Tag Interview

Hiring engineering talent can be challenging, especially if you are not a trained engineer. How you evaluate their skills depends on the position you’re hiring for, the types of projects they’ll be working on, and your company culture. With so many different types of engineers, you need different interview techniques to evaluate them properly.

This blog will cover three effective interview techniques that can help you evaluate an engineering candidate’s technical skills, as well as their personality and soft skills.

1. Focus on Content

Before interviewing candidates, you must decide exactly what core skills you are looking for. Look at the purpose of the engineering role and what technical or practical expertise is needed. Consider bringing in one of your senior engineers to consult about exactly what skills you’re looking for. You could also ask your whole engineering team what questions they would like to be asked to test a candidate’s aptitude for the position.

2. Be Consistent

Once you establish what you are looking for, be consistent with each candidate interview. Ask every candidate the same questions; this will allow you to effectively compare candidates and more accurately determine who fits the role.

Consistency in your interview questions helps you avoid being biased toward candidates. Prime talent may not shine on paper. Resumes, specifically educational credits and past work experience, can be impressive. However, just because a candidate looks good on paper does not mean they will be a good fit for your company and the role in question. Asking consistent questions allows you to compare candidates on a level playing field.

3. Be Creative

When it comes to evaluating engineering talent, be creative with your questions. The goal is to evaluate how a candidate will handle a problem or provide a strategy to help them succeed in the role you seek to fill. Your engineering team can be very helpful in formulating questions that determine technical skills and assess the candidate’s soft skills in handling situations.

Conclusion

Preparing an effective engineering interview takes time, patience, and focus. By focusing on the hard and soft skills needed for the role and enlisting your engineering team to help you vet prospective candidates, you can develop practical questions and techniques to interview engineering candidates and find the right fit for the job.

Let us help you hire top engineering talent! Contact ABBTECH today!

You want your job interview to be a success. This requires you to plan ahead for your interview. You want engaging and unexpected questions to ask your interviewer at the end of your interview.

Ultimately, there are several engaging and unexpected questions to ask that can help you stand out in a job interview. These include:

1.  Why Are You Considering Me for This Role?

In all likelihood, a job interviewer will ask you why you applied for a job with their company. Meanwhile, you can turn the tables on your interviewer by asking him or her why you’re being considered for a role. This gives you insights into why a company chooses to interview you for a position. It can help you understand what the company wants to find in its ideal candidate, too.

2. What Does Success Look Like in This Job?

By asking this question, you can show a job interviewer you’re looking forward to hitting the ground running at their company. The question lets you learn how a company defines success for the role you want to land. In addition, you can find out how the business will set up its new hire to succeed in the position.

3. Where Are You Currently in the Hiring Process?

It can be beneficial to find out when a company wants to finish its hiring process. This allows you to determine if the business’ hiring process aligns with your timeline. If it does, you may be able to boost your chances of securing a role with this company.

4. Why Did You Decide to Join the Company?

You can ask a job interviewer what prompted him or her to accept a role at a company. The interviewer can then explain the thought process behind why he or she joined the business. Asking this question can help you understand how someone else approached an opportunity to join the company.

5. Have Other People Failed in This Position (and If So, Why)?

No one wants to fail in a job. Yet, there is a reason why a role is open in the first place. You can ask a job interviewer if other people have failed in a role. This can help you understand the challenges associated with a job. If you feel ready to tackle these challenges, you may want to continue to pursue this opportunity.

The Bottom Line on Asking Engaging and Unexpected Questions in a Job Interview

How you perform in a job interview can have far-flung effects on a business’ decision to hire you. If you ask engaging and unexpected questions during an interview, you can distinguish yourself from other job candidates. You can also make a positive impression that helps you move closer to securing your dream job. At ABBTECH, our professional recruiters can help you get ready for IT job interviews. Plus, we can put you in contact with businesses in search of IT talent at your convenience. Explore our IT job board today!

Phone and virtual interviews have become the go-to way for hiring managers to vet candidates. Considering that 74% of recruiters find video interviews make the hiring process easier, they’re likely here to stay.

By adhering to best practices for remote interviewing, you can impress recruiters and improve your employment opportunities. Use these five tips to keep your interview professional and stress-free.

Prep Your Interview Space

Whether you’re interviewing via phone or Zoom, your environment should have good reception and no distractions. If possible, take the call in a private room where the chance of background noise is minimal.

If your interview is over video, tidy the surrounding area and remove distracting objects from the camera’s view.

Hold a Rehearsal Interview

Prepare yourself by coming up with responses to standard interview questions ahead of time. Common topics to prepare for include employment goals, personal strengths and weaknesses, your ability to work as part of a team, how you overcome challenges in the workplace, and addressing gaps in your resume. You should always plan your interview responses according to the business and type of job for which you are interviewing.

Test your microphone and camera before a video interview so you won’t have to troubleshoot during the call. Position the camera so it is level with your face. If you wear glasses, adjust your lighting to prevent glare.

Practice speaking into the camera, watching your posture and natural mannerisms. You should appear professional and engaged onscreen.

Stay Focused

During the interview, give the hiring manager your full attention. Stay engaged and interested. Try to limit voluntary fidgeting, checking your watch, multi-tasking, and unnecessary background noise. If you’re on a video call, maintain eye contact by looking into the camera.

It’s often difficult to read cues during a virtual interview. You can avoid interrupting by waiting a moment after the interviewer asks a question to make sure they’ve finished speaking.

Be Confident

Speaking with confidence is critical to nailing an interview. Whether you’re a seasoned contractor or you’re reentering the workforce after some time away, showing conviction in your abilities leads interviewers to take you seriously as a candidate.

Send a Thank-You Email

Finally, while you should always thank the hiring manager at the end of your interview, it’s a good idea to follow up with an additional thank-you message. This is a great opportunity to reiterate your interest in the position and highlight a few of your key strengths as a match with the position requirements.

Recruitment professionals speak to dozens of candidates each week. Sending a short, courteous email to thank the interviewer for their consideration helps you stand out from the recruitment pool.

Call ABBTECH Today!

ABBTECH places IT professionals in positions with small businesses, startups, and Fortune 500 companies nationwide and has nearly 30 years of experience in staff augmentation services.

Start your job search with ABBTECH today and connect with an experienced recruiter. Once we find a great match for your skill set, our personnel can assist you with every stage of the placement lifecycle.

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