Turnbull Engineering — Application

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Your details

Full name

Email address

01

Drive for impact

You're working on a client engagement and you can see a solution that would deliver significantly more value — but it sits outside your contracted scope. What do you do?

Choose the response that feels most true to you — not the one that sounds best.

Stay within scope and deliver what was agreed — that's what we were hired to do

Flag it to the client as an opportunity and let them decide whether to extend

Find a way to include the core of it within the existing budget without compromising deliverables

Raise it internally and document it as a future opportunity

02

Honesty

You're reviewing work that's about to go to a client and something doesn't look right — but you're not certain it's actually wrong. Time is short. What do you do?

Pick the option closest to what you'd genuinely do — not the one that sounds most diligent.

Let it go — I'm not sure enough to hold things up and it's probably fine

Flag it to whoever owns it and let them make the call — it's their work

Take a few minutes to check it myself before raising anything

Raise it immediately — better to cause a brief delay than send something wrong to a client

03

Selflessness

You're a few days out from billable work landing. In the meantime you're free, and some of your colleagues are under real pressure trying to get a proposal out — one that's due after your work is meant to start. How do you approach the next few days?

No heroic answer expected — be honest about what you'd actually do.

Use the time for myself — the work is landing soon and I've earned a breather

Let the team know I'm available and offer to help if they need it

Find out where I can add the most value on the proposal and get stuck in

Use the time for internal development — training, documentation, or something that benefits the team longer term

04

Professional curiosity

In the last six months, what best describes how you've engaged with ideas outside your immediate work?

Pick the one that most honestly reflects your recent behaviour — not your best month.

Read articles or listened to content in my field to stay current

Actively explored adjacent fields or disciplines out of genuine interest

Started a project, experiment, or side pursuit purely to learn something new

Mostly focused on what's in front of me — that's been enough

05

Courage

You're in a workshop and the facilitator introduces a concept that everyone else in the room seems to understand. You don't. What do you do?

Be honest — the room dynamic matters here. What would you actually do, not what you think you should do.

Stay quiet and look it up afterwards — no need to slow the room down

Ask quietly during a break rather than in front of the group

Put my hand up and ask — someone else probably doesn't get it either

Ask for clarification and admit I'm not across it, even if it's just me

06

Effective communication

You need to explain a complex technical issue to someone without a technical background — a client or senior manager. How do you approach it?

Pick the approach that most accurately reflects how you naturally communicate.

Start with the bottom line, then offer detail only if they ask

Walk them through it step by step so they understand the full picture

Use an analogy or real-world comparison to make it concrete

Ask what they already know first, then tailor from there

07

Contextual appreciation

A technically correct solution is proposed but you have a feeling it won't land well with the stakeholders involved. What do you do?

There's no universally right answer here — it depends on your read of the situation.

Back the correct solution — the right answer shouldn't change based on politics

Raise my concern and suggest we think about how to present it differently

Try to understand why stakeholders might push back before deciding how to proceed

Propose an alternative that achieves the same outcome but is easier to get behind

08

Innovation

When you encounter a process or method that seems inefficient, what is your typical response?

Be honest — innovation looks different for everyone.

I follow the process unless asked to change it — consistency has its own value

I note it and bring it up when the timing seems right

I usually try a better approach myself and show the results

I dig into why it works that way before assuming it should change

09

Technical ability

You're early in your career and have the chance to shape how you develop. Which approach appeals to you more?

Pick the one that genuinely reflects how you think about your own development — not what sounds most well-rounded.

Go deep in one discipline and become the person people come to for that thing

Build broad exposure across multiple disciplines and connect the dots between them

Find a primary discipline but actively seek adjacent experiences alongside it

Follow the work — I'll specialise in whatever I'm most needed for

10

Sound judgement

Tell us about a real situation — from work, uni, or anywhere else — where you had two reasonable options in front of you and no clear right answer. How did you decide, and how did it turn out?

We're less interested in the outcome than in how you reasoned through it. Walk us through what you were weighing, what you were uncertain about, and what ultimately tipped you one way.

11

Passion

Why Turnbull Engineering — and why now?

Skip the generic cover letter answer. Tell us what genuinely drew you here, what you hope to work on, and what you'd want to look back on in three years having built or contributed to.

By submitting you confirm your answers are your own and given honestly. We'll be in touch within two weeks.

Application received.