How to Assess Technicians’ Skills During an Interview

When hiring new technicians to join your fleet operation staff, you want top-notch mechanics who can quickly and accurately repair vehicles and get them back on the roadways.

Evaluating mechanics’ skills can be difficult during a standard interview.

While in-person interviews typically consist of question-and-answer sessions to get a better feel for the candidate’s background and personality, these formats don’t offer a lot of insight into the person’s skill set.

To help ensure you are hiring the right person, fleet operations can add skills tests to their interview process for technician candidates. This lets the fleet manager make sure the technician’s personality is the right fit during the interview and provides an opportunity to evaluate his or her skills during the assessment.

Take a look at specific skills your fleet operation might want to test for, and what types of assessments you can consider giving technicians.

Skills and Abilities

When testing the skills and abilities of technician candidates, it’s important to look for the right set of skills. According to www.criteriacorp.com, the top skills mechanics should possess include:

• Repairing
• Deductive reasoning
• Critical thinking
• Complex problem solving
• Active listening

Technicians will need to use these skills – either separately or combined – to diagnose vehicle issues and accurately repair them.

Types of Tests

To assess technicians’ skills, a variety of tests and formats can be administered. The type of exam your fleet operation administers can depend on resources to give and review the test, time available for the candidate to take the assessment, and the operation’s priority for what it values most – responses to questions and situations in a written or web-based exam, or on-the-job tasks performed during a practical test.

• Written or Web-based: Written or web-based tests typically consist of a series of questions testing a candidate’s knowledge and problem-solving skills. In these tests, the mechanic may be asked to identify types of equipment, read measurements on images of rulers and gauges, answer multiple choice, short answer or true or false questions about a vehicle, equipment or device, or be asked to make a decision based on information given.
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• Practical: In a practical assessment, mechanics can be asked to perform specific tasks to showcase their skills. These can include identifying tools, vehicle parts or features, and reading measurements on various parts of the vehicle. Tests can also include diagnosing issues on the vehicle or performing a task or repair on the asset.

The length and type of assessment given by a fleet operation will vary based on the operation’s needs and priorities. Fleet operations should ensure each candidate is given a fair test and the same opportunity to showcase his or her skills.