PREFER Method
Supporting the Start of Your Career
PREFER stands for Professional Roles model for Future EngineeRs. The PREFER test was developed to provide insight into your talents and skills, so you can use the results to bring out the best in yourself. For this reason, the test is the ideal method to support students and alumni at the start of their careers.
KU Leuven, together with TU Delft, TU Dublin, and the academic partners IE-net, the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers (KIVI), the Dutch Engineers’ Federation, and Engineers Ireland, established a partnership to develop and support the PREFER tests.
The PREFER model has the following objectives:
- A model of professional roles aligned with the European labor market;
- Specific tests for engineers to give young professionals and students insight into their strengths and weaknesses;
- Innovative curriculum elements that allow young professionals and students to actively explore the different engineering roles within the labor market.
Don’t be an actor in your career, be the director!
What Type of Engineer Are You? And Why Is This Important?
Graduated engineers enter a wide range of technical roles. This is attractive but at the same time makes it difficult to fully grasp the profession. The PREFER method provides you with tools to reflect on your future career as an engineer. Even when you are still studying.
Research shows that gaining better insight into your professional future not only positively influences study choices and learning outcomes but also contributes to employability and job satisfaction.
The KIVI department Young KIVI Engineers has divided the PREFER test into two parts to explain engineering roles in detail, complete the test together, and discuss expectations and results.
Part One: Explore
Explore is a personal preference test that you complete at home. The goal of this part is to give young engineers and students an accessible introduction to three professional roles. During the test, you are presented with ten statements in which you must rank three responses from highest to lowest preference. At the end, you receive a personalized report with your overall role preference result and a detailed analysis of your response pattern.
Part Two: Match
Match is a Situational Judgement Test that you take together with a KIVI coach. The goal of this part is to provide feedback on the alignment between your role and competence profile. This is done through seven to eight professional situations in which participants assess the suitability of four possible responses per situation. At the end, you receive a personalized report with your role score and competence score. This report contains a comparison between your judgment and that of a KIVI coach, tips for improvement, and explanations of the importance of these competencies.
YKE Growth- and Talent Program
The PREFER test is part of the YKE Growth Program, which is a requirement for the YKE Talent Program. Are you interested in these programs? Check the YKE activities page.
If there are currently no scheduled programs but you would still like to register in advance, or if you would simply like more information about what YKE can offer you through its Growth and Talent Programs, please get in touch via the button below. You will then be contacted by phone or email.
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