Category: Tips for Engineering Contractors
Strategic Hiring: When It Makes Sense to Hire a Contract Engineer
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Business leaders have embraced a new strategy for coping with frequent swings in the economy. To avoid tumultuous and costly hiring and layoff cycles, managers are increasing their reliance on professional contractors, free agents and other contingent workers. It pays to know when it makes sense to hire a contract engineer. June,… Read more »
The Three P’s of Technical Interviews for Contract Engineers
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman While interview questions vary by company and assignment, some questions are designed to explore your technical knowledge. For example, software engineers may be asked to solve a series of coding problems on a whiteboard, while civil engineers might be asked how they determine the size of elastomeric bearings. Whether the queries explore… Read more »
Knowledge Transfer Tips for Engineering Contractors
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Experienced contractors have discovered foolproof ways to transfer solutions, methods, procedures and designs over the course of an engineering assignment. Naturally, they follow the firm’s protocol for archiving drawings and recording design-related information and changes. But savvy veterans take additional steps to leave a navigable trail for future engineers to follow. “Don’t… Read more »
How to Be a Team Player without Ruining Your Engineering Career
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman You’ve probably heard the expression there’s no “I” in team. But must your personal goals always take a backseat to the priorities of your engineering team? The short answer is: no. While being on a team requires give and take, with some forethought and finesse, it’s possible to advance your contracting career… Read more »
Defining the Ideal Resume for Contract Engineers
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Once you get some contract experience under your belt, you’ll probably find that a chronological resume is not the best way to present your capabilities to an engineering manager. The traditional format – which starts with your most recent project and works backwards – could draw attention to occasional gaps in your… Read more »
Encore! Five Tips for Landing Repeat Assignments
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Obtaining your first contract engineering assignment may take some effort. But once you get your foot in the door, you may never have a better opportunity to enhance your income and reputation. If engineering managers offer you additional assignments, you can sidestep competitors, decrease interview and idle time, and improve your negotiating… Read more »
Encore! Five Tips for Landing Repeat Assignments
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Obtaining your first contract engineering assignment may take some effort. But once you get your foot in the door, you may never have a better opportunity to enhance your income and reputation. If engineering managers offer you additional assignments, you can sidestep competitors, decrease interview and idle time, and improve your negotiating… Read more »
Reset – How to Overcome Mistakes During a Job Interview
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman It can happen to anyone. You mistakenly call the engineering manager by the wrong name, lose your train of thought mid-sentence or provide the wrong answer to a technical question during an interview. Relax, even veteran engineers usually bumble a question or two. The key is how you recover from a misstatement,… Read more »
How to Create a Personal Brand to Promote Your Engineering Skills
Separate yourself from the competition by conveying a compelling professional identity By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Being successful isn’t always enough. You may need to bundle your assets and present them in a way that captures the attention of busy engineering managers. In a prior article, we talked about why engineering contractors need a brand. To quote… Read more »
Become the More Desirable Engineering Candidate Using the STAR Method
By: Leslie Stevens-Huffman Whether you’re drafting your resume or preparing for a networking event or interview, the best way to convey your accomplishments is through a captivating story. We’re not suggesting that you tell tall tales, but rather that you weave real outcomes and skills into a dynamic narrative. Without storytelling, your achievements may seem uninspiring,… Read more »