Interview Tips To Land Your Dream Engineering Job

Got an interview for an engineering role coming up? Here is our checklist for ensuring you make the right impression.

However experienced you may be, if you are interviewing for a ‘dream’ engineering job you could find nerves getting the better of you. After all, knowing that your dream career move is dependent on one or two meetings can leave anyone feeling anxious.

Preparation is the key to ensuring you perform at your best in an interview situation; trying to ‘wing’ it can make you come unstuck.

With that in mind, refresh your interview skills with these best practice tips and give yourself a great chance of making a the right impression to the interviewer.

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

ASSESS YOURSELF

Put yourself in the interviewers’ shoes. Compare your CV with the job description and ask yourself what will the interviewer hone in on. Are they going to want to know more about a particular role and how it relates to the engineering position they have? Or will they want you to clarify your experience in one area that they’re looking for because your CV doesn’t have much detail?

They’ll be exploring your strengths and weaknesses. The experience and skills that got you on the shortlist in the first place, and the weaknesses or areas that you may be less strong in.

THOROUGHLY RESEARCH THE COMPANY AND HIRING MANAGER YOU ARE INTERVIEWING WITH

Researching the company is so important when interviewing. Interviewers want to see that candidates want to join their company for the right reasons. Demonstrating that you have knowledge of the company’s current projects or standing in the industry, will show that you are serious about working for them. Even taking a look at the hiring managers LinkedIn profile to see their background, can help to bring up conversation topics and commonalities in the interview.

PREPARE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER TO YOU

What are the key questions for you that you need to know before committing to a new company? Is company culture really important to you or is learning and development high on your priority list? Preparing these questions beforehand will ensure you find out whether this jobs fits you or not.

DURING THE INTERVIEW

MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT AND POSITIVE BODY LANGUAGE

Maintaining eye contact is more important than you think. Around 67% of hiring managers across all industries have not offered a candidate a second interview/the job, as a result of the interviewee not being able to maintain a certain amount of eye contact.

It is also important to have positive body language whilst interviewing. Most successful interviewers can mirror the body language of the interviewer. If the interviewers body language is quite relaxed and informative, it’s OK to do the same. Just don’t try and copy their every move!

BE CONFIDENT, NOT ARROGANT

Employers love confidence in their staff. Someone who exudes confidence is likely to be good at building relationships with other employees, and clients, and more likely to fit in. On the contrary, there’s a fine line between being confident and arrogant.

BE PERSONABLE

No one likes a boring Q&A session. After all the interviewer needs to hire a human to do their job, not a robot. Try and turn the interview into more of a conversation by asking questions and engaging with the interviewer.

SALARY OR BENEFITS ARE NOT IMPORTANT DURING INTERVIEW

Do not talk about how much the salary for the job is or what the benefits are. The point of the interview is for the interviewer to find out if you are right for the company and if the company is right for you. Leave all talk of salaries and benefits with the recruiter or HR team.

ASK ABOUT NEXT STEPS

Make sure you come out of the interview knowing what the plan of action is moving forward. You don’t want to be chasing them up for feedback if you know they are interviewing other candidates and are nowhere near making a decision.

TELL THEM YOU WANT THE JOB

If you truly want the job, tell them at the end of the interview.

AFTER THE INTERVIEW

PROVIDE THOROUGH FEEDBACK TO THE RECRUITER

Speak with the recruiter as soon as you can to provide thorough feedback and also bring up any concerns you may have. Recruiters may be able to iron out any issues or even ask questions you may have forgotten to ask in the interview.

DO NOT PESTER FOR FEEDBACK

Showing you are interested in the job is great. Consistently asking for feedback has a slight whiff of desperation about it. If the interviewer has said they will provide feedback in a week, wait a week then send them an email to ask about next steps.

If you have any more tips to add or have any questions on these interview tips, leave a comment in the box below.

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