Recommendations on dealing with the unknown in interviews

[knji]

For those of you who have sat on on interview panel, what type of answer do you expect from a candidate, in response to a question, you know they have very little practical experience on?

For instance, say you are on a panel interviewing a candidate for an Instrumentation and Control position. This candidate matches some of the desirable qualifications like educational level, software design and creating specs, etc.. On the otherhand, this candidate has not been involved in valve sizing, retroffiting or commissioning in a real operating plant.

In response to a questions such as:

- What do you know about retrofitting and how much experience do you have in this depertment, or
- Tell me what you know about valve sizing, etc.

what type of a response are you expecting? Remember, it is obvious from the candidate's resume, that they have not done this in the field.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MedicineEng]

If by the CV you know upfront that the candidate doesn't have experience, asking hiumn this will only create unconfort for both parties, specially the candidate.
I would suggest that you change a little bit the question to:
"You know that the position that we are interviewing for will have responsibilities on valve sizzing, retrofitting, etc. How do you feel about that?"

 

[MikeHalloran]

You would learn more about the candidate by asking specific questions about something (s)he claims to understand, than by asking general questions about something outside his or her claimed expertise.

If you still feel the need to ask a question specific to your industry, you might frame it as a design challenge, i.e. outline a very specific problem that a newcomer might face once on the job, including goals, physical and political constraints, and ask the candidate how (s)he would go about deriving a satisfactory solution, and how it could be proven as such.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[prohammy]

I'm not sure I see the point of putting a candidate (regardless of his/her inexperience) on the spot like this. As Medicine Eng says, if you want to challange someone in an interview, then challange them. Showing them their deficiencies doesn't help anyone and will probably make he candidate feel very negative towards you and your company.

I had an interview where the technical director gave me a grilling, with hydraulic circuits, drawings etc laid out on a desk, challanging me to explain various items and systems as I interpretted them. Even when under pressure to answer, I still found this an interesting challange and very much enjoyed the experience. When I didn't know the answer, I told him so and when I did I tried to give as much detailed knowledge as I possessed. (I got the job, and subsequently asked the manager how I did in the interview. He told me that I got some answers wrong, some right but that it was my general style of answering, and that I stayed positive throughout, that got me the job)

With another company, I was made to feel basically stupid. There seemed to be no interest in my technical ability, all I keep hearing was you seem to have no experience of this or that. I subsequently got this job as well (no idea how), and it turned out that the manager who interviewed me was very poor technically. The whole demeanour of the interview left me wondering what the point of working for the company was. It was only when one of my friend's buddies talked to me about then that I decided to go for it.

To me the first company seemed to be interested in developing me as an engineer, the second just seemed to be just plain disinterested.



Kevin Hammond

Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK

 

[mechengdude]

Being in the position of the applicant, I have had specific questions asked that were not within my area of expertise. This was obvious from the resume AND the phone interview that was conducted. Unfortunately, you can't always insure you will get an intelligent interviewer so be prepared for these types of questions.

From the interviewer side, I would expect you to focus on the positive, such as "I've done XYZ and wouldn't have a lot of trouble picking up the skill that you are inquiring about"

 

[JJPellin]

Not all companies are the same. But when I interviewed for the company I work for now, I was asked questions by several of the interviewers that I was not qualified to answer. I don't think they were trying to trick me or be mean. Some of them probably did not take the time to study my resume. Others probably just wanted to know if I had more detailed knowledge than I could show on my resume. If they asked me "Do you have any knowledge or experience related to such and such?", I would tell them the truth. I would answer that I did not have any college courses or experience in that area but that I was willing and able to learn what I need to know to perform the job. The worst thing you can do is exaggerate your knowledge and get caught in a lie. By the same token, trying to turn everything into a positive statement about you qualifications can seem practiced. For example, if they ask what your greatest weakness is, do not answer that you work too hard.

Johnny Pellin

 

[swertel]

As an interviewer, I would not ask that question, at least not in that manner. I would ask questions to get an idea to know that you are at least familiar with the concepts and capable of learning them. Not having experience is totally different than not having even heard of such a thing.

And most job descriptions ask for everything in the ideal candidate. They are created with false expectations to reduce the number of applicants and "job-shoppers" to those who are serious about the position, or at least mostly qualified. For example, I haven't done composites work in 8 years, yet I just interviewed for a job that required composites and ceramics experience. I think it went pretty darn well. Fingers crossed!

--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

 

[kchayfie]

In order to put the candidate at ease, as a minimum I would preface the questions in the OP with something along the lines of "I see from your resume you haven't had much experience with... ". That way, they don't feel under pressure to seem like an expert but get the opportunity to demonstrate what they've had chance to pick up so far.

As an interviewer, I would be looking for signs that they have an understanding of the broader subject and the right kind of mindset to be able to pick up the finer details in the job. If you are looking at retrofitting while the plant is on-line and they are talking about things that could be done during the shutdown period, you're probably not on the same wavelength and they are probably not the right person for the job.

 

[IRstuff]

Machts nichts.

I've asked people questions about things they actually claimed to know about, and get, "Well, I really haven't done anything with that since freshman year in college." Honesty gets points.

My pro-active response to the OP's specific question would be, "As you know, I don't have any prior experience in that field, but I can learn and I can be good at it if that's what you need."

TTFN

Eng-Tips Policies FAQ731-376

 

[knji]

Thanks for all the good points.

I am preparing for an interview with a company that designs nuclear reactors, and want to make sure that I have all the grounds covered.

I just learnt about the position today (MMIR Project Computer Control Systems). Will learn more about this during the interview. Unfortunately, the position is not listed on the company's website so I do not have the duties and requirements.

It should be interesting.

 

[MadMango]

When people ask these types of questions, I think they are looking at your resourcefulness and problem solving skills. They know you don't know, but want to know if you know how to go about finding the answer, or at least the source.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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