Interviewing

[timmay]

Ok after a year in school and no field experience I am about to embark on my first interview with an HVAC company.

My work history is a bunch of years in the resturant biz, and a bunch more in the publishing industry.. Interviews for both of those industries was different so I expect this to be a wholey different approach too.

A) what should I expect to be asked
B) Attire.. what is appropiate, what is too much
C) Any suggestions you have, help me woo them over.

Like I said. I've been in school for a year... just no field experience. I know my txvs from my cap tubes, my high sides from my low and my line v from control v. I can sniff out a fault from a mile away and have a purty smile.

any help would be appreciated.

[woowoo]

Be early
Be sober
Be honest

[Noel Murdough]

Be clean

Be attentive

Be holding a clean driving record

[Irascible]

Good techs are so hard to find that if you strike him as a good one, you're in like Flynn. If you're already a good in the sense that you're as good as you can be for just having gotten out of school, just be yourself and relax. If the person interviewing is worth a damn, he'll sniff that out with no problem.

If you have to convince him, I wouldn't bother anyway. If they have to be cajoled into seeing you for what you are, they'll probably have to be cajoled later into believing you over a customer if there should be a dispute. They'll also have to be cajoled into giving you a raise when and in the amount you deserve.

I've personally never worried about impressing a potential employer. I know that I'm honest and I do good work. If they can't figure that out, they can't see the forest for the trees and I don't want to be there.

A) Expect technical questions. They may even have a written test. After that it's anyone's guess. Some will stick a probe up your rear. Others will talk about fishing. When I interviewed in a different industry I didn't care much what we were talking about, I just wanted the potential employee to talk. The more they talked the more I got a feel for who they were.

B) Dress in your nicest, non-garish, non-suit clothes. If you don't have nice, non-garish, non-suit clothes then what are you doing in my trade?

C) Wooing is a mistake in my opinion. See the above. The only time I think wooing is perhaps necessary is for an extremely high demand job that gets more applicants than it needs. Since you're right out of school, I doubt you have much chance for such a thing anyway.

[Roscoe]

"you're in like Flynn".

it's "In Like Flint"
a movie from 1967
James Coburn

hey timm
these guy's got it right, good luck

I wouldn't count out a suit jacket and tie I'm impressed when a tech comes in w/ a jacket and tie

[Edited by pjs on 07-21-2004 at 05:31 PM]

[Irascible]

Flynn rhymes better. Take note Tim. You could potentially "woo" the interviewer with you're knowledge of movies made before you (or at least I) was born.

Indeed, I'd be impressed with a suit too. However, I wouldn't be unimpressed with something else. And I imagine there's a few old farts out there that might think you too soft handed if you were wearing a suit. Of course... IF they actually thought that then perhaps they're an older gaseous emission than you'd want to work for anyway. LOL!

[Edited by Irascible on 07-21-2004 at 05:35 PM]

[Roscoe]

Old fart
ya snot nosed kid
the proper dress shows RESPECT
"find out what that means too me"
ah ya don't know what that means

[Irascible]

Indeed. Since I like suits too, I must have an "air about me" as well.

I was thinking my former old timey employer. In his world a man got his hands dirty, worked unsafe hours at low wages and didn't need no new fangled electronic leak detector. Soap bubbles have been serving man since the invention of soap!

[timmay]

alright all of this is doable.
Sober- check
on time- always
Driving Record- spotless
honest - read above.

so resume? no job experience. How much detail from jobs not related to the industry to i give up. other than title, and length of time employed?

this interview just fell into my lap, and i wasn't prepared... so bear with me

[Irascible]

Ah come on now. You've been in TWO other industries. You know the resume shtick. You put down the same old boring and useless garbage as everyone else does and be done with it. If there's anything in the past relevant to the present then focus on it. I was a fast food manager as teenager and did rather well at it. So I focused on the fact that my former employer was willing to entrust the care of his million dollar facility to me for eight hours at a time and that I made him good money. If there isn't anything relevant than just summarize.

Don't be so insecure! That is, unless you have reason to be. In which case, be as insecure as you like!

[hvacman05]

I always thought, and have been told, that you dress as if you were going to start the job that day. So my question is, would you do this type of work in a suit, or Khakis and a polo shirt? This would look professional yet comfortable and easy to move in, right?
What would you do if you were interviewed by the person who only does the book work and has no experience in or knowledge of the field?

[timmay]

Originally posted by Irascible


Don't be so insecure! That is, unless you have reason to be. In which case, be as insecure as you like!

not insecure. i just stay with companies for a long time... my resume for the past 15 years... 3 jobs. i get rusty with this whole "interview" thing. This is a big leap... so i'm just nervous.

so yeah i just summerized. title and start/quit date.

[AIR PRO]

your resume is just a formality, be yourself. If you came into my office wearing a suit, I would refer you to the door to door marketing company across the street. I have a blank standard wiring schematic(without the wires) that I use on all of my potential interviews...simple basic straight cool system, no tricks. if you can connect the dots, you get past the office manager(my wife, she hates being called a secretary!)After that,I will ask you a crapload of technical questions, and why you think I should hire you,if you answer the tech questions to my satisfaction,you get to have lunch with me! this stage is just to find out if I can trust you, obviously if I take you to lunch, you are feeling pretty comfortable at this point...don't let your guard down, and don't refuse to have a beer with me at lunch (unless you don't drink).
Usually at this point, I pretty much know whether I can trust you or not, and this is my deciding factor on whether I hire you. If you make it through lunch, you are pretty much locked for the job.

Maybe a little off the wall, but it has worked for me thus far...breaking the ice is the toughest part, after that.....it's cake. Good luck!

[Edited by Hawk327 on 07-22-2004 at 01:41 AM]

[beeza]

Well I just got done with my interview about 45 minutes ago. I have absolutely no experience in the field/and or school (yet).

Some of the questions asked were:

-Why is it you want to work as an HVaC tech?
-What kind of pay do you expect?
-Are you able to get along with people?
-HVaC can be very very hard work, are you sure you can handle it?
-Hows your driving record?
-How long is your commute to work?
-What do you make at your current job?(Application probably asks anyway)
-Where do you see yourself 5 years down the road? 10 years?
-Would you work overtime if necessary?

Those are some of them. My interview was very casual and laid back..fortunately. I wore a dress shirts,pants,shoes, but NO tie and the top button was not buttoned. The General Manager whom interviewed me wore a VERY wrinkled polo/golf shirt lol.

Good luck to you, and I hope your interview goes well and is laid back. Professional and up tight interviews are STRESSFUL.

-Brian

[timmay]

My interview went well.

I even studied up on wiring diagrams just in case they wanted to throw a quiz at me... give em to me CS CSCR PSC... but none of that during the interview.

We'll see. My only flub was talking money. I stammered on my current take and expectations.

[Roscoe]

How did you dress?

[timmay]

My best pair of black pants, and the designated funeral/wedding shirt.

[Irascible]

LOL! "Disignated funeral/wedding shirt."

I only wish I had cloths long enough to give designations. I designate on the fly when the call comes in. Whatever happens to look the nicest at that moment gets called up for duty. It's often a work shirt.