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6 Posts
Question
I have been a lurker on this forum for many years and this is my first post. Health and happiness to all.
After years of procrastination, largely due to some very difficult personal circumstances, I submitted my CEng application four months ago and I had my CEng interview yesterday. Whether or not I was successful will remain to be seen and I should find out in a few weeks. However, I found the process fair and quite enjoyable. Just like a chat between three engineers (yourself and the two interviewers with a facilitator). They were friendly, polite, professional and encouraging and they know you will be slightly nervous. Be advised though that you need to be prepared to rigourously defend and justify your assertions in any presentation you deliver. They can and will challenge you. You would be so challenged in the workplace and they want to know how you can deal with objections.
The area where I kick myself slightly is that I did use the term "we" a few times instead of "I". I prepared myself numerous times ahead of time to remind myself to use "I" and I still fell back to the "we" at times. I'm a modest man and it is made further difficult because in most workplaces we are constantly encouraged to be team players so the 'I" word is not so heavily used in the real world workplace. Fingers crossed they let me off for that.
But bravo to the IET and the interview process. I was impressed. If I fail, then I fail and that is down to me, not the interviewers.
Thought I'd share for folks prepping themselves for the interview.
Stay safe, Stephen
After years of procrastination, largely due to some very difficult personal circumstances, I submitted my CEng application four months ago and I had my CEng interview yesterday. Whether or not I was successful will remain to be seen and I should find out in a few weeks. However, I found the process fair and quite enjoyable. Just like a chat between three engineers (yourself and the two interviewers with a facilitator). They were friendly, polite, professional and encouraging and they know you will be slightly nervous. Be advised though that you need to be prepared to rigourously defend and justify your assertions in any presentation you deliver. They can and will challenge you. You would be so challenged in the workplace and they want to know how you can deal with objections.
The area where I kick myself slightly is that I did use the term "we" a few times instead of "I". I prepared myself numerous times ahead of time to remind myself to use "I" and I still fell back to the "we" at times. I'm a modest man and it is made further difficult because in most workplaces we are constantly encouraged to be team players so the 'I" word is not so heavily used in the real world workplace. Fingers crossed they let me off for that.
But bravo to the IET and the interview process. I was impressed. If I fail, then I fail and that is down to me, not the interviewers.
Thought I'd share for folks prepping themselves for the interview.
Stay safe, Stephen
7 Replies
1087 Posts
StephenJK:
The area where I kick myself slightly is that I did use the term "we" a few times instead of "I".
Hi Stephen,
This is a perennial problem. No matter how much preparation there has been, nearly everyone makes the mistake at one point. This means that those particular statements will not be admissible as evidence, but......the interviewers are used to this and will have formed the expectation from your response that there is evidence that can be brought out, so will have done further probing to draw it out. It is only if you subsequently persist in saying "we" that they may give up.
The preparation ahead of time is definitely worth the effort. I still remember my interview (many years ago now) which was possibly the easiest interview I have ever had, but I sweated blood over the preparation!
Best wishes for a successful result,
Alasdair
6 Posts
Thank you Alasdair for your kind words.
Indeed, I spent hours and hours writing up and tinkering with my submission and the interviewers remarked that the time was well spent with the quality of the written application. They were great, friendly guys but very, very focused on the details and understandably so; CEng is not given away with tubes of Smarties..... The way I approached it was if a thought about something I am doing or did in the past entered my head at any point, I'd make a little recorded note on my iPhone so that I could incorporate it into my submission when I was at my computer. I accumulated many of those thoughts over the few months it took for me to be happy with the text of my application which built up slowly. So my advice to people is to get going on your written application way ahead of time before you want to submit it; a year even.
I'm still kicking myself though over the "we" !! Oh well, it is what it is, I will indeed keep my fingers crossed :)
Best regards, Stephen
Indeed, I spent hours and hours writing up and tinkering with my submission and the interviewers remarked that the time was well spent with the quality of the written application. They were great, friendly guys but very, very focused on the details and understandably so; CEng is not given away with tubes of Smarties..... The way I approached it was if a thought about something I am doing or did in the past entered my head at any point, I'd make a little recorded note on my iPhone so that I could incorporate it into my submission when I was at my computer. I accumulated many of those thoughts over the few months it took for me to be happy with the text of my application which built up slowly. So my advice to people is to get going on your written application way ahead of time before you want to submit it; a year even.
I'm still kicking myself though over the "we" !! Oh well, it is what it is, I will indeed keep my fingers crossed :)
Best regards, Stephen
6 Posts
I'm very proud and honoured to have been awarded the CEng this morning. In my case, the time from my interview to being granted the CEng took a week since I understand the submissions from the IET for review by the EC panel take place in monthly batches and I just managed to get my approved application through to the EC for them to approve it. If your application misses one of these submission batches then your submission can take another month.
I'm very relieved after the "we" as I mentioned above! I therefore did enough "I"s to make it through :)
It has taken me ten years to get this application done with all of my delaying and procrastination!
Stephen
I'm very relieved after the "we" as I mentioned above! I therefore did enough "I"s to make it through :)
It has taken me ten years to get this application done with all of my delaying and procrastination!
Stephen
601 Posts
Confratulations Stephen on this achievement, I suspect now well beyond my pay grade.
I'm curioust though regarding this panic about the 'we' and 'I'.. Might it be that by using 'we' you were not able to take credit for past achievements because it was more of a team effort, or was it modesty on your behalf?
I would have thought, as mentioned, most achievements are usually a team effort and should therefore be advertised as such.
Legh
I'm curioust though regarding this panic about the 'we' and 'I'.. Might it be that by using 'we' you were not able to take credit for past achievements because it was more of a team effort, or was it modesty on your behalf?
I would have thought, as mentioned, most achievements are usually a team effort and should therefore be advertised as such.
Legh
260 Posts
Yes, we all engage in teamwork. The important thing in a professional registration application is to describe how your contribution to the team's activities made a real difference to the outcome - maybe even the difference between success and failure?
1087 Posts
Congratulations Stephen, and yes, one week from interview to CEng award is very quick. When I had mine about 25 years ago I had to wait six months for the CEng to be awarded as the relevant committee of the EC only met once every six months to ratify the awards of Chartered Engineer from the Institutes and I missed the deadline by a few days - though I was permitted in the intervening time to call myself "Chartered Electrical Engineer".
6 Posts
Bro, i interviewed on 1/12. Well, I was notified by mail on 4/12 my application successful and i went to payment process 😁
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