Accreditation for job applications

Hello peeps, Salman here. I did my Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan. Recently I moved to the United States. I got my degree and transcript evaluated from IERF and the summary was:

"It is the judgement of the International Education Research Foundation that Muhammad Salman has the U.S equivalent of the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering as approved by regionally accredited colleges and universities in the United States"

Now my question is how do I sell this report? I mean do I include this in the education section of my Resume or attach copies of the report with every online job application? Any response would be appreciated guys.

 

I'd consider leaving it out entirely, unless you are asked the question.

Alternatively, you could put that statement on your resume, but it is kind of unwieldy and (I think) unnecessary.

I just can't imagine many people rejecting your application because they thought your degree was bogus somehow.

 

It may not be bogus, but when it comes to foreign degrees, US engineering employers aren't looking for the equivalent of regional accreditation. They want the equivalent of professional accreditation.

For engineering employment in the US, the gold standard is ABET equivalency as determined by NCEES (the national association of state engineering boards). For a foreign degree, an NCEES determination of ABET equivalency is something that should be noted on a resume.

Equivalency to regional accreditation may well be acceptable for non-engineering jobs. But for positions in engineering, ABET equivalency is considerably more valuable.

 

All good points, CalDog. But would a foreign credential evaluator make such a determination? It doesn't seem likely since they're not in that business, but perhaps I am mistaken?

 

A typical foreign credential evaluator might not be able to make such a determination. But the "NCEES Credentials Evaluation Service" isn't typical. They specialize in engineering degree evaluation, and as a quasi-governmental agency, their determinations are generally considered authoritative:

You can get the evaluation even if you are only seeking private employment, not licensure. If NCEES says that your engineering degree is ABET-equivalent and licensure-qualifying, nobody in the private or public sectors is going to question it.

ABET has signed mutual recognition agreements with many other national engineering accrediting bodies around the world (the "Washington Accord"). It's easier to get NCEES approval for a foreign engineering degree that falls under the Accord. However, the Pakistan Engineering Council is not a full member at this time.

 

You been provided with really good advise here.

The nice part is that only small % of Engineering jobs that require PE license.
I do recommend to become licensed PE once you get settled in your state.

In US there is Industrial Exemption that allows unlicensed Engineers to fill positions
that are wide range of Engineer openings.
So for most of the part your degree with NACES evaluation will be sufficient.

Employer will will look at Education but also with possibly much higher importance at experience, training and other skills and qualities.

A lot of times there is a need for some one who can start contributing almost immediately. That doesn't mean that there is no training or development plan, it all depends and widely varies from employer to employer.

 

I second the idea of getting a PE License, a degree from Pakistan with an evaluation or not might create a bias from the employer perspective. Foreign degrees from developing nations, even if legit ones, suffer from bias when applying for employment. There are tons of studies that back this up.

A PE license would kill any credibility issue as you are required to pass a strict exam that will validate your knowledge.
Another idea is to get a Master's degree from an ABET accredited school to validate your BS.

Foreign credential evaluations are not really degrees, it is up to the employer to accept them or not.

Putting the evaluation in your resume wouldn't change much your chances of employment, the school you attended in general is not going to be questioned but the quality of the education of the country where the school is located.

 

It's true that a PE license is highly credible as an engineering qualification. But there are some problems with this approach:

Problem 1. You typically can't qualify for a PE license until you have several years of PE-supervised work experience. A recent college graduate looking to break into the job market for the first time isn't eligible for this credential.

Now, a recent college graduate could take the preliminary FE exam (which is also rigorous), and qualify as an "Engineer-in-Training". This is an excellent qualification for an entry-level engineer. But now there is a second problem:

Problem 2. State boards typically require, or at least prefer, ABET-accredited engineering degrees for FE and PE candidates. Foreign engineering degrees typically aren't ABET accredited.

How do you get around these problems, if you have a foreign engineering degree?

Answer: you get a specialized engineering credential evaluation from NCEES, as suggested in posts #3 and #5 above. If NCEES -- which is a national association of state licensing boards -- determines that your foreign engineering degree is ABET-equivalent and licensure-qualifying by US standards, then it will typically be accepted without reservation by private employers and state licensing boards. if NCEES determines that your degree is not ABET-equivalent, then they will tell you what additional study is needed to achieve equivalency.

 

Good information. The issue is that typical employer for EE might not be so aware about licenses and accreditation issues. I worked in the field for many years and most of the time comes down to skills and interviews, most EE jobs require to pass a screening process where applicants are required to pass an exam. I have written many exams in the past and have been invited to few interviews.

My argument is that the OP might not be even be invited to an screening process because a Paskitanian degree might be perceived as inferior (no insult to Paskitanian citizens). This happens also with people with any degree from a country that has an education system that is not considered to be at the same level as the US (e.g. Latin America, African countries, etc).

Most immigrants to the US from developing nations end doing a second degree for employment purposes. I happen to have friend from Pakistan that lives in California, he had to go to a lot of trouble to get a second degree in EE, he was admitted in to Lousiana State with 50% advanced standing because his first degree so he moved there just to finish his second degree in EE. This is more than 20 years ago but he was not able to find a school that would admit him to a Masters with his degree from Pakistan so he decided for the second BSEE.

Things might be different now but my guess is that with higher unemployment rates in the US, things are more difficult and my guess that competition is more difficult for those EE jobs so if the PE license is not an option, the second degree from an ABET school might not be a bad idea.

I don;t know the legal status of the OP in the US but people with working, student or visitors visas are normally put in a second basket when applying for work. Green card holders and citizens are normally given first priority in particular with this economy. Even if the OP has a green card, the OP still needs to go though the bias issues against foreign degree, etc so the easiest way is just to do a second BS. Walden how now an ABET accredited degree online, the OP might want to negotiate advanced standing just to get the second degree fast and move on with his or her life.

 

ABET-equivalency, as determined by NCEES, is the highest possible level of quality assurance for a foreign engineering degree. If an employer doesn't know what ABET or NCEES are, then obviously it may not help. But it's the best you can do, as far as degree evaluation goes. Since submitting a degree for evaluation is probably easier and less expensive than earning a second degree or a professional license, it seems like it might be worth a try.

Note that there are different kinds of ABET accreditation. When engineering employers or licensing boards specify ABET accreditation, they typically mean ABET/EAC accreditation specifically, which covers traditional engineering degrees (civil, electrical, mechanical, chemical, etc). There are a few ABET/EAC programs online (e.g. Arizona State, University of North Dakota), but not many.

The Walden degree is in information technology, with ABET/CAC accreditation for computer science. ABET/CAC accreditation in computer science is not equivalent to traditional ABET/EAC accreditation in engineering. The Walden degree may be a perfectly marketable degree, but it is technically an ABET "computer science" degree, and not an ABET "engineering" degree.

 

I agree to all you are saying. It depends a lot on what the OP wants to do with the EE degree. EE is very broad, it can cover typical CS jobs such as software development to Power engineering jobs that require a real engineering degree.

My take is that is just easier to negotiate with a school like Excelsior or Walden an advanced standing based on the previous degree and get an American degree that is ABET accredited (CS or EE or EET) than having to deal all your life with bias because your degree is not American. My friend realized this after many years and just got a second degree that also helped with the green card.