What is the best way to prepare a Competency Demonstration Report for Petroleum engineers wishing to apply for PR?

Answer:

Petroleum Engineers working anywhere across the world, wishing to apply for an Australian PR need to clear a CDR assessment done by Engineers Australia. This is a pre-requisite to the visa approval procedure for the PR.

CDR (Competency Demonstration Report) is a technical report that strategically elaborates on the domain focused competencies and skills that the applicant has. There are different sections to the report which ask for details on the person’s developmental initiatives, professional achievements, the role played in innovative projects, any design experiences, etc. As the applicant moves forth with these sections, the assessors get better clarity with the level of competence (in the domain) the applicant offers.

Before beginning work on the CDR, one must go through the guidelines shared by the assessing authority EA. This could be done conveniently by referring to the Migration Skills Assessment booklet. This acts as a comprehensive guide for all skilled migration visa applicants to Australia. The book elaborates on:

1. The kind of language to be adopted while writing the CDR
2. The structure, as expected by EA
3. Specific requirements of the three different sections of the CDR
4. Correct ANZSCO codes of the report
5. Details on the occupational roles
6. Definitions of the competency elements, basis the role is chosen
7. Correct units and indicators, to work on the Summary Statement

Understand the Different Your CDR Sections of

A CDR comprises of three different sections: CPD (Continuing Professional Development), three Career Episodes, and the Summary Statement.

1. CPD (Continuing Professional Development):- In this section of the report, the EA assessors are keen to know more about and understand, your inclination to keep yourself updated on the current developments in your engineering domain. You can do that by sharing themes of the seminars or workshops you have attended, special projects you have been a part of, training attended or white papers you submitted. Anything that throws light on the fact that your knowledge in the domain is not stagnated and is getting continuously updated.
2. Career Episodes: Being a Petroleum Engineer, you may have been a part of various projects over the course of your professional journey. Share three strategically important projects through the three Career Episodes. Share details on the role that you played in the team, targets you achieved, initiatives you took, etc. Here, you need to understand the fact that the assessor isn’t keen to know the team roles, but only yours. Use an active voice to stress on your contributions. For instance, begin sentences like “I elaborated”, “I tested”,” I inspected”, etc. Make sure that the three episodes are exclusive to each other and the projects show no overlapping. Mark every paragraph of the career Episode with specific units and indicators, as guided in the MSA. For instance, mark paragraphs of Career Episode 1, like 1.1, 1.2, 1.3…career episode 2 like, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3…etc. and so on for Career Episode 3.
3. The Summary Statement: This brief section is the last section of the CDR, but stands to be the most important one. Here, the assessor gets the complete picture of the competencies that you successfully displayed through the projects you mentioned in the Career Episodes. You need to carefully mark the specific paragraph, using the units and indicators, with the correct competency element, as defined in this section of the report.

While going through The Summary Statement, the assessors are quickly able to analyse your skills and capabilities, without even requiring to go through the entire report, if they so wish to.

One needs to understand that the CDR is a technical report, which needs specific writing skills and expertise. While you may bring forth great engineering skills, it is a report that requires good report writing skills as well. Adhering to the approved language (Australian English) and all other parameters set by the EA isn’t something to be done haphazardly. Moreover, the EA requires a 100% unique report. So, you can take the judicious call of seeking expert help with your CDR writing and let experts do what they do best.