Top CDR Rejection Reasons Engineers Australia: Avoid Mistakes

The following are the most prevalent and most frequent reasons behind EA declining CDR submissions. This is a checklist that can be used prior to making your report.

Plagiarism or Copied Content

Plagiarism is one of the largest CDR Rejection Reasons Engineers Australia identifies in its MSA booklet.

Some of the forms of plagiarism are:

• Replicating CDR samples on the Internet
• Leveraging on the written materials of another person
• Recreating job descriptions or technical information in company documents
• Placing AI-generated content without adaptation

Each of the CDRs is scanned by EA with the help of sophisticated plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin. In case of a plagiarism case, EA can:

• Reject your report immediately
• Request an explanation
• Ask for a completely new CDR
• Report your profile as a cause of misconduct, with the threat of a ban on migration

Hint: You should always write your Career Episodes on the basis of your personal experience using your own words.

Not Following Engineers Australia Guidelines

The Migration Skills Assessment Booklet contains specifications on the details that EA requires in the Migration Skills Assessment, and adherence to them is the frequent cause of rejection.

Typical mistakes include:

• Producing too technical or too generic writing
• With a project team description, as opposed to individual responsibilities
• Failure to comply with the necessary CDR structure
• Filing untidy paperwork

Your CDR must include:

• Three Career Episodes
• Summary Statement (duly cross-referenced)
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
• Correctly supporting documents

The likelihood of having an undesirable result increases by a significant margin when EA guidelines are ignored.

Lack of Personal Engineering Contribution

The project is often defined as a whole by many engineers and not their contribution, and this is one of the top CDR Rejection Reasons Engineers Australia flags.

EA wants to know:

• What you did
• What decisions did you make
• What problems did you solve
• What were your engineering techniques?

Do not write such statements as teamwork-based, such as we designed, we completed, etc.

Use “I designed… I calculated… I implemented…” instead.

Insufficient Technical Details

Your Career Episodes should contain certain and quantifiable engineering information. Other candidates prepare their CDR in the form of a management or administrative summary, and this leads to rejection.

Examples of inadequate information:

• No calculations or analysis
• No technical decisions described
• No engineering issues described
• Vague descriptions of work

Your report must bring into focus engineering tools, methodologies, standards and problem-solving techniques.

Inaccurate or Misleading Information

EA is demanding regarding the authenticity. Any overstated or misleading statements may result in instant rejection.

Misrepresentation can consist of:

• Fake projects
• Altered employment letters
• Inflated responsibilities
• Wrong dates or titles of the job

Engineers Australia is able to check your employment by using references, company websites, LinkedIn accounts, and even by direct employer contact.

Poor Quality Writing and Grammar Issues

Engineers Australia anticipates a professionally prepared CDR. Poor grammar, description without clarity and poor structure are some of the factors that lead to rejection.

Common issues include:

• Poor English expression
• Overuse of jargon
• Lack of clarity in the project descriptions
• Wrong paragraph construction

It is worth recalling that EA favors clear, brief, and logically organized reports.

Incorrect Summary Statement Mapping

Your Summary Statement is very crucial in connecting your Career Episodes to the EA competency elements. Most of the applicants map competencies incorrectly or leave gaps, thus being rejected.

Examples of errors:

• Mapping the inappropriate paragraphs.
• Failure to mention competencies at all.
• Duplicated or absent competency indicators.

Your Summary Statement should be accurate and technical.

Failure to Meet the Required ANZSCO Code Competencies

ANZSCO has certain competencies in each of its engineering occupations. You will not be hired by EA in case your CDR fails to reflect those particular skills.

For example:

• When you are applying as a Professional Engineer, you need to demonstrate strategic and complex engineering knowledge in your report.
• In case you apply to be an Engineering technologist, then your report should emphasize on technical application and not managerial work.

One of the greatest CDR Rejection Reasons that Engineers Australia deals with on a regular basis is the submission of a mismatched CDR.

Poorly Structured or Irrelevant Career Episodes

Your Career Episodes has to be explicit on the pertinent engineering activities in relation to the nominated occupation.

Typical mistakes:

• Composing episodes that are not related to engineering.
• Applying term-end project work without engineering analysis.
• Explaining supervisory or administrative work rather than actual engineering work.
• Composing biographical rather than project narratives.

Engineering competencies, but not generic job responsibilities, are considered by EA.

Low-Quality CPD Listing

The CPD section is usually ignored, yet a poorly organized CPD list would be detrimental to your assessment.

• A good CPD must include:
• Short courses
• Workshops
• Technical meetings
• Conferences
• Publications
• Self-study efforts

Incomplete or vague CPD is a warning that there is no development of a professional.