its important that you provide a description of what you were responsible for, and what you actually did in each of your engineering roles. You’ll need more detail for your more recent roles. An example format might be: "When I was working as a ………… I was responsible for X, Y, and Z. On X occasion I was tasked with achieving X. I did this by doing X, Y and Z. I used X engineering principle, which states that…………. In order to work out X. I then used these results to achieve Y, by ………” This demonstrates your knowledge and understanding in a real-life situation. Notice the use of the word “I”, rather than “we”, “my team” or “my company”. The professional review panel wish to hear about your knowledge and understanding, in a real-life scenario.
Avoid: avoid the use of acronyms or abbreviations, unless you spell out exactly what they mean and include a brief acronym/abbreviation list.
Responsibility chart: a responsibility chart should depict the organisational structure of your current employer, or the project you are working on and indicate where you are. Ideally, it should show two levels above and below your role. However, if you work in a matrix organisation where you may have significant technical responsibility, the responsibility diagram could represent technical leadership instead of the traditional diagram.
Utilise all that your institution has to offer including requesting help from a verified PRA (Professional Registration Advisor).
Tips for the Professional Review Interview (PRI)
If your application has been successful you will be provided with a date for a professional review interview. The interviewers will complete a key word sheet, marking sheet and a summary report with a recommendation for each applicant. The report will cover the competence and commitment standards and reflect the interviewers’ professional judgement of whether the required competence and commitment has been satisfactorily demonstrated.
Presentation: Produce a PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate an overview of example competencies you have covered within the application. Basically an overview and a framework of responsibilities, so they do not ask questions outside the scope of the work undertaken.
Include good pictures and keep details to a minimum, potentially 2 to 3 mins per slide.
Do not give a give a full professional history within your presentation slides as it is unlikely that this will provide evidence against the competencies.
Let the assessor ask questions. Alot of the demonstration of knowledge will come out naturally in conversation.
Remember the assessor does not want you to fail and will often probe for further information. You should anticipate these searching questions to confirm your knowledge and involvement with regards to the work you present.
Hope you found this useful.
Wish you all the best.
Ricky Flynn
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