Aimee's Road to Chartership - Part 3
Aimee Goodall CEng CSci FIMMM concludes her journey towards her Chartered Engineer qualification through the Technical Report Route (TRR).
The Interview
The final blog post in the series. In September 2023 I had two interviews for my Chartered Engineer by Technical Report Route. Happily I passed and I am now coming up to the first year anniversary of being a Charted Engineer.
Setting up the Interview
The setting up of the two interviews was simple. I was emailed to say that my application has moved onto the interview stage and I was asked if there were any dates I couldn’t do. I had a holiday booked in the August which coincided with a block of interviews. Consequently I was booked onto the next block. I was then sent an invite for the two interviews in September.
Preparing for the Interview
Both of the interviews were over Microsoft Teams, which was great as it meant I didn’t have travel to worry about. It was during my working time, I made sure that I was in a quite office away from distractions during the interview. I also gave myself time before and after the interview in my calendar to help me prepare and reflect on the experience. To help me prepare I looked over my CV, reminded myself of my strengths and gave myself encouraging words before the interview started.
09:30 Monday 18 September | PRI Stage 1
At the start of my first interview the interviewers introduced themselves, they explained the process very clearly and told me exactly what the next steps would be. They would be interviewing me at both stages. The interviews had a similar background in steel and metallurgy. They were a good match for questioning and put me at ease during the process. I felt that they helped to get the best out of my answering, encouraging me to explain more on certain aspects where needed. I didn’t feel like they were there to fail me, but rather to get the best of the interview and ensure it was me who wrote the application.
The first interview was on my report. To start with I had to give a 10 minute presentation on my work, with a max of 3 slides. This means that the words on my slide were to a minimum and I spoke around the themes and the work I carried out.
There was then a set of questions around my engineering work. I remember being asked about what financial responsibilities’ I had. After the interview in my reflection I had noted that I felt that I was able to talk well about the different subjects raised. There are areas I could have expanded on, however I am conscious not to be too critical of myself as I know it is a learning experience to grow from.
Tuesday 19 September | Acceptance to next stage
The day after my interview I received email confirmation that I had made it to the next stage of interviews and could sit my PRI 2 interview later in the week.
11:30 Friday | PRI 2 Stage 2
I didn’t enjoy the wait between the interviews. It meant getting myself into the headspace for the interview twice, but it was good practice of reminding myself that I’m worthy and it is the work I have done. It also meant that I had to bring my passport to work twice as they needed to verify my identity.
Something that helped me during the interview was having my application and extended CV in front of me. I thought there was a chance in the interview I could get nervous and forget what I was speaking about. This way I would have a prompt for the projects I was talking about and I could see what competencies match up with the question that is being asked.
I don’t remember how long the interview was, but I know it was in the allocated time the invite had allowed (45 -60 minutes is the guideline). At the end of both interviews the interviewers went away and compared notes, I didn’t find the results of the interview until later.
The Following Wednesday – Chartership!
On the following Wednesday I was notified that I be awarded CEng and the payment would be debited from my account the next time direct debits were taken. As soon as I had paid my Chartership fees I updated my Post Nominals on my email signature and LinkedIn and sent an email to my colleagues who knew I had my chartership interview.
I was asked to provide feedback on the interview process, and I took the opportunity to request feedback on my interview.
Lessons learned
I would say to anybody who is going through the Chartership process that you are the most qualified and competent person to talk about your work and experiences. It is all your work and you know it best. Your whole working career up to the interview is your preparation and that means you have years preparation!
I am more than qualified to be a chartered engineer. When I got my post nominals I feel silly that I hadn’t realised I was waiting for the confirmation that I was qualified, when I had submitted the work, get to the interview stage and also had met all of the requirements before having the interview. Personally I am working on giving myself validation that I can do something before a grade in an exam or certificate tells me I can, the letters after your name are just a nice reminder and external signal to others you meet the standard of a Chartered Engineer.
