5 Tips for Evaluating an Engineering Firm Before You Join

To grow your professional career as an engineer in your desired firm, you need a proper plan and research. It is important to ensure that the company you work will meet your goals and plan. Here are some tips that will help an individual to evaluate any engineering firm before joining it.

  1. Check for the company’s website

To find whether a company is real or fake

  1. Let Social Media reconfirm the Company’s values

Thoroughly check the company’s Facebook posts and Twitter tweets to closely analyze and evaluate employee relation and organization culture.

  1. The inside scoop

Check reviews on websites such as Glassdoor and get the insights of the corporate culture by reading employee reviews.

  1. Leverage your Network

Make use of in-person networking by contacting your connections on Linkedin who have recent work experience in the firm of your interest. Gather details about the work culture from acquaintances and then choose the right firm.

  1. Keep an eye on Press

Explore both consumer and trade press to gain details about the firm’s expertise and the way it highlights and publicize individual’s professional achievements.

Engineering Education and Job Satisfaction

A couple of years back, a bachelor’s degree in engineering was assumed to be enough to achieve success in the career. But, with more competitiveness in the industries, the employers now seek candidates that hold advanced degrees in engineering. These degrees also helps the professional to move into job roles that are more challenging, highly paid, and with more responsibilities.

Recent research about degrees and job roles stated that:

  • Bachelor’s degree was the most common degree across the technical industries.
  • Master’s degree held the second highest position.
  • An exception was seen in the education sector that held a higher number of doctoral degrees.

Degree Types and Job Roles

Degrees plays a significant role in the employee job responsibilities. A match between the job roles and education is thus important for success. Therefore, people who wish to succeed in their career opt for advanced degrees in their field. It is often observed that:

  • Most of the successful people working in the same field of their education had both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.
  • These professionals persuaded for a higher level of education to gain a deeper understanding of their fields and advance on their career paths.

Job Satisfaction

It is one of the most motivating factors to go for an advanced degree.

  • Most of the professionals believe that having a masters or a PhD degree helps them excel in their career.
  • It helps to gain an improvedbreadth of knowledge and expertise in their filed.
  • It gives professionals a higher level of job satisfaction and enjoyment of their tasks.
  • Lastly, it offers a high range of salary which gives them a feeling of satisfaction.

Skills which every engineer should have

For those who want to enhance their personality/ outlook and to impress their supervisors, make use of these tips and make this task a less daunting one.

Humility

Always be humble. Acting like a know-it-all could strike the wrong chord during negotiations or any discussion. Humility is important at all points of life and also the best way to connect with others and  drive conversations in different directions.

Personal Identity

Create your very own brand and work towards improving the same. It can go a long way in enhancing your career and professional outlook. Personal identity is the best style to express one- selves and his or her working style.

Positivity

Any engineer would be expected to show utmost resilience at all points of time. Instead of focusing on negativity, if one chooses to believe in positivity, their overall personal and professional outlook will become better and widespread.

Apart from the skills, your superiors, colleagues, peers or anyone with whom you work will try to associate you with the way you communicate or express yourself with them. So, take things on an easy and work on the essentials before you can come to any conclusion.

How To Present Your Mechanical Design To The Team?

The newbies in engineering often feel underestimated due to the lack of soft skills that are required to undermine the job role. For a mechanical engineer, it is more important to present the mechanical design more efficiently than knowing only the technical details.

For those who need to present mechanical design to the peers, or the client to pitch for new business, take help of these tips and make this task a less daunting:

Understand the audience

Represent your design from the perspective of an ordinary man. The audience may not be aware of the nitty-gritty involved, and therefore, your design must be able to communicate the required use and purpose to everyone.

Public Speaking Skills

Work on the confidence level to nail the presentation in front of people. If you still feel anxiety after practicing presentation behind the curtain, remain calm during the actual presentation to go on. Remind yourself that you halfway there, and face people with a smile.

Convey Details

Prepare for the questions that the audience is going to put in front of you. There can be questions related to designs, materials and choices, manufacturing processes and much more. If you don’t have answers to the questions, don’t get nervous and avoid fumbling. Tell them that you will get back with the right answer after the meeting.

Presentation Tips

Don’t keep reading all the content from the PowerPoint and take audience towards the pointer every time. It can leave them confused or bored while listening. Prepare bullets or rough narrative to explain your ideas.

Apart from the presentation, people will judge you more by the mechanical design and not the speaking skills. So, go easy and work on the essentials before the meeting.

Get Hired! Engineering Hiring Managers Top Secrets Revealed

It is now easy to get noticed as a top engineering candidate. A recent survey has identified a few major evaluation techniques employed by the hiring managers to distinguish promising candidates.

First 15 Minutes

More than 54% of the managers shortlist the top candidates within the first 15 minutes of the interview.

Top 3 Hard Skills

  • 80% managers look for analytical or critical thinking.
  • 65% look for technical skills (system, computer, software).
  • 59% seek troubleshooting skills.

Top 3 Soft Skills

  • Teamwork is a very important soft skill which is preferred by almost 85% managers.
  • 79% managers shortlist the candidates who possess good listening and comprehension skills.
  • 79% managers prefer candidates who possess a sense of personal accountability.

Resume

Eight out of ten hiring managers interview the candidates based on the match of the job description with the resume. The most preferred format of a resume is the digital or electrical format.

  • 67% prefer digital resume.
  • 29% seek a traditional hard copy.
  • 2% seek for a digital portfolio.
  • 2% shortlist based on a LinkedIn profile.
  • Less than 1% prefer video resumes.

Interview Tips

  • Clearly express the personal achievements and weaknesses.
  • Boldly communicate the skills and their reason for befitting the job.
  • Remain conscious about timely appearance, politeness, grooming conditions, and graciousness.
  • Learn about the company.

Common Interview Mistakes

  • Inappropriate usage of mobiles phones during the interview
  • Arriving late for the interview
  • Lack of enthusiasm and passion for the job and carrier
  • Behaving weird, ignorant, or ungrateful.