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Screening Questions for engineer
3

Screening Questions for engineer

Screening Questions for engineer

(OP)
Giving a phone interview (being the interviewer) to a prospective process engineer with 5-10 years experience, what would be your 5 screening questions?

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Why would you like to work for this company?
What do you like about (field applicable) engineering?
What is your experience in this or other fields?
What is your hobby?
What do you enjoy doing the most?

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Oh, I forgot..... Which is your favourite web page? thumbsup

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

What has been your most successful accomplishment at work?

Can you explain about a situation where you have changed your opinion about a course of action to take?

What lead you to become a process engineer?

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

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Why do you want to work for this company?
How do you handle dissenting opinions?
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment professionally? Personally?
What quality best defines who you are?
If given the opportunity, what one thing would you change from your past?
 

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP, Certified DriveWorks AE
http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Most important of all: "what year did you graduate high school?"

 

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

"Beauty pageant" questions might make the interviewer feel like he is doing his job, but I think they rarely reveal anything meaningful.  i.e. "What's your biggest fault?"

Along with technical knowledge, I would focus on problem solving and team skills.  I like candidates that have enough base knowledge to readily adapt to new situations and equipment.

I know engineers tend to be introverts, but I think that it is not acceptable for a candidate to force an interviewer to drag information out of him.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

TheTick,
It was asked about a phone interview. I would hardly hire (or try to get hired) over the phone without going face to face. Might do a little screening, but that's that.
Wouldn't you leave the meaningful questions to a face to face interview?

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

The phone interview is a culling process, right?.  You won't get any value out of it if you don't ask meaningful questions at the start.

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

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

MadMango, I stand corrected. It all depends on what's meaningful for you.
For a process engineer in my field, it would be important to have a personable guy/gal. That's a challenge when it comes to engineers though.
But yes, it is a way to screen, all depends on what you're looking for what you'd be asking here.

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

I always ask engineers in an interview "What resources do they use online that helps in their job?"

What software have you used for Process ID software have you used ... explored?  Pro/PROCESS and I RSD can both be used to aid Process engineers.   "How might you use those tools in your job?"

Bart Brejcha    Chicago
DESIGN-ENGINE|EDUCATION
http://www.proetools.com
surfacing and Pro/CABLE training
 

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

What was your worst job and why??  How did you resolve that problem??

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

No, asking what year they graduated high school would be opening the company up for a age-discrimination lawsuit.

Asking how many years of experience they have in engineering would not, although I find that's almost a sure-fire giveaway on the persons age.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

unotec, your reply makes nearly no sense.  I said nothing about hiring over the phone.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

TheTick, my wife says the same to me all the time.
I'm sorry, must have gotten lost in translation:
controlnovice asked: "Giving a phone interview (being the interviewer) to a prospective...."
What I tried to say is that, if I am going to hire through an interview, I would not do it on a phone one. I would use the phone to pre-screen the candidate with some relevant questions aiming towards the type of person I need and then, in a face to face, ask the more relevant ones.
Hope this makes more sense

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying " Damn that was fun!" - Unknown>>

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

unotec, From what I've seen that's pretty much the 'definition' of phone interview, so most of us probably figured it went without saying.

I'm not saying no ones ever been hired over the phone but usually it's just to see if it's worth the effort of having a real face to face interview, from what I've seen.

What questions to ask are going to vary.

For instance, if doing a phone interview for a lead drafter/checker I'd ask some basic questions about drawing standards, but not give them a GD&T test.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies recently, or taken a look at http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Q: "What's your biggest fault?"

A: "My biggest fault used to be that I would unnecessarily reveal weaknesses, giving away advantage when I could scarcely afford to lose it.  I've fixed that."

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

You're looking for "experienced" people-

We have no problem finding folks who will "get along", so we dispense with the touchy-feely stuff until after we know they've got the technical chops.  Sure, you're also testing for the basics, like ability to communicate etc. while you're asking the technical questions.

We find lots of folks who lie on their resumes and never expect us to validate the depth and breadth of the experience they say they have.  It's those that we're trying to weed out- the quicker the better.  Don't get me wrong- padding the resume is a time-honoured tradition- but if they say they've "worked with P&IDs", I want to know if that meant that they've developed P&IDs from scratch on a daily basis, or that they've seen a P&ID- once, on someone else's desk!

I'd ask a few technical questions that can be answered over the phone.  The good candidates will not only answer them, they'll perk up when you get past the touchy-feely personnel bullsh*t and get into testing their knowledge of what they do for a living.  The really good candidates won't guess at what they don't know- they'll reason from what they DO know and tell you exactly where they'd look to find the asnwers to the questions they can't answer off the top of their heads.

I'll also ask them what sort of work environment they're used to:  a compartmentalized one, where they specialize in their job description and have lots of subject-matter experts to depend on for answers to the tougher questions, or one where they've been acting as a jack of all trades (master of none).  That's a basic fit question for a workplace.  

Which questions should you ask?  Depends what sort of work your firm does!  You know better than I would.  If you're looking for 5-10 years experience, that's what you're testing for- is the experience they claim available, and relevant?  If the experience is NOT relevant, do they have access to the underlying fundamentals necessary for you to have a hope of teaching them what they need to know, or is it buried under 5-10 years of dust and rust and disuse?

Totally different strategy for fresh grads, or other job descriptions.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Hello everybody:

Even when all the questions on the posts are good ones, I wonder, how can you analyse the responses? Suppose that someone answers "... my hobby is to work in my garden" and another one says ".. my hobby is to work in the engine of my automobile". Added to the rest of answers given in the interview, which one (of these two) is better qualified to get the job.  

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

You'd have to ask follow-up questions.  Both of your examples require some degree of technical knowledge, hands-on work, troubleshooting and repair/replacement.  All good things in a candidate.

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

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

I always ask "What's half of two-thirds?" If it takes them more than 30 seconds to recover and answer, we move on to the next candidate.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

In reference to what year you graduated high school, yes, I have been asked several times and I will name names: Cummins in Columbus, IN. The people who interviewed me told me I was what they were looking for and I had every confidence I fit the job, but someone higher up that I never talked to turned me down. The head hunter inferred they were looking for someone just a few years out of college.

Usually it is the head hunters who ask the question. The company can deny it. Anyone over 50 probably knows that age discrimination really exists.

But I'm off the topic. Sorry.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Someone right out of school normally does not know they cannot abuse you.  The old guy will tell them to put it where the sun does not shine.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

I was asked by a hiring engineering manager at a small company to do a GD&T test.

Some of the questions didn't much make sense, so I failed per the manager's specs.

He said he couldn't hire me because I wasn't qualified. I asked him if he knew the answers. He didn't, I was hired.

It's just a game. It's how you make them react or believe that could make or break an interview.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Is there any good way to handle illegal questions about age, marital status, etc.?

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

"I can only discuss personal information to your HR department".
I was hired once for saying this. It showed that I understood ethics.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

the hardest question in my experience is "tell me about yourself" it is very open ended and seems easy but it is actually a tough question to have a good concise answer to.  and there will be "beauty pagent" questions in there but you still need to have good answers to them.  

i would suggest looking on the web to find common interview questions and then make up answers to them so you have a good response and are not stuttering your answer out in the interview.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Q: "What's your biggest fault?"
A: "I am a raging alcoholic with aggression issues."

Q: "How can you help this company?"
A: "By letting you know about all the dead weight you have lounging in the cubes."

Q: "Would you mind participating in a job simulation?"
A: " No, not unless the pay is simulated."

Q: "Do you work well with others?"
A: "Sure as long as they always bow to my mental prowess."

Q: "When can you start?
A: "As soon as the Illinois AG pardons me."
-----------------------------------------------------------
sorry, veered off the OP a tad.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Only one small question:

"Everyone has had some difficulties at some point in their carreer, tell me about a major problem you had at work with your former employer, co-worker or technical problem that you had to deal with, and how did you solve it?"

Don't be surprised if most candidates hang up on you.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

EngJW
It is not a good question. Most HR departments would not allow you to ask it.
It's the same as asking "how old are you".  Whatch out for the old fart you don't hire.  there is a lawyer under every rock.  

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

cry22: most of the interviews I've had, have been of this sort, I think they are called behavioural interviews.  I do like them, because they give me a chance to talk about previous experience & I think they provide the interviewers with a little more practical evidence than other more abstract questions.

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

Q: are you enjoying our phone conversation?

If she/he says yes, she/he is a liar and a butt kisser.
blllttt

Process - Piping
ing - EiT

RE: Screening Questions for engineer

I like to ask "Tell me about a time where you failed at an assignment/project/task.  What happened and why?"
This does several things for me.
1. If they blurt out some horrific situation, then you know to keep looking.  I had one candidate go into detail about an argument with a former employer/supervisor and how he ended up getting fired because he couldn't accept the management's decision. He also gave great details of the verbal exchange between the parties, including the profanity.  This is not the first impression you want to leave.
2. If they tell you they've never failed, they are not completely truthful or they're oblivious to the outcomes of their work.  
3. If they don't follow up with what they learned from the situation or they only blame someone else, they do not have the maturity I look for.  I typically give a chance for the candidate to make the follow up statement on their own first.  Then I'll ask if they learned anything or have changed their approach from this experience.  More often than not, the candidate does not have a response.
4. I appreciate a response when they state they did not have a 'failure' but the outcome was less than desired or did not meet their expectations.  This shows some maturity and development, not every situation turns out the way we anticipate, but the key is learning from it.

Candidates prepare to give examples that show their good work, particularly experienced candidates.  I know that I've learned most of my practical lessons the more difficult way, I would expect the same from others

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