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Tips for interviewer 5

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KENAT

KENAT

Mechanical
Jun 12, 2006
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Did a quick search, lots of threads with tips for the job interviewee but not so many for the interviewer so here goes.

I've just been asked to interview a potential senior Mechanical Engineer tomorrow morning (9:30 PST to be precise).

I've reviewed a good few resumes before and I've done a few interviews before but mostly to assess a particular aspect of someones qualification (such as drafting/GD&T etc.) not just a general 'sit with this guy for 1/2 an hour and get a feel for him to see if you think he'd be a good fit'.

So, any suggestions of the questions you'd ask, or other tips?

I'm not particularly interested in any 'trick' question or anything too 'HRish' but am willing to be persuaded otherwise as to their merit.

Cheers,

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If there's anything in his resume that you happen to know something about, ask him to explain it to you in some detail. The intent is to distinguish between someone who was doing the work, and someone who was watching the work. I don't think that's a trick question.

Ask him about his hobbies. For mechanical engineers, that's a relevant question. I prefer hot rodders, model railroaders, and gunsmiths.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
 
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Can he talk to people above/below his level of competence
Use the phone - same as above.
Use the computer - write a memo that makes sense.
Knows something about your company
Knows something about engineering
Can he manage a few people
Can he prioritize
Can he get things done in a timely manner
Can he read
Can he Google

If he/she can do all this - you might have a winner.
 
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Why did they leave their last job? and why did they REALLY leave their last job.

If it was a personality clash, does that trend follow them or does it follow their last boss. Independent investigation prior to the interview might help with that.

Regards
Pat
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Listen for evidence of attitude regarding past accomplishments. It is one thing for them to simply list off what they have done in the past in a matter of fact manner, but if it is something about which they are truly proud and passionate, it will show, and be a positive point in their favor; if it is also an accomplishment that would be highly valued by your organization, that may make up for a couple of negatives as well.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]
 
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Ask these questions:

When you beat your wife does she deserve it?

When you stole from you last job did you feel bad about it?

Really though I would start a conversation about the general job and let them speak about his past experiences. During this time I would be looking for clues as to what type of person they are and if they would fit in well with the organization. Does he want to be the boss? Does he think he is above doing busy type of engineering work? Will he produce inferior work if assigned lower level tasks? Some experienced people can bring a lot to the table but if they don't have any real interest other than getting a paycheck then it won't be good for anyone. All you'll get is a talking head sitting around who isn't producing.
 
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Not a ton you can see about his true work experience from a mere half hour, just what he can BS you about... but you can glean a lot about his general personality. Is this someone you wouldn't mind working next to on a project for 6 months?

All good suggestions so far... ask him to describe a project you can grasp well, then ask the same about something you don't know well (but can likely comprehend) and see how well he does describing it to a layman.

Dan - Owner
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You already mentioned "good fit" which is the key.

Look at what types of skills are required for the position. Are they technical? People skills? Both? Will they be learning most of the time? Leading other engineers? Talking with suppliers or customers?

Focus your questions on the areas appropriate for success in the job.
 
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Most times when I get asked to interview someone in a higher position than myself, my co-workers are looking to see if the candidate would make a good addition to the team, not on a technical level but related to their personality.

I'd let others dig deeper into the technical qualifications (especially if only 30mins are allowed), and focus more on discovering if the candidate has any "chips on his shoulder" or "quirks" that might not be nice to deal with on a daily basis if the person is hired.

Topics of conversation: enjoyed sports, hobbies, favorite food, last or future vacation

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


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Ask him to describe some design decisions he made and later regretted. What were the lessons learned, and how did it change the way he did things?

 
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Some interviewers think they are being clever by trying to throw the candidate off balance. I think there is more to be gleaned by putting the candidate at ease and seeing what falls out of their mouths when they let their guard down.
 
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Similar to graybeach,
What one task (product, project, analysis ...) is he happy with.
What one task is he unhappy with.

If you have time, if he could be a color, what color would he be?
 
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How did it go? what did you use?

I have been told a few times that if we have the right candidate come in for one of our posted job positions I would be in on the interview.

 
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Well, the guy was fairly, shall we say garrulous so I kind of went the approach MM & Tick allude to. Pretty much started with the classic 'tell me a bit about yourself and why you want to work here' which led to a brief conversation which gave me a rough feel for the guy.

I then asked him about work related but not hardcore technical stuff - like are you ok learning a new CAD system (not that exact wording but along those lines) what's your philosophy on GD&T/drawing standards (feeding off stuff in his resume) things various.

I basically managed to discuss non technical work related stuff in a way to find out if he had an obvious chip on his shoulder, was happy doing 'dull & dirty' work etc.

I also tried to remember he was interviewing us and so tried to give him a reasonable amount of info - hopefully not enough to put him off though!;-)

I thought it went pretty well and told my manager he looked like he'd be a reasonable fit, a bit more outgoing than many around here but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I then asked him what color he wished he was but he got all upset said something about discrimination due to being Hispanic and that he was gonna call the ACLU - so I promptly walked him over to his next interviewer that was handily HR.

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Pat, sorry, I was clearly too subtle.

I didn't really ask him what color he wished he was, I was being facetious about monkeydogs suggested question and how it could have gone horribly wrong.

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Mood colors, that sounds like the kind of touchy feely nonsense I meant by 'HRish' questions. If I'd asked the question, and he'd said anything other than "WTF" or equivalent, I probably would have nixed him there and then!

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