ADD ADVICE TO FAVGetting into engineering
When you begin your graduate-job search, you need to consider several factors:
- Think about what kind of graduate job you are looking for, the industry you’d like to work in and your motivation for applying.
- Consider how to demonstrate that you have the ability, skills and experience required to do the job successfully.
- Think how to make the employer imagine you doing the job.
Be positive and decisive
Graduates often fail to get job offers because they seem unclear about their career ambitions.
Make sure you appear focused and positive, and express interest in specific jobs, not any job that a company may have to offer.
When asked which other firms you have applied to, be sure to mention only jobs in the same sector, or those who have a clear relationship with the job you are applying for, so that your motivation isn’t in doubt.
The perfect CV for engineering graduates
Your CV needs to cover:
- personal details
- education
- employment
- skills - including IT, driving licence and languages
- interests and achievements
- referees.
Always mention the most significant items first, and write both your education and employment in reverse chronology. If you have one particular job or work experience that you feel is particularly relevant to a potential employer, create a new section, perhaps called ’Engineering Experience’, and place it first.
What engineering recruiters look for on graduate CVs
- good academic results, including A-levels and coursework
- evidence of the ability to work in a team
- good communication skills
- evidence of enthusiasm for engineering and for the particular discipline of engineering the applicant is applying for.
Key words
One way to ensure that your application impresses a potential employer is to use key words. These are verbs that reflect what aspects you would bring to a job and suggest that these are activities you already do. While scanning your CV, a recruiter will see that you are capable of doing many aspects of the job.
Key engineering words include:
- designed
- developed
- analysed
- supervised
- liaised
- researched / investigated
- presented
- drafted
- organised.
’Flattery helps! Show evidence of enthusiasm and knowledge of the company. We always check to see if the applicant has taken the time to investigate us by doing things such as looking at our website, noting projects and subjects they’re interested in.
Neil Shaw, ArupTechnical competence
Highlight technical competencies that potential employers value.
- Provide them with a list of your courses and emphasise subjects the employer appreciates.
- Think about design projects, group assignments, dissertations or other academic work and decide which will impress them.
- Include technical competencies that are demonstrated by previous jobs, vacation internships or sandwich-year placements.
Non-technical competencies
Recruiters also seek evidence of other skills – teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, analytical thought, persuasiveness, commercial awareness, verbal and written communication ability and interpersonal skills.
One way to demonstrate these skills is to give relevant examples, such as extracurricular activities.
’This is your opportunity to sell yourself to us. In the interview, answer the question, be concise, do not repeat yourself, and think before you speak, but do not be afraid of pauses. Interviewers are generally not trying to catch you out, they want to get the best out of you. So be yourself, relax and enjoy it, we want to see the real you!’
Jenny Preston, Graduate Recruitment Manager, Caterpillar Shared Services- Give details of your role and what you achieved.
- Don’t use one activity to illustrate them all. It is more impressive if you present examples from different aspects of your life.
Read more about CVs in the job applications advice section.
Covering letters for graduate engineering jobs
Covering letters should not simply refer the reader to your enclosed CV, nor should they be more than one A4 page in length.
Start your letter by explaining why you are writing, and mention the relevant things you have been doing - your degree and work experience. Tell them why you are interested in working for their firm, but resist the temptation to just tell the firm how wonderful it is.
Mention briefly the key skills you have to offer with an example of when you applied them, although avoid repeating the contents of your CV. Close your letter by saying when you are available for interview or that you would be pleased to discuss your application.
Read more about covering letters in the job applications advice section.
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