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What are the Best Interview Questions to Ask Engineers?

Your company’s staffing process identified a few exceptional engineering candidates, so now the interviewing begins. This is the most important portion of any hiring effort, as making the correct decision is critical. After all, the wrong hire costs your organization immeasurably regarding time, resources, and productivity.

Ultimately, asking the right questions helps your interviewers find the star within your collection of engineering candidates. It remains the best way to probe into an engineer’s skills, experience, as well as career goals. So check out this list of the best interview questions for engineers to help you make the right hire.

Talk About the Most Challenging Project in Your Career

Answers to open-ended questions like these typically provide meaningful information on an engineering candidate’s skills and experience. You also gain insights into their personality and their ability to communicate when under pressure. If mentioned, pay close attention to their problem-solving acumen, as it is an important soft skill for any engineer.

Consider using this question format on other topics. For example, asking them about a challenging presentation or technical report offers a window into their communication skills. The same concept applies to difficult former managers or coworkers. In short, leverage open-ended questioning to generate insightful answers.

Describe Your Worst Mistake as an Engineer

Use this other open-ended question to learn about the candidate’s ability to react to failure. Did they take responsibility for it in a meaningful fashion? Also, pay attention to any lessons learned by the engineer. How do they prevent similar errors from happening in the future?

Do You See Yourself as a Leader?

With engineering candidates early in their career, it helps to know whether they hope to move into management someday. Use follow-ups to this question to probe into any leadership experience they possess. Perhaps they regularly spend extra time mentoring their coworkers? In the end, finding potential managerial talent among your engineers is a plus for your organization.

What Experience Do You Have in Process Improvement or Optimization?

This question lets you explore a candidate’s creativity in devising new or modifying existing engineering solutions. Also, pay attention to evidence of their taking a process-oriented approach to their new solution. Following a well-defined process remains a critical skill for any professional engineer.

If you need help hiring talented engineers, speak with the expert team at Venteon. As one of the top technical staffing agencies in Michigan, we provide the candidates your organization needs. Schedule some time with us as soon as possible.

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