Becoming a Service Engineer: What Personal Attributes do you Require?
Engineering is a big deal in developed economies, as it has underpinned much of the technological advancement and innovation that has taken place in the last decade. While concepts such as aerospace engineering may dominate the media’s attention, however, it is important to remember that there are other components of the industry that play a key role in everyday life. Take service engineering, for example, which relates to the repair and maintenance of domestic household appliances and electronic equipment.
Service engineering currently represents a buoyant market, and one that is hiring at an increasingly impressive rate. So while job seekers have a greater opportunity to achieve their career goals as a service engineer, they must also encounter intensified competition if they are to succeed.
What Attributes do you Require as a Service Engineer?
With this in mind, it is important that you consider the personal attributes employers are seeking when they hire service engineers. If you assume that your fellow applicants have a similar levels of academic and on-the-job training, for example, these characteristics could prove crucial in affording you an advantage. Consider the following attributes and why they are important:
Open and Diverse Communication Skills
The most important thing to note about service engineering is that it is a customer-facing profession, as the main body of work will take place in the homes of consumers. This means that you must be able to communicate in an open and courteous manner, while displaying common sense and polite manners. You must also demonstrate a diversity of communication skills, which in turn enables you to discuss technical aspects of individual jobs with colleagues in addition to conveying this information to clients in a succinct and easy to understand manner. Established firms are increasingly keen to prioritize customer service, meaning that representatives must have these skills if they are to succeed.
Problem-solving Skills and Critical Thinking
On a fundamental level, the role of the service engineer is to attend on-site jobs, perform diagnostics and execute an efficient repair. This demands that workers have a suitable level of problem-solving skills, and more specifically the ability to think critically and apply logic to resolve a variety of potential faults. While the technical aspects of service engineering are taught during training and development, a genuine problem-solving ability enables you apply knowledge in a more efficient and prompt manner. This will afford you a unique opportunity to gain an advantage on your fellow candidates, and it is something that employers will want you to demonstrate at the interview stage.
Reliability and Punctuality
While it is more than possible for events to conspire and make us late, it is your fundamental approach to punctuality and reliability that employers are interested in. Engineering firms base their reputation on the quality of the service that they deliver, and the capacity to attend jobs on-time and as promised is integral to this. You must therefore be able to demonstrate a keen sense of punctuality to recruiters, as a way of showcasing your commitment and proving that you place a great deal of stock on reliability. This can be achieved by attending interviews and meeting deadlines on-time, while also adopting a dedicated approach to organizing your time and workload.
About the Author: This post was contributed by Lewis, who is an employment blogger from the UK. To find out more about the engineering industry and needs of employers, visit http://www.scot-jcb.com/gh/ at your earliest convenience.