How Electrical Engineers Can Spot Entrepreneurship Opportunity

Posted by Wasim Asghar on October 30th, 2021

Can you guess the most important thing that should be present in graduate engineers? An entrepreneurial mindset. But why is that important?

Because an entrepreneurial mindset is a mindset that will help them thrive in their personal and professional lives. It is crucial for engineers to have a robust set of skills. Their particular set of skills should include enthusiasm, critical thinking, resilience, strategic planning, confidence, and, most significantly, communication skills.

How Engineers Can Spot Opportunity and Create an Impact

Electrical engineering is undoubtedly a significant yet complex field of study. But what if after Preparing to pass the FE Electrical Exam, and yet you lack the confidence to create an impact in the world?

This is where an entrepreneurial mindset becomes a tool to make sure you are ready to work more confidently. As it aids them in taking on new opportunities and challenges. 

Let’s dig into the six factors that can be helpful in training undergraduate engineers to spot latest opportunities and impact:

1- Join Relevant Communities and get involved with other Entrepreneurs

Spotting upcoming opportunities become easy once you are a part of relevant communities. There, you stay in touch with other entrepreneurs and get a chance to learn new skills. Take the example of KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network). In this network, all national universities are working untiringly to produce engineers that carry an entrepreneurial mindset.

They are making sure that the future of engineers is helpful in terms of economic and societal growth.

A positive impact cannot be created by changing one or two institutions. This is why almost 43 organizations, along with 5,100 faculty members, are associated with KEEN. These faculty members are busy providing quality education to more than 80,000 undergraduate students studying in engineering colleges.

In short, the KEEN Framework is changing the educational outcomes by framing it with an entrepreneurial mindset. They are training young generations in a way that will make it easy to spot new opportunities. Young engineers will use those opportunities to design skills that can create a positive impact.

2- Improve Networking Skills

Train undergraduate engineers to improve networking skills because networking is their career lifeblood. It will be highly beneficial in their later life. Without engaging in networking, one can not grow their professional career.

Your exceptional skills or innovative ideas will not matter in the business world until and unless you focus on creating new connections. So, prevent your struggles from going in vain and start expanding your reach as much as possible.

Improve your networking skills by considering the following six easy tips:

1. Take Interviews of People: Everyone is ready to market themselves in the business world. Try to call out people and ask them for short interviews. It is the quickest way of expanding your connections.
2. Add Humour In Your Conversations: A person who knows how to use humor positively can excel in any field. If you use humor in your talks, it’s more likely that people will remember you for longer times. Furthermore, it will be easy for different people to approach you.
3. Focus on Active Listening: Among all networking skills, active listening comes first. To be good at communicating, one needs to learn active listening. Always try to respond in a manner that the other person feels heard. This way, you will build a soft corner in their hearts. They would also want you to meet their friends. In return, your networking list will keep rising.
4. Go To Networking Events: Attend as many networking events as you can before you graduate. Even if the events are virtual, attend them. Networking events are a great way of gaining updated knowledge from experienced personalities. While going to events, focus mainly on your attire and body language. Because it will also help you create more genuine contacts, you can question people regarding relevant topics to tell them that you are genuinely concerned about learning new things.
5. Spread Positive vibes: A positive and friendly attitude is what can get you success in networking. The world is full of negativity, and people are looking for positivity. So, be a positive individual. Spread positive vibes wherever you go. This way, people will get attracted to your positivity and would want to connect with you.
6. Be a Master of Networking Platforms: Have good knowledge of using different networking platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, emails, Linked In, Skype, Zoom, etc. Once you become a guru of cross-platforms, you can easily connect with famous entrepreneurs and organizations.

3- Take a Different Path

There are a considerable number of advantages of choosing a different path, especially for entrepreneurs. So, refrain from following the crowd. Intentionally try new things to stand out from the crowd. It doesn’t mean that you should not follow the basic principles. However, focus more on building unique interpersonal and creative skills.

Search for your own path to success by experimenting with new ideas. Everyone has a different mindset for solving critical problems, and they get incredible results from it. Never think that you can’t achieve something if you don’t go after someone’s footprints.

4- Volunteer to Lead Teams

One must build strong leadership skills to excel in their electrical Engineering Career. Volunteering to lead teams can be helpful in learning and polishing your leadership skills. In a group, everyone is striving for a shared goal. There, the role of a leader matters a lot in getting desired outcomes by maintaining a collaborative work environment.

Some other benefits of volunteering are as follows:

1.  It helps in understanding the whys of life.
2. Volunteering builds new connections.
3.  It enables us to see the importance of a grand vision.
4.  You get energized by working for others.
5. The confidence level gets boosted.
6.  You get an opportunity to work in diverse cultures.
7. It fosters teamwork and collaboration.

5- Practice Communication Skills

Electrical engineering is a suitable kind of job for introverts as it requires deep critical thinking, less social interaction, and more solo working. However, by working on communication skills, one can convert himself to an average extrovert. A little outgoing and communication skills will do an excellent job for excelling in an electrical engineering career. Keep looking for opportunities that are helpful in practicing interactive communication skills. They will benefit you in gaining the confidence required to move forward and facing upcoming challenges.

6- Work in Sales

Working in sales can help electrical engineers spot a lot of opportunities. Especially when it comes to creating genuine connections and expanding your networking, the sales job helps a lot. You learn various skills, such as lead generation, pitching your products and services, negotiating, reaching out to new customers, etc.

Apart from these skills, you can also receive high rewards according to your performance. The certificates and rewards you get from working in sales will be helpful in spotting relevant opportunities in the future. So, if you have a chance of working in the sales department, don’t lose it. Go for it and attain a new experience.

Conclusion

By considering the above-discussed tips and ideas, you can efficiently train undergraduate students to spot opportunities and impact. Try to teach them in a pleasant way, so they easily understand it and retain it for longer times. Know that nothing in this mere world is impossible. All you need is to adopt the right strategy to achieve success at any stage of life.