The number of newly registered incorporated engineers continues to decline. The strategy of the Engineering Council is clearly not aligned to supporting the engineering technologist professional. Given the governments commitment to technical education the IET should create their own professional register to provide a relevant standard. It is obvious the current UKSPEC standard lacks credibility in terms of the IEng grade
I think John is making some good points, though I feel that often they are hidden in what looks like a rant against the "cliqueishness of the PEIs" and may be overlooked by many, particularly the need for cross discipline competency and that it is the personal competency that is critical rather than the title, though I have to say I have not experienced any of the elitism of CEng mentioned. I agree with Roy and Andy that it is not illegal to insist on CEng, though I was told (in my previous position where I was recruiting) that any such requirement may need to be justified to show why it is not discriminatory. I always used to ask for "CEng, IEng or equivalent, or able to work towards such registration" or something similar. It did not restrict my choice of interviewees and in fact I looked for the right experience and attitude more than paper qualifications. This is demonstrated in that my most successful recruit was neither CEng nor IEng, and did not even have a degree, but was able to demonstrate that she was by far the best candidate in those critical areas of experience and attitude and made a great success of the position, and now a number of years later is putting together an application for CEng, something she was certainly not in a position to do when she started the job. I even had to defend choosing her with our Global Head of Electrotechnology as he felt from her background she wouldn't be able to cope with the job. He not only changed his mind when he met her, he later stole her from me to work in his group doing even more advanced work.
I think John is making some good points, though I feel that often they are hidden in what looks like a rant against the "cliqueishness of the PEIs" and may be overlooked by many, particularly the need for cross discipline competency and that it is the personal competency that is critical rather than the title, though I have to say I have not experienced any of the elitism of CEng mentioned. I agree with Roy and Andy that it is not illegal to insist on CEng, though I was told (in my previous position where I was recruiting) that any such requirement may need to be justified to show why it is not discriminatory. I always used to ask for "CEng, IEng or equivalent, or able to work towards such registration" or something similar. It did not restrict my choice of interviewees and in fact I looked for the right experience and attitude more than paper qualifications. This is demonstrated in that my most successful recruit was neither CEng nor IEng, and did not even have a degree, but was able to demonstrate that she was by far the best candidate in those critical areas of experience and attitude and made a great success of the position, and now a number of years later is putting together an application for CEng, something she was certainly not in a position to do when she started the job. I even had to defend choosing her with our Global Head of Electrotechnology as he felt from her background she wouldn't be able to cope with the job. He not only changed his mind when he met her, he later stole her from me to work in his group doing even more advanced work.
