Feb '23 (edited) in 📣General discussion📣
Best Interview Questions for Technicians
I've been asked a lot lately about the best interview questions for techs (you can skip to the list of questions below).
Like everything else, successful interviews begin with the proper mindset.
Here's the mindset:
I was on a podcast recently where a shop owner said that hiring a tech is like a marriage because you spend more waking hours with them than your spouse. Here's the episode if you want to check it out:
So, in an interview you want to get a feel for the skill level AND the values / personal interests of a potential employee. Once you have a good feel for what the tech is capable of professionally and what they want to accomplish in their personal life, you can make a strong case for selling your shop as the perfect fit.
The opposite is also true. If they have personal and professional goals that you can't help them achieve, its best to end the conversation right there to save you both time and trouble.
This is the only way you can decide if they will be a good fit for your culture in advance of hiring them into your business.
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Here's a great list of questions that I've compiled over the years that will help you get a feel for who this person is sitting in front of you or speaking to you on the phone:
- Can you tell me a bit more about your experience as a technician?
- What do you hope to accomplish in your next position?
- At our shop, we commonly work on _____. Are you used to working on that type of equipment/vehicles?
- We use a ___ version ___ for diagnostics. Have you worked with that before? What’s your step-by-step approach to identifying a knocking in the engine of 2019 Toyota Highlander (or name another type of car your shop sees a lot)? [listen for a confident, coherent answer which will indicate the skill of the technician.]
- Can you tell me about a time when you worked really well with a coworker to accomplish a task?
- Are you comfortable helping out the team, or are you looking to put your time in and make hours?
- All of the applicants are equally qualified, why should I choose you over the other applicants?
- What is the value of your tools (minus toolbox)?
- What is the most challenging job you have ever completed?
- What are the values you bring to our shop?
- What’s going on that has you checking out new opportunities at the moment? Note: This is a softer way of asking, why are you looking for a new shop? Once you know what the main problem the tech is looking to solve stay on this and show how your shop is the solution, assuming that there’s a good fit.
- What type of schedule are you looking for?
- What are you looking for in a shop environment?
- Are you looking to train more? If so, how often? Training is important to technicians. This is your chance to tie in how much your shop trains or how easy it is for technicians to take time off of work to train.
- What’s the ideal environment that inspires and motivates you to perform at your best?
- Other than pay, what aspect of the shop is going to influence you to accept or decline a position?
- Do you currently receive performance bonuses?
- What pay are you looking to make at your next shop?
- What excites you? What’s cool in your life right now?
- Let’s start a whole new future right now. What do you want your future to look like?
- What was your previous employer like?
- Spend time with them and talk about their life. What’s missing?
- If we were sitting down one year from now and you were to look back over the previous 12 months and all your personal and professional goals had been accomplished, what would that look like?
Did I miss any of your favorite interview questions? Share them with us!
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Best Interview Questions for Technicians
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