When hiring an engineer, there’s a reality that their technical skills are really critical to the success of the work that they will be doing at your company. So how do you evaluate their technical skills to make sure that they are adequate for the position?
Even though some candidates don’t like to be “tested” on their technical skills, it’s important to evaluate their knowledge. Below are some suggestions on what you can do to evaluate the technical skills of the candidates:
1. Use a technical test to evaluate their skills before they come into the office. There are a variety of different tools that you can use to evaluate whether or not they have the technical knowledge that you have determined is important for the position. Some tools that you might want to consider
2. Evaluate their technical skills by using the technical know-how of the engineers that are already on the team. I understand that you need those engineers working on projects that exist now. But if you take advantage of the knowledge that your current engineers have, not only will they feel like they’re making a great contribution to the company by helping to interview candidates, it will also be a great way to see which of your engineers can possibly move up into leadership roles. And really who’s better to evaluate someone with technical skills than somebody who is currently doing the work right now and how?
By building in these evaluations into the interview process will consistently notice how the candidates are faring with your technical evaluation process. Keep in mind you may need to adjust your technical field testing over time, because you may find that certain questions are not helping you and the team to really truly understand the technical experience of the candidates. But over time you will find certain questions and screening processes will be a better way to truly evaluate the true technical skills of the candidates.
What are your favorite ways to evaluate technical skills of candidates?