Interview Questions 2

[lindbls]

I'm going to be interviewing candidates soon for a licensed civil engineering position with the County government I currently work for. I'm seeking some creative interview questions that help gauge a persons qualifications, experience and ability to work effectively in a team environment. The person will be responsible for a variety of civil engineering projects (water, sewer, stormwater, solid waste). I can provide more detail if it would help.

I want to weed out the "paper tigers" and find someone qualified who can work well in a team environment, mentor and provide leadership to junior staff, and (ideally) bring both public and private experience to the table.

I want to avoid a full hour of "So, tell me about yourself" and "Why do you want to work here?" type questions.

Also, any ideas for "exercise questions" that can demonstrate experience?

 

[RDK]

Interviews don’t always have to be question and answer format.

Try a practical work example, ask them to actually do some task typical of the job. Survey, design, inspection etc.

If its a managerial level position have him give a (mock) subordinate a work assignment, then give him a partially completed work product that is not correct and off the mark and see if he can find it and how he responds and gets the subordinate back on track.

The Canadian federal government once had a “in basket” test. There was a pile of written material and correspondence to be looked at and the candidate had to go through it and draft appropriate responses to the material. There was simply too much material to be covered in the time allowed and the trick was to do a triage to the material. If you did that you found that there was some correspondence at the bottom of the pile that made the stuff at the top redundant and there was just enough time to get through most of it. Miss the stuff on the bottom while working on the stuff on top and you were lost.

Try role playing, have people act out the various roles and see how the individual responds. eg. Hold a mock meeting with people playing a contractor, an elected representative and a local land owner affected by a construction project. The candidate can be the Project Engineer and you can test his (or her) responses to the conflict and how he works at reconciling the various concerns.

Take the candidate to the break room at coffee time and see how he interacts with the potential co-workers. They may even be primed to start a discussion on some topic to see how he fits in.

Take him into the shop. Check to see if he looks around for safety gear (hard hat glasses, hard shoes etc.) before entering the area. Does he know enough to at least check on the local requirement for this or will he blindly walk in wearing his good suit and dress shoes? Does he look around for safe means of egress or does he walk under the crane?


Use your imagination and have fun. Interviews do not always have to be formal and stressful. Setting up a realistic interview with role playing and tests is a lot more work than “Tell me about yourself” questions but is a lot less work than correcting a hiring mistake and starting the recruiting process all over again.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[ctopher]

...also, do a search for "interview" in this forum.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[Ashereng]

In most employment agreements, there is a 3 month probation period.

I believe that there is no substitute for the real thing. I believe that it is nearly imposible to get a true picture of whether someone will work out in an interview because there are so many factors that affect whether the candidate will work out.

In my experience, even if the person is a perfect candidate, and you figured this out during the interview, they may still not work out.

I have experienced instances where the perfect candidate was rejected by his/her work team. If his/hers peers won't work with him/her, you will have a far bigger headache.

 

[Heckler]

Here is a good thread thread731-140695

 

[jdarco]

You need to identify the qualifications you are looking for, then develop questions to probe for those qualifications. Ask for specific instances of past performance, not hypothetical what-ifs.

For example, if working as a leader in a team environment is important, ask something like "Tell me about a time you had to manage other team members to accomplish a task." Then listen. Most times they give you half answers, almost always initially they are hypothetical. Keep pressing them to think of real examples. Don't let them off the hook. Sometimes it is extremely uncomfortable! It's easy to give the canned answer to interview questions, tougher to give real examples! If they can't come up with real examples, they may not have the experience you're looking for.

Having been on both side of this interview technique (after taking some HR courses on this technique as a hiring manager, my first job interview was using this technique on me!)

 

[RDK]

Even with a probationary period you still have paid the guy for the time, perhaps paid some relocation costs as well as the search costs.

You also have put a lot of your time into the hiring process and if you reject a guy on probation in 3 months then you are still at square one with no employee in place starting to become productive.

Then all the candidate search costs have to be paid out again etc.

Always better off to get the correct hiring decision made in the first place.

Hiring for other positions does however allow you some latitude.

I worked with a contractor that hired anyone who came through the door and looked healthy and appeared to have at least minimal intelligence and coordination. The position for entry level was night shift on a jack hammer doing demolition and other menial tasks.

The people were hired for 3 days at minimum wage and they were told that if they were late, lame or lazy then they could be fired at any time during the three days. If they worked hard they would be hired on for the job and given a raise to about 50% over minimum.

Some guys lasted an hour some were picked up permanent by the company and moved to the next job. Recruitment costs were essentially nil.


Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[Ashereng]

Rick,

I agree with your response. It is best to get the correct hiring decision made in the first place.

The hard part I see is the execution - how to discern everything that you posted during the interview process. I am not aware of any 100% proof method to achieve this - hense, the probation period.


Would you agree that there is no substitute for the real thing? If not, what is a good substitute?

 

[Ashereng]

What I am trying to say, in response to lindbls' OP, is that the probation period may be considered part of the "interview" - a long interview.

Sort of like dating before marriage.

 

[stanier]

I suggest that you include at least one woman on your interview panel. In my experience women generally are more attune to a person's honesty and integrity. It will also throw the candidate off guard in this blokey industry.

Skills can be learnt but aptitude, persistence and integrity are in a person's character and are far more valuable.

 

[GregLocock]

I think that is a pretty disgusting way to treat people. If YOU take them on, get them to leave the old job, move house, etc etc, and then turn around after three months and say, oh sorry I goofed, bye, then you ought to hang your head in shame. If your interview process cannot weed out the weak applicants improve your process.

I like Rick's idea of the role play. BUT...

I've been on the receiving end a couple of times, in both cases they got all the applicants around a big table and set us a task. First time, when I was a kid, I was completely bamboozled by the older, more experienced, applicants and basically contributed nothing. The second time, recently, we were given the usual silly project (design a car for the moon) and left to it. Since I've spent ten years sitting in teams designing silly things of various types, it was very easy to work out how to approach the problem, and I passed easily, even though I had backed the 'wrong' design and had to compromise (evil grin, yes you can game-plan).

However, in neither case did I think that the right people were picked by the process. Many good engineers are somewhat introverted, and many are a bit slow to get going. Dropping them unprepared into a management style stoush allows the bright big-mouths to shine. Neither job was really looking for bright big-mouths.

The best interview series I did gave me a free hand. If the aspplicant seemed reasonably OK we'd go for a wander around the lab, I'd tell them (some of) what was going on. If they grasped the opportunity to start making sensible suggestions, on they went to the next stage of interviews. If their reaction to the work in progress was out of line with their claimed experience, well, seeya.


Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[MikeHalloran]

One time I interviewed for a manager job. It started off as a standard q/a group interview with five people who would be my subordinates. Then they got into a heated argument with each other.

The Decision Maker was kind enough to later explain that it was staged, and I didn't get the job for lack of "conflict resolution skills", i.e., I didn't jump in and stop the argument.

I didn't, because I was curious to see who would prevail and how, and I had come from an environment where verbal conflict was common and even encouraged, and I didn't know which of them might be armed.

It's the only such interview that I've experienced or heard of in four decades in the job market. I have to admit that it's an effective way to screen for 'take-charge' types, if that's what you want.

;---

For technical people, I pose questions by sketching out a problem, and asking, not for equations, but what quantities need to be supplied to make the equations work. I never reveal the answers; I just record their response and pose another question. Real technical people think we're just having a nice chat; phonies come away shaking.

;---

I have no idea how to select for team players in a short interview. Maybe have somebody pop in with a typical "government work" question, like, "I want to raise the roof on my garage, and put a dance floor up there, and I have little money; what else do I have to do?" ... and see how they respond.







Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Ashereng]

I think that is a pretty disgusting way to treat people. If YOU take them on, get them to leave the old job, move house, etc etc, and then turn around after three months and say, oh sorry I goofed, bye, then you ought to hang your head in shame. If your interview process cannot weed out the weak applicants improve your process.

My apologies. You are correct. I took a look at your industry, and mine is very different.

In most industries, in most markets, my suggestion probably is not very good.


As I still think there is no substitution for the real thing, I will modify my suggestions with a few caveats:
- the candidate needs to know upfront that it is a 3 month probation
- the candidate is willing to leave their present position and take the risk, or is currently not employed and is willing to take the risk
- the candidate is local
- a very liquid market


In my current industry, here, the market is very hot, and movement amongst employer is very common. Many people work for 3 months, or less, and move onto a better paying position/company. Many don't, and stay. It depends. Poaching is not unheard of.

Most of my peers are independent contractors, and go contract to contract. Often the contract is for a project. Often, it is fixed term (e.g. 6 month).

Hence, it is relatively easy to structure a 3 month contract with option to extend.

I have within the last 3 years, signed a contract that:
- is for 4 months
- included a provision that both sides needs to give 1 month notice to break the contract
- included a signing bonus
- included a "contract fulfilment bonus" (if I stayed for the full 4 months, I get the bonus)

I have also signed a different contract for 17 days.

I agree with your response. It is best to get the correct hiring decision made in the first place.

I agree with you, it is best to get the correct hiring decision the first time.

 

[Comcokid]

Ask about hobbies or extracurricular activities in High School or College.

A guy who is really into fishing may be very organized - you don't want to come to a big bass tournament without being prompt and properly prepared. I work with a guy who is a skydiver - he is very organized and precise - you don't jump out of a plane on a whim! We use him do our design validations and design reviews.

Someone who has been in a team sport, band, or choir maybe someone who works cooperatively in a group. Team sport people may develop into coaches and group leaders. A track runner may tend to compete with everyone and not be group oriented.

 

[RDK]

I’d never do a group type of interview, even for hiring similar qualifications for multiple positions.

The person deserves your full and undivided attention.

I would not pay a lot of attention to hobbies. A person may pick solitary hobbies simply because after a day at work in a team atmosphere they want to relax alone.

I never placed sports of any kind in school. (Born premature near the end of the calendar year and so was always the physically smallest in my class.)

However I still consider myself a team player.

Mike

The process that you attended with the staged argument did not eliminate you because you were somehow an inferior candidate, it eliminated you because they wanted someone who would resolve conflict and not allow arguments to exist.

Look on the bright side, your background would not have made you a good fit for the company. The process saved you a lot of time and grief.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[MikeHalloran]

Rick, you are right, I was not what they needed, and I would have been unhappy there. It was a US subsidiary of a company from a culture known for outward uniformity and subtle but nasty politics. I hate head games.

I was conflicted about it because the Decision Maker was a stand-up guy, of the sort anyone would like to work for. I wonder if he survived.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[PSE]

I have started to see a "new style" of resume' that supposedly may help in regards to the interviewing process, that is the project oriented resume. Useful for people with work history and experience, you outline what projects and rolls you undertook while working for a particular employer. The implication is you can take a look at the resume and the candidates project exposure and participation to get a better feel for ability fit. The interviewing process then becomes more of a personality fit determination with a little technical fit thrown in for good measure. The downside is that these resume's will tend to be multi page affairs.

Regards,

 

[EngJW]

I went to an interview where they put equations up on the board for a course that I never took. Flunked that one. Had a group interview and got frazzled with all the stares. Flunked that one. I am also not a social butterfly so I would flunk the one with meeting people in the break room, unless they gave me a few weeks to get to know them. I can't solve problems off the top of my head without taking some time to think things over. Well, another one lost.

However, in my current job I think I am making a positive contribution to the company, and I get along with everyone from the owner down to the guys in the shop. Thankfully I was not subjected to any of those interviews described so far, or I would have been judged not qualified for my own job.

 

[Nella95]

lindbls : Please do try to avoid those open-ended questions, like "Tell me about yourself." Now, I can't speak for anyone but myself (I hit a rough patch over the last few years - downsized, and downsized)

So, as a professional interviewer - I know it's not fair - but I answered those open-ended questions, honestly and completely, but in the back of my mind, I always thought, "this guy/girl doesn't know what he's doing."

 

[cadnutcase]

I once had an interview for a CAD job in a college town where there are plenty of students willing to work for minimum wage. The interview went really well until it got to talking about money. The owner flat out told me that she would never hire me for anything more than minimum wage because she could get a college student for that much.

I tried to explain to her that she wouldn't be spending all of her time teaching me how to do things in CAD or design, and I was well justified for the money I was asking for.

2 years later I was giving a big presentation to some companies at the college and she happened to be there. She didn't remember me and offered me a job on the spot. She explained she was having a hard time finding good people who knew what they were doing.

I laughed at her and told her that I interviewed with her 2 years ago and explained that because of how that interview went I could never work for her company.

I look back on it now and am extremely glad I didn't get that job, it probably would have set me back at least 2 years in my career.