Why do we write Career Episodes in the CDR?
Engineers Australia sees Career Episode writing as a chance for the visa applicants to showcase that they do possess the knowledge and skills necessary for the occupation category they have nominated for immigration – be it of the associate, technologist, or professional engineer level.
The narratives you write for your Career Episodes provide you a chance to demonstrate your competencies in great detail. There may be problem when there are not enough projects for Career episodes.You can show how you have applied the elements and sub-elements (as mentioned in the Engineers Australia’s Migration Skills Handbook) for your particular engineering discipline in three of your best projects you choose to describe.
A Career Episode report is NOT about:
• Your Company’s achievements and projects,
• Your Company’s history or origins or size or market position,
• The Technicalities of your Job or Project,
• Your Status in the Company or Respect you commanded there, or
• Your Claims of Knowing Something or Having Done Something or Achieving Something that cannot be validated. If you cannot prove a particular claim through hard or soft evidences, it might be best to skip that part.
The details Engineers Australia fishes for in the three Career Episodes for your CDR are:
• Your Actions and their Results that can be Proved with the help of Evidences,
• Your Though Processes, Actions, Methods and Strategies you used to accomplish your task in the Project,
• Your Competencies during that Career Episode, and
• Details of the Elements and Sub-elements of all competencies in the MSA booklet.
In the CDR report, it is not enough to say “I was successful in handling all the problems that occurred during the project.” Instead you have to mention exactly what problem you faced and how you overcame it. For example: “When we tested the prototype, we found that its tolerance was less than what was required in our design specification. I analyzed the circuit design but could not figure out the error right away. Hence, I devised a series of tests to separately test all the different input parameters and the operating environment step-by-step and found that the vibration was affecting the input transducer.
I replaced the transducer with a better one and had to redesign the control circuitry to accommodate the new component. Then, we re-conducted all the tests and were finally able to meet the design specifications successfully.” In the Summary Statement, we need to relate each paragraph of your Career Episode with the four elements and sub-elements mentioned for the Occupation Category you are vying for. Hence, it is necessary to read all the elements and sub-elements well before penning the Career Episode – and make sure you write episodes which provide evidences to the fact that you possess the desired competencies.