aptitude testing for prospective employees 2

[eglide]

I'm looking for a good written test to evaluate industrial maintenance mechanics. Test needs to address knowledge of mechanical, hydraulics, pnuematics,welding,piping,electrical etc. Does anyone have perhaps something as an alternative to those offered for sale on the web that they have found useful?

 

[Barry1961]

One test I found very usefull was showing them various components that they would be using or working with. You could learn a lot by the way they answered or described a component.
For example I would show them a 3/8-16 SHCS and ask them what is was. Possible answers could be, a bolt, a coarse thread bolt, a UNC bolt, allen head bolt, a screw...
Then I would ask the drill size for tapping a hole for the bolt. Possible answers could be 5/16, .312, .3125, depends on percent of thread you want, 7.9mm......
Then I would ask what you use to tighten it. Possible answers could be, a wrench, a allen wrench, a 5/16 hex wrench, a 312 hex wrench.......

Asking them to identify and describe what they would be working with was the best test I ever used. Their answers would tell me not only if they had experience with the component but what type of experience and to what extent.

The people I was interviewing all seemed to like this type of test also. One of the reasons may have been that I would be the one writing down their answers on sheet with the names of each component. I would have a little list of key words I was looking for like 3/8-16, UNC, SHCS, Alloy, Grade 8 and put checks by them. I would also have room to make an extra note if needed.

Not sure if you can use this but it really worked great for me.

Barry1961

 

[Barry1961]

One other thing that is a little off the path...

I noticed that often times the people with the most experience and highest skills would be the most nervous at the start of the interview. I found it was best to ask a the applicants general questions, "live in town long?", until they got relaxed before starting the test. Sometimes telling the person a little bit of information about yourself or a joke will relax them, make you seem more friendly. I would also explain the test and say I did not expect them to know everything. Also I would allow them to re-visit a part if they remembered something about it.

I think the reason a lot of the high skilled people were nervous at start of interview is that they had very little experience in interviewing. Often times the shop people, electricians, mechanics and machinist, would interview a lot better walking around in the shop instead of in a office. Put them where they feel at home, not in a place that most of the time means "your in trouble".

Good luck, Barry1961

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Barry, you deserve a star for those posts. I consider myself an accomplished electrical engineer and embedded programmer, yet I often feel like I'm back in school with a pop quiz. I may totally bomb on those tests, but put some hardware in front of me and a computer to program it with and I'll make the parts sing. Unfortunately, some engineering "managers" feel "smart" engineers should be able to perform odd feats upon command with no time to relax and fully consider the problem.


Dan
Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[Barry1961]

The most skilled and productive technical people are often the ones in the cube you need GPS to find. They are there so they won't be disturbed while they are making the company a bunch of money. They don’t spend much time interacting with other people.

If for some reason they ever end up job hunting they are often very bad at it while the people fresh out of school are very good at it. This is of course because the people fresh out of school have just completed training on interviewing and passing employment tests.

I really don't know how a HR person can give some of these techs a "good" interview. Some of the best techs come in sweating, stammering and staring at their feet, so nervous they can't spell their own name. Of course if you set them down with another tech in the corner cube for 15 min. they are chatting away telling war stories and telling jokes 99% of the population would not get. But you can not have your corner tech spending 15 min. with each of the 50 people interviewing. I was lucky because I was a tech myself.

One thing that might help is to talk to a couple of people in a position similar to the one you are trying to fill on what a good screening test or method might be and what type of environment would be best.

One lesson to learn from this may be for the technical people to learn to be better interviewees. In today’s world you never know when your division could be bought and closed. If you are looking for another job in a large company “good benefits” you may not make it past the first cut where you get the chance to talk to someone who even understands the language. One thing you can do is to get a copy of the test your company uses and practice on it. Another one is to practice interviewing with a friend and video it; it is an old idea but really works.

Your first job at your new job is always to get the job. It is up to you to have the skills to get job, not the HR person.

I hope reading this has been a total waste of your time.

Barry1961