Professional Interview Guidelines

Professional Interview Guidelines
This post is about the Professional Interview Guidelines of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and would be useful for Graduate Engineers who are preparing to upgrade themselves to the Member grade.  The Professional Interview Guidelines is available from the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, (Bangunan Ingenieur, Lot 60/62, Jalan 52/4, Peti Surat 223 Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya, 46720, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, 46200).  Alternatively, rather than having the hardcopy of Blue (or Pink) Book which your Professional Interviewer may call it, you could just download the Guidelines.  If your Professional Interviewer refers the Guide as the Pink Book, it is probable that he may be having at least 16 years of Professional experience.

The Professional Interview process that you are about to experience is similar to the one conducted by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), United Kingdom previously.  There is a copy of the ICE Professional Interview Guide in the IEM Library but this is not really important as you would be more interested in the IEM Professional Interview Guide instead.  You will have to read through and highlight the important / relevant points in the Professional Interview Guide.

What to Expect During Your Interview

What to expect in a nutshell is described in the guidelines, under Section I) 1. Definition (a) to (e).

 

a) Ability to grasp and apply engineering fundamentals (I have changed the words)

It is surprising to note that some candidates appear for their Interview not knowing what the formula for the Second Moment of Area (Moment of Inertia) for a rectangular / square section.  There were instances where the Candidate could not derive the Maximum Bending Moment for a Simply Supported Beam due to Point Load or Uniformly Distributed Load.  In some cases, the Candidate could not find the deflection at the tip of a bar element subjected to an axial load, given the Young's Modulus, Cross Sectional Area, Length and the applied force.  Please do not give excuses like, "I have forgotten", "I did not prepare for this Interview" or similar excuses because Fundamentals such as these can never be forgotten unless you have amnesia.

                                                Engineering Fundamentals

 

b) Ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing

There will be two documents your Interviewers most likely would focus on.  Your Training & Experience Report and your Project Report.  It would be wise to leave no room for the Interviewer to doubt that you do not possess engineering fundamentals.  For me, during my Professional Interview, I left no room for my Interviewers to question me.  I submitted my project and the project was carried out using self-written Structural Analysis and Structural Design.  Since I wrote how the Structural Analysis program works, my Interviewers admitted to me during the start of my Interview that they had not touched the technical information I presented for sometime.  Of course I was (am) still able to elaborate the method of analysis adopted in the programs.  

Remember that after your interview, you would need to carry out essay writing.  It is advisable that you brush up your English by involving yourself in writing Letters, Reports, etc.  Do it for a good one or two years.  There had been cases where the Candidates know how to answer but due to their poor command of English, they couldn't express themselves.  In some instances, the Candidates did not answer the question.  Remember, communication is a two way process - Question / Answer - Interviewer / Interviewee.  If you did not understand the question, answered wrongly or could not express yourself, then you do not possess the ability to communicate.

c) Demonstration of ethical judgement in the conduct of all works
From my point of view, most Professional Interviewers would only test your ethical judgement during the written examination.  That is good news for you.  But always come prepared !  You will never know during your Interview, you may arrive in a situation where after being bombarded with Technical questions here and there, the Interviewer realises a scenario where your ethical judgement is possibly put to test and that's where he takes opportunity to question you.

d) Ability to accept professional responsibility and e) Awareness of engineering sustainability, health and safety issues
Similar to c), most likely the Professional Interviewer would focus more on your reports.  Again, there is no guarantee that he may not question you during the Interview.

Good luck.