Different roles, different demands. A competency-based professional roles model for early career engineers, validated in industry and higher education

ABSTRACT

This study contributes to the current research in career and professional identity development in that it developed a validated competency-based framework to enhance professional and self-awareness of future engineers. Through a mixed-method design, key competencies were identified for three professional roles for early career engineers. Ninety-six engineers and HR experts from different fields were involved. This resulted in three portraits of early career engineers in practice (engineers in a role focusing on radical innovation, on process optimisation and/or on customised solutions) and what it requires to be successful in these roles. For example, perseverance and creativity were deemed essential for engineers in an innovative role, whereas positive critical attitude and stress resistance were indicated essential for engineers focusing on optimisation. The competency profiles with an aspiration to career perspectives can be a valuable instrument in creating more diversity in engineering. Implications for education, industry, and future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Competence
• professional skills
• engineering profession
• mixed methods research

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Elies Hendrickx, Michael Tack and their colleagues from BDO Human Capital for their valuable feedback and for moderating the expert panels. We are also grateful for the collaboration of all the companies that allowed their employees to empty the agenda and to participate in an intensive two hours expert panel.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Erasmus+ programme of the European Union [grant number 575778-EPP-1-2016-1-BE-EPPKA2-KA] and is part of the PREFER project (http://www.preferproject.eu/).

Notes on contributors

Sofie Craps

Sofie Craps Sofie Craps is a doctoral researcher in Engineering Technology and in Social Sciences at KU Leuven. She is a member of the Study Guidance Research Group of the Leuven Engineering & Science Education Centre (LESEC). In 2006, she started to work as a recruitment officer at KU Leuven, focusing on study guidance and science communication, and became the communications officer of the KU Leuven Faculty of Engineering Technology. Since then she has provided career guidance to Masters’ students and has been teaching communication skills to engineers. Her research interests focus on professional identity development, professional competencies, and diversity in engineering.

Maarten Pinxten

Maarten Pinxten Maarten Pinxten, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Engineering Technology of KU Leuven. His main research interests focus on the academic self-concept, educational decision-making, and professional career aspirations. Additionally, he investigated starting competencies for first-year students in the STEM field and labour market orientation of engineering graduates. More recently, he left KU Leuven to pursue a new avenue in private industry but as a Research Fellow he stays affiliated with KU Leuven.

Heidi Knipprath

Heidi Knipprath Heidi Knipprath is currently working as a research and policy evaluation expert at VDAB, the public employment service of the Flemish government, Belgium. She obtained a PhD. degree in behavioural and social sciences from the University of Groningen, Netherlands. She is specialised in educational effectiveness, school-to-work transitions, and lifelong learning.

Greet Langie

Greet Langie Professor Greet Langie is a physicist by training, teaches physics to first-year engineers, and focuses on Engineering Education Research, more specifically on the transitions from secondary education to higher education and from higher education to professionals life. She was the vice dean of education of the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven from 2012 until 2020 and has been the vice campus chair of education at Campus De Nayer, KU Leuven since 2020. She founded the Leuven Engineering and Science Education Center (LESEC, www.set.kuleuven.be/LESEC) in 2009 and was the chair until 2012. She received the title ‘ING.PAED.IGIP h.c.’ from IGIP and is active in several international networks: a board member of SEFI, the committee chair of capacity building within SEFI, a member of the Talent-Introduction Base of Tsinghua University, the co-organiser of the yearly IIDEA-summer course at Tsinghua University and a member of the Advisory Board of BEST.