Geotech/CMT & Environmental Firm. We are a relatively small (<150) employee company, and generally are interviews are on the order of 2 hours with lunch. This involves a tour of our office and soils/construction materials testing lab and sitting individually or with small groups for 15-20 minute periods to give the candidate an opportunity to talk with the engineers they'd be working with and the engineers an opportunity to get a feel for the candidate. Lunch would be a group of 4-8 individuals, depending on who isn't in the field that day. With a younger engineer with less experience, we try to make lunch a mix of "old dogs" but more of the younger engineers so the candidate gets an opportunity to talk with both employees that are only slightly ahead of them in experience (potential peers) and much more experienced engineers (potential supervisors/managers) and get a feel for the culture.
Usually, no actual technical presentation per se, but we do discuss technical work such as example projects during the interview to gauge the candidate's interest. We do technical presentations at our local universities to engage with current students as industry representatives, and sometimes that will lead to meeting potential candidates for future interviews.
Obviously, Covid19 has put a damper on all of this. More phone interviews have been performed to screen a bit more than we traditionally have, which usually only involves 3 or so people plus the candidate on the phone/video conference call. That has only led to one face-to-face interview (which was only last week). While it was in our office, the interview was held in our larger conference room to ensure social distances were being maintained. After their tour, they kept to the conference room and employees took it in turn to visit the candidate, rather than taking them around the office to individual offices. Also, no lunch.
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Lawrence Simonson P.E., M.ASCE
Senior Engineer
Bunnell-Lammons Engineering
Greenville SC
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 05:05 PM
From: Jameelah Ingram
Subject: Interview Format for Engineers with 0 to 2 Years Experience?
Good Afternoon,
What does the standard interview format look like for engineers with 0 to 2 years of experience?
Please share any formats/logistics that work well for this level of experience. (For example, how many hours did the interview last? How many people participated as interviewers? Did you all incorporate lunch or technical presentations?)
Thanks so much for your feedback,
Jameelah
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Jameelah Ingram, P.E., M.ASCE
Washington, DC
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