Engineering Interview Questions & Answers

The 1st stage interview consisted of 4 assessments, a spacial awareness test, pattern recognition test, mechanical test and numerical test. Successful completion of these got me onto the 2nd stage interview.

The 2nd stage was a practical mechanical test, where i had 15mins to resemble what was built in front of me. It was more fiddly then difficult. After that i had the interview with the Engineering Manager and HR.

The interview was pretty straight forward asking me about my previous experience and why I should be chosen for this position etc. Nothing too complicated.

"why should we choose you for this role?"

Do some background work. Know about the company and what they do because they will ask. Having some relative previous experience would also benefit you as they asked me about my previous experience and work.

4 test and a practical mechanical test.

The interview structure was 30 minutes test based upon a civil engineering highways problem regarding a new road planning application. this was then followed by a 15 minutes presentation based upon your findings. This was then followed by a 30 minutes interview regarding the candidate. This was more about what you bring to the team.

This was the only stage in the recruitment process. They advised me that from the initial assessment they wanted to know my about my basic understanding about highways and if I could interpret a CAD drawing. There were several deliberate mistakes made on the drawing which were very basic such as no dimension. There was also a test on your understanding of how a road structure is made. There was codes provided with adequate information on them such as concrete specification. This was all to be presented to the panel of judges after 30 minutes.

resources provided were:
scaled ruler, pen, pencil and calculator, 2 A4 sheets of relevant codes and a A3 drawing of the proposed planning application.

Name a time that you lead a difficult situation? (this was to test what I call a difficult)
Recall a time when a situation was negative and you turned it positive?
what type of team player are you? (leader, person who gives ideas)

Keep relaxed. Remember you are as capable of getting the job as anyone else is. Think outside the box. it is your time to show them what you know and what positivity you can offer them.

This wasn't a graduate scheme but I asked would they offer support in my achieving my charter ship and they said yes. Ensure you ask relevant question to you rather then general questions.

The assessment was one to one followed by a presentation. They were looking for my confidence to shine through in the presentation.

My initial skype interview was with a representative from a company chosen to undertake the graduate recruitment on behalf of Alstom. This was an initial short interview and it lasted 20 to 30 minutes. I was asked about my background (degree, grade, projects etc) and there were some more general questions like "Describe your strengths". I was also given a 2 minute time to explain why I am suitable for this job. This video was recorded and sent to the company to assess.
After I successfully passed this stage I was invited to the company for a face to face interview which lasted one hour and a half. I was also asked to do a 10 minute presentation on a topic that I was given after the skype interview.

Being a perfectionist, how do you cope with strict deadlines when there is not adequate time to make everything perfect?
Part of the job requires making reports and generally paper work. How do you cope with this part of the job that is generally the most boring?

It is important to do your best in the tests (numerical etc) because they are part of the assessment. The interviews are of course very important but if there are many applicants, it is important to be successful in this step as well.
The interviewers were relaxed and friendly and they wanted to know about my background to see if I would be a good fit for the company. So there is no reason to stress about the interview because it is mostly a casual conversation even though there are certain questions that you are required to answer.

There was not an assessment center. During the second interview with the company I was asked to make a presentation on a topic that I was given prior to the interview.

The initial telephone interview was conducted by a Recruiter which lasted approximately 20 minutes. He first asked me questions regarding my current status in my degree course and I was asked general questions relating to my engineering experiences in my degree course.
I was then asked a few basic competency questions and he was happy with my answers so forwarded my CV to the company. The company were also pleased so I was invited to an onsite interview; the interview was surprisingly really friendly and more towards being informal - nothing seriously difficult to catch you out. I was then given a tour of the site which lasted approximately 1hr30mins!!
The day after I got a call from the recruiter through which the company do all the correspondence saying I passed the interview; the next stage was a few questions which I have been email by the company, which I am complete correctly then the job would be secured.

It was just really simple and basic questions they asked so there was nothing difficult in all honesty. But just to choose 1, maybe 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?' is one which can maybe hit some people.

For an interview at CPL Industries, the best advice I would give would be to just be yourself and not feel nervous about anything. They treat the interview more as a basic friendly chat and I feel are more interested in how you feel when you are at the site and if you look interested to actually work at CPL.
Also feel free to ask whatever questions you want, even as much as if you have slight problems with the start date - as although I haven't been offered the job yet (since I need to complete the questions I have been sent, and send them back), I made them aware of slight problems with the start date and they are really flexible in trying to adjust to what you say as they have done with myself - they were wishing for the role to begin in July and as I am not free until after mid-August they are more than happy for me to start then if I am offered the job subject to me answering the engineering questions I have been sent.

No Assessment Centre - Just an interview with 2 Senior Engineering Managers and a site tour.

Rather than an interview with someone, there was a set of 8 questions and you had to record a reply video.
For each, there were 30 seconds to prepare about 1 or 2 minutes video recording that would start automatically.
Internet cconnection, webcam and audio level set up/adjustment was done beforehand.

Explain the physics behind an ocean wave. (2 minutes answer)

Be yourself and look at the webcam.
There is the tendency to look at the video recording of yourself but this looks bad in camera. You have to look directly at the webcam just like if you were having an interview with a person

not applicable