Interviewing A Chemical Engineering Graduate

By Hemanshi Galaiya

1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

 My name is Edmund Koh and I am from Malaysia. I graduated from The University of Sheffield in 2016 with an MEng Chemical Engineering degree taking electives in environmental modules in my final year.

 I am currently working as an Environment Engineer in a Printing Cylinder manufacturing plant mainly dealing with electroplating processes. I manage the wastewater treatment and the air monitoring system to ensure that the effluent complies with government regulations.

2. During the course of your degree did you undertake any placements in research or industry? If yes, how was the experience?

 I was focusing more on getting top scores in the course and unfortunately did not take any placements or internships. However, after having graduated and worked for a year, I would encourage students to take internships whether paid or otherwise more so to explore your interests as much as it looks good on your CV.

3. Where have you secured your graduate role? Was this your first choice.

 I worked with Top Glove Malaysia as a graduate process engineer upon graduating but have since left as I was interested in pursuing a career in the environmental field. I applied for a couple of Management trainee positions prior but due to the competition failed during the final stages of the assessment centres.

4. Tell me a bit about the process of acquiring this role? Did you undergo assessment centres? How did you tackle them?

 For my current role, the application process was straightforward. I attended two face-to-face interviews: one with the hiring manager and a second time with the General Manager of the company. They offered me a job in the second interview, however, many of the other applications had a combination of aptitude tests, online and phone interviews as well. For these, I practiced with sample psychometric tests available online.

5. What is a typical day in your role like? What is the best and worst part about your job?

 My main responsibility is managing the wastewater treatment system to ensure that it is operating within optimum specifications. Troubleshooting is done whenever there is a deviation in the parameters and discussion will be carried out with other team members to set up preventive maintenance to reduce such situations. Online sensors need to be cleaned and calibrated regularly while the sludge is to be properly handled and stored in the premise. The afternoons are usually spent in the labs carrying out tests on water samples and writing reports to notify the Department of Environment of our discharge quality. There are also a lot of engagement with third party companies for tasks such as verification of effluent samples by external labs, air monitoring, and collection of sludge drums.

 The best part of this job is the satisfaction from doing my part in helping reduce environment pollution. The worst part of the job is that it can get quite messy when handling the sludge from the wastewater treatment plant.

6. What is something exciting that you are currently working on?

 I am currently en-route to achieving a license as a Certified Environmental Professional in Industrial Effluent Treatment Systems Operation (CEPIETSO). To acquire the license, I would need to go for a 5-day training programme, pass a written exam and submit a Field Training Report (FTR) alongside an interview within a year from the exam. Like many other countries, Malaysia has a requirement that employees handling wastewater treatment systems be certified.

 7. What advice would you give to prospective students or students who are

currently looking for graduate positions?

 Interviews are actually quite straightforward. Companies are looking for ways you can provide value for them. You will need to convince them that you are worth more than the salary they pay you to get hired.  

 If you haven’t had the chance to do an internship in your undergraduate studies, you could take the unconventional route and do an internship after graduation. It not only helps gauge your interests but provides you with some experience that can land you a better job if you find that the role is not suitable. Without any experience, it can be a better alternative than rushing head on into a position that you might potentially dislike and quit down the road.

 Chemical Engineering graduates are flexible and have the ability to find employment in a wide range of industries. Internships are beneficial here as they help students find their interests by exploring different industry cultures as well as typical routines of an engineer in these industries. It also provides a platform for students to interact directly with the industry experts and shadow them which will provide students a starting point as they start job hunting. One important thing to note is that, companies are also more inclined to hire previous interns for graduate roles as compared to fresh hires. If international students are looking for employment in the UK, they should focus their efforts here to have a better opportunity.