How to prepare a Competency Demonstration Report

If you are like me, an Electronics Engineer and does not have a recognized qualification, you will need to submit a Competency Demonstration Report (CDR).  Quoted from the skills assessment booklet, A CDR will help you "demonstrate how you have applied your engineering knowledge and skills; that such application meets the
competency standards of the relevant occupational category in Australia."

The details of how to make one and the requirements are found in the booklet, so download it and print for your copy.  However, in this post, I will share the things that I did that will be helpful for you as you prepare your CDR.

Aside from gathering the requirements, the most challenging part is composing the three career episodes.  Each episode is to have between 1000 to 2000 words and all three episodes should contain or emphasize at 1 item in the summary statement (see page 18 of the booklet for Professional Engineer).

To start off with writing your CDR, use pages 33, 34, 35, and 36 as your guide.  Read through each item on those pages and for every requirement, recall an experience while you were in the university and at work that relates to each bullet.  Write as much as you can, you will have enough time to further evaluate them and decide if they are valid or not and deserve to be in your CDR.  Remember, you need as much information as you can to reach the 1000 words limit per episode.

Here are some info about my episodes:
Episode 1 was about a university project.  I chose this project since I have a very profound contribution in it and it highlights my background in electronics design.
Episode 2 was about a reliability project.  I was in my second year as an engineer and was assigned to an unreliable product.  That product led me to a series of 4 projects that highlighted project management, fault analysis, electronics design competence, and capability for team work.
Episode 3 was based on my recent years in engineering.  I have been assigned to numerous products and have had numerous projects as well.  I used this episode to emphasize my combined capability of engineering, business, and project management. 

Gathering such information was not too difficult either.  I have kept good amount of information about my daily activities for the past 3 years through a journal and I have maintained a projects repository where all my (you guessed it) projects are kept up to date and organized by dates and status.  So putting them on what episode or engineering requirement was not too difficult at all.  So if you are starting with your CDR, you should get these information ready as well.

Be creative.  My 2nd episode was full of timelines, metrics, and goals that I felt would be easily understood if show it in a graph.  So I did.

Then, start writing that CDR.  Make sure you follow the rules taught in IELTS. Remember, you will be submitting your original IELTS score form.

Another thing that will greatly help and improve your CDR is to ask somebody who can proof read your career episodes.  I had my friend do it for me and another eye and brain to go through your essays will surely improve the presentation and the chronology of events.  Make sure you choose somebody competent to do it with you.

Finally, compile those requirements with your CDR, and don't forget to check a million times that you have everything in the envelope.  Do not bind nor staple, keep everything loosely bound.

I did not cover much, but covered mostly about the writing of the CDR as I found it the most challenging.  However, I welcome questions and inquiries.  I would be happy to help you out to the best of my knowledge.

Remember, share this among your friends, you will surely help those in the same situation as I did.