Engineer your perfect career
When engineers are asked why they love their job, common answers include: the satisfaction of solving challenging problems; the exposure to advanced technology; the opportunity to work on global projects; and the pride in seeing the results of their hard work, whether that’s the latest electric vehicle or a lifechanging drug.
You’ll find that there are a huge number of engineering roles and specialisms to choose from across a range of industries, including: aerospace, automotive, chemicals, consumer goods and construction . Your job title could be the same as your degree discipline, for example mechanical engineer, or it could be based around a particular stage of the engineering process, for example design engineer.
Explore opportunities in engineering: graduate jobs | graduate schemes | internships
Figure out what you want
Your career options
Start with your degree
Do you know which engineering jobs you could walk into after completing your engineering degree? Our engineering degree guides will help you to discover which engineering industries typically hire your degree discipline and narrow down which would be your top choices.
Compare job roles
Engineering job descriptions
Find out more about some of the most common engineering job roles in the UK. What would life be like as an aerospace engineer versus a manufacturing engineer?
Get ahead
Gain skills and experience
Spend time as an engineering intern
Work experience will help you to develop your skills and abilities as an engineer – and improve your chances of securing a full-time job after graduation. Find out which employers offer engineering summer internships and placement years, plus what other work experience options you have.
Connect with engineering employers
Student competitions & events
Here at targetjobs we run a number of free careers events and competitions in collaboration with top employers. By taking part, you’ll develop your skills set, connect with potential employers and chat to current graduates and professionals. The employers we work with also actively hire for their intern and graduate opportunities through these events.
If you’re a female STEM student, take a look at our Future Female Engineers event.
If you like the sound of winning a paid internship or trip abroad with a top IT employer, why not enter one of our competitions? You could be crowned the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year or you could put your coding skills to the test in the annual targetjobs National Coding Challenge .
Getting hired
The engineering recruitment process
Make a great first impression
Most big engineering employers will ask you to complete an online application form as the first step in applying for their internships and graduate opportunities. You should still be prepared to submit a CV and covering letter though. For smaller employers, this might be all you need to send over email.
Free online learning
Complete mini career courses
If you prefer doing rather than reading, try Pathways – a range of free, short courses created by targetjobs. Each Pathway is devoted to a different career topic, from how to generate career ideas to how to find hidden internships, the fundamentals of presenting well and how to build connections on LinkedIn. There’s also a whole series of courses to help you get ready for the recruitment process, whether you’d like a helping hand with creating a master CV or you need to prepare for technical interviews. You’ll complete a series of videos, quizzes and real-world activities to help you master each topic. All you need to do is sign in or register with targetjobs and you can access all of the Pathways.
Explore postgraduate study
Many engineering employers value postgraduate qualifications, not least because having a masters degree is the fastest route to becoming a chartered engineer. A masters isn’t your only option though. Our advice features explore your options.
Our top employers
Industry leaders with a large annual graduate intake.
Featured employers
Active employers looking for graduate talent all year round.
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FAQs in Engineering
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How much do engineers make?
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A salary for a graduate engineer could fall anywhere between £20,000 and £35,000. Salaries with smaller and regional engineering companies tend to sit at the lower end of this range, while the most high-profile employers often pay more. targetjobs has previously seen a starting salary of £48,000.
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What can I do with an engineering degree, apart from being an engineer?
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An engineering degree opens plenty of doors besides becoming an engineer. You could opt to work in the engineering industry but in a different role, such as operations management, technical sales, finance, purchasing or logistics. Or you could move into a different industry or profession completely. STEM students are highly sought after in all sorts of organisations, including professional services firms and law firms. Explore some of your options with our article on alternative careers for engineering students .
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What is a chartered engineer?
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Chartered engineer status is an internationally recognised mark of excellence. To be awarded this status, you’ll need to prove that you have a met a benchmarked level of competence, set by the relevant engineering professional body. It is an impressive addition to an engineer’s CV, which is why many engineering employers support their graduates to work towards professional qualification as a chartered engineer. You can find out more about becoming a chartered engineer here .
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CVs, applications and tests
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Career ideas
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Internships
Completing an internship allows you to sharpen your skills, improve your CV, prepare for the world of work and potentially land yourself a graduate job. Discover what internships actually involve, how to apply for them and how to make the most of them.
Interviews and assessment centres
You impressed on paper; now it’s time to show the employer in person that you’re the right hire. Learn how to do this with our expert advice for answering interview questions, developing interview techniques and acing assessment centre exercises.
Job descriptions
Discover the qualifications, skills and experience you’ll need for more than 300 job roles and find one you’ll love.
Job offers and working life
Job offers, rejection emails and stepping into the working world with your first graduate job can pull you in a million directions. Fortunately, we’ve curated advice on how to accept job offers, bounce back from rejection and make an impact in your first job.
Skills for getting a job
Discover the skills that major graduate employers seek and how you can demonstrate them on your application form, and at interviews and assessment centres.
University life
Wanting to leave uni with a degree is a given. But what do you want from the other bits of student life? Discover how to combine study, rest, work and play with our insights from students and graduates.
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