If CE were to hire for engineering positions - how should be our recruitment process?

@thebigk • Oct 25, 2024

Oct 25, 2024

1.1K

Imagine that CrazyEngineers is looking for really talented engineers - just out of college or with some experience to work on some really interesting projects that requires engineers from all disciplines - from Computer to Metallurgy. How do you think should be our recruitment process? Let's start with -

1. Eligibility Criteria: What should be the eligibility criteria to apply for CE?

2. Application Procedure: Tell us how should the application procedure be?

3. Selection Procedure: Would you expect regular aptitude tests, technical interviews, HR interviews, psychometric tests and so on? Or do you imagine something different in this process?

Let's see what CEans can think of 😀

PS: This may help us decide our actual hiring policy!

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Mayur Pathak

@mayur-ywQKfu • Dec 25, 2012

This is very good. We are anyway looking to hire interns. It will be nice here from you guys.
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Ambarish Ganesh

@ambarish-PQyoXg • Dec 25, 2012

Eligibility- Open to All.

And regarding application: Each applicant could be asked to explain one concept (totally their choice!) from his/her respective branch in the simplest way possible. That way you'll be able to judge their writing along with their engineering expertise. Explanation that works best with the masses is obviously your *to be selected* 👍
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Dec 25, 2012

Interesting! But is that all we should do to recruit candidates? Asking to explain any concept could just be a part of technical round of interview, right?

How about giving a real-life problem to solve for about a week and then finding out how they approach it? Can we think of something even more interesting? 😀
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Ambarish Ganesh

@ambarish-PQyoXg • Dec 26, 2012

The_Big_K
Interesting! But is that all we should do to recruit candidates? Asking to explain any concept could just be a part of technical round of interview, right?
Technical interview mostly judges what the student has already understood. The above approach will judge how well can a student MAKE others understand. 😀

How about giving a real-life problem to solve for about a week and then finding out how they approach it? Can we think of something even more interesting? 😀
This sounds pretty cool too! That way an existing problem could be scratched off right away, assuming that a week later a few awesome solutions do pour. 👍 I'm eagerly waiting to study the problem the students shall be given. Tracking their approach should be equally fun.
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Mayur Pathak

@mayur-ywQKfu • Dec 26, 2012

The_Wise_Fool
This sounds pretty cool too! That way an existing problem could be scratched off right away, assuming that a week later a few awesome solutions do pour. 👍 I'm eagerly waiting to study the problem the students shall be given. Tracking their approach should be equally fun.
Why dont you tell us about the time when you faced such a real life problem, even if it means repairing a cooler, and you came out with brilliant ground breaking solutions? A descriptive answer will be good. 👍
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Saandeep Sreerambatla

@saandeep-sreerambatla-hWHU1M • Dec 26, 2012

Wow! good to see the responses here.

A real life problem will help and trust me if you ask any person to explain something clearly if he does so well then he is good. No person can explain well if he dont actually study and understand it. You can even ask about the current project they are working on , we can also understand the person depending on his answer.

Apart from that, repairing a cooler (eg) thats really cool and I am game 😀 I already repaired my refrigerator and bike 😛. and they are good!
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Saandeep Sreerambatla

@saandeep-sreerambatla-hWHU1M • Dec 26, 2012

And I would say that, if a person is really good I think CE should give him a chance in working out on his skill rather than his experience in any field.

For eg, A tester can be a good electrical engineer, so he should be working as a electrical engineer 😀
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Ambarish Ganesh

@ambarish-PQyoXg • Dec 26, 2012

mayurpathak
Why dont you tell us about the time when you faced such a real life problem, even if it means repairing a cooler, and you came out with brilliant ground breaking solutions? A descriptive answer will be good. 👍
I can't claim of any groundbreaking solution, but I did make a mechanical fan that was pretty awesome. 😀 - again, not a new concept. It was something I had read in a DIY project.
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Ramani Aswath

@ramani-VR4O43 • Dec 26, 2012

The_Big_K
How about giving a real-life problem to solve for about a week and then finding out how they approach it? Can we think of something even more interesting? 😀
That is how I used to teach at IIT M. During the Indo-Pak warin 65 the class were divided into groups of four and asked to come up with ways of getting potable water for our troops on the move in the Rann of Kutch. Amazing solutions came up. One of the best was to use the heat wasted in the radiator of the heavy trucks to distill water. These were workable designs. Cost is not a primary concern in defence applications. By the way these were out of syllabus projects with no particular advantage in doing it. Just the fun of creating. Enthusiastic students went after such projects in great detail.

As far as recruitment is concerned, the best way that some of us found for R&D was by word of mouth. Ask senior concerned colleagues to suggest names, talk to these individually and then follow whatever procedure is in place to get them in. We had one of the highest hit rates, with rarely a total failure.
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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Dec 26, 2012

1. If you can find candidates who are "ALL-QUALITIES-IN-ONE" packages, then they are the best.

2. A combination of Wisdom, Skill and Willingness to learn is required in each candidate. This can possibly be found out by the HR managers during their HR round of interviews.

3. However, there are a lot of shy candidates who don't open up easily. They may spoil the HR interview with their nervousness, but they could be good when handed a job. In that case the project work/technical sections will help pick the right candidate.

4. After the interview, there are some candidates who do not remain loyal to the company - either because they do not like the job or because they are too lazy to develop themselves. In this case, group discussions and leadership qualities exhibited in the group can help select the candidate.

5. The interviewer should be keen to note the personality of the candidate while selecting him/her, although the marks may not be very high. Also, extra curricular activities, and the corresponding certificates achieved, help to know more about the personality.

6. Moreover, a 3 month probation period will really tell you if a candidate is worth to work in your office or not.

7. Never under-estimate freshers. Eventhough they may seem useless at first, just give them the time and the necessary possibilities and ambience to learn the job, and they will easily grasp the work.
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Dec 26, 2012

One company I knew first put the candidate through regular technical rounds of interview. If the candidate cleared them, the company would ask the candidate to work for them for about a week. In one week, the candidate would interact with as many existing employees and the company would decide on hiring only when everyone said 'yes'.
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Anoop Mathew

@anoop-FRTf1L • Dec 26, 2012

The_Big_K
One company I knew first put the candidate through regular technical rounds of interview. If the candidate cleared them, the company would ask the candidate to work for them for about a week. In one week, the candidate would interact with as many existing employees and the company would decide on hiring only when everyone said 'yes'.
I know a similar company where a friend of mine works. She told me that freshers weren't allowed to mingle with each other for about a week, as part of their intensive selection process. 😲
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durga ch

@durga-TpX3gO • Dec 26, 2012

hmm.. I am not a great team player , but I think this process would filter good ones.
Once a spcific individual clears technical interview rounds, instead of normal GD, may be a design project/ techincal GD round needs to be held. Obviously incase of design projects, unless all collaborate things dont work, and doing peer reviews might help seperate the teamplayers and solo workers.
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Dec 26, 2012

I'm not a great fan of interviews. I've seen people who're exceptionally good at technical work but not just as good in spoken English fail interviews. So the regular hiring process sucks. I'm also not keen on having the traditional 'marks obtained in engineering exams' as a deciding factor as well. The aim is to have the best of the best - only on the basis of knowledge they have. Language no bar, education no bar, age no bar - only what you know.
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Bashiruddin Naik

@bashiruddin-N9oNBe • Dec 26, 2012

The_Big_K
I'm not a great fan of interviews. I've seen people who're exceptionally good at technical work but not just as good in spoken English fail interviews. So the regular hiring process sucks. I'm also not keen on having the traditional 'marks obtained in engineering exams' as a deciding factor as well. The aim is to have the best of the best - only on the basis of knowledge they have. Language no bar, education no bar, educational no bar, age no bar - only what you know.
Love this attitude..!!
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Jeffrey Arulraj

@jeffrey-xA7lUP • Dec 28, 2012

The best I would say is how a person reacts to circumstances has to be tested That can be done oly in a real time situation

People Who clear it can be recruited
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[Prototype]

@prototype-G9Gn5k • Dec 28, 2012

Well, a junkyard wars kind of thing could be used may be?. Its kinda fun & tests your creativity and logical thinking, how you can transform junk(irrelevant) things to something useful.

Please, A HUGE BIG NO to aptitude tests...😭
They serve no purpose to be honest. If that's what matters to companies, I would like to advice them to go and hire a 10th graders because he'll be extremely good at that.
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Mayur Pathak

@mayur-ywQKfu • Jan 2, 2013

Every job needs a different skill and aptitude. So every interview should be different. For example, I dont understand why a Marketing MBA should be subject to an aptitude test. Similarly why an engineer expected to do QA or simple coding should be subjected to a GD. Of course, group discussions are required and have their own importance. But instead of fitting every one in the same mold, is it not better for companies to put a thought to the recruitment process and 'design' it?

Let me quote my example- In the year 2009, peak recession, we were hiring members for our demand generation team. I was supposed to lead them. Since the company did not have budgets for experienced resources, we decided to hire fresh MBA. After initial screening, we finalized 12 candidates for the final round. 3 were to be selected. The job expected the candidates to talk to top management strangers on phone/email and convince them to consider our services.

Instead of having a traditional Aptitute test - GD - 2 Interviews process, we decided to give them real life task. I gave them an hour to prepare a sales pitch on the topic of their choice and told them that they should be giving a 5 minute public speech on why their product is good. We eliminated 5 candidates in this round. In the next round, I handed over a 100 rupee note and sent the remaining candidates to identified companies in the vicinity. Task was to buy a souvenir and then visit the HR of the company with the college brochure. A meeting had to be set with the HR head. 3 of them were able to do so and the same 3 were employed. And one of them hadn't bought a souvenir as well 😀

I'm in touch with 2 of the 3 candidates. One of them is in Qatar as a regional sales manager of an E-Learning company and the other runs his own venture in training vertical. I guess they were successful because they were the best fit for the job. They ended up enjoying what they did and succeeded.
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narayana murthy

@narayana-z4W16q • Jan 20, 2013

i am a fresher so i cant tell regarding to the interview side but as i know many people can easily get in to a company with regular procudure as google help us and with previous selected pattern helps people to get in even they are not valid for job
so my suggestion is to change the pattern of selection every year and selection is to be challenging
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Kaustubh Katdare

@thebigk • Jan 20, 2013

..or why not make a system that destroys the traditional ways of hiring candidates so that only the best ones get a chance? Wouldn't it be nice if the companies didn't pay attention to the marks obtained in exams?

How about conducting a national (or international) level 'test' thrice every year to do the initial shortlisting?
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narayana murthy

@narayana-z4W16q • Jan 20, 2013

hahaha for that tests companies will make materials and people easily scores by practice
but i believe a real talent lies behind instant performence
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Anand Tamariya

@anand-tamariya-DnfjEX • Mar 3, 2013

The_Big_K
..or why not make a system that destroys the traditional ways of hiring candidates so that only the best ones get a chance? Wouldn't it be nice if the companies didn't pay attention to the marks obtained in exams?

How about conducting a national (or international) level 'test' thrice every year to do the initial shortlisting?
If you are hiring, you want to hire people who can do the job allotted to them. Marks are an indication of how sincere a student is in the job (subjects) that were assigned to him. So it definitely should act as the first level of filter.
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rahul69

@rahul69-97fAOs • Mar 4, 2013

Anand Tamariya
If you are hiring, you want to hire people who can do the job allotted to them. Marks are an indication of how sincere a student is in the job (subjects) that were assigned to him. So it definitely should act as the first level of filter.
That's not true, marks doesnot show sincerety. To know whether a person is sincere, it is better to meet him and know him personally. And in the present system all that is needed to score good marks is rote learning. I don't think that all technically strong and dedicated people get good marks.
(Please do tell if I am wrong😀 ).
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Anand Tamariya

@anand-tamariya-DnfjEX • Mar 4, 2013

So it definitely should act as the first level of filter.
Meaning if I have 100 applicants for one position, which 10 will I call first? Obviously the top 10 scorers simply because I don't have time to meet all 100 candidates to know them personally. However, that doesn't mean I'll select anyone without being satisfied as a recruiter. But you get the drift.
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