Olympic Engineering Interview Tips

The London Olympics 2012 has created over 10,000 jobs in an economy that needed a desperate injection of employment opportunities. Thousands of jobs are still to be advertised between now and June 2012 and range from unskilled roles to skilled areas such as engineering – but how do you manage to bag one of these roles?

At this stage of the Olympics, engineers are in demand. From civil to structural, electrical to mechanical and at all levels, new roles are being advertised every week on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) website . However there are still many applications for each role so various different interview types are being used to aid the selection process. Familiarise yourself with the processes and potential questions in order to stand the best chance of beating the competition.

Most engineering interviews will follow a standard structure and the Olympics are no different. Remember - there are 5 key areas;

• Introduction
• Setting the scene
• Exploration
• Selling
• Closure

Techniques being used by the Olympics for engineering roles include selection day and assessment days.

Selection days will include:

1.   An introductory presentation from a staff member in the relevant department to set the scene,
2.   An opportunity to ask questions,
3.   A competency-based interview to explore the candidate’s suitability. A recap at the end of this stage will ‘sell’ the role one last time,
4.   ID verification,
5.   Closure.

Assessment days are for groups and include:

1.     A presentation from the relevant LOCOG business area/department attended by a
        number of candidates,
2-5  Same format as above.

The competency based interview section can include both behavioural and role-specific questions. Behavioural questions will focus on the core competencies for engineers such as:

• technical skills
• understanding of principles and processes
• problem solving skills
• analytical thinking
• IT skills such as CAD/CAM

For senior positions you may be asked more specific questions about your ability to build and motivate a team, ability to deliver and manage projects and your management experience.

BlueSky Interviews have published some sample questions to get your interview preparation started. Consider each one carefully and write down your answers so that you are well prepared. Why not try with the following question now – you will see how difficult it is to think of your most relevant answer immediately thus forward thinking is key:

'Describe a situation where you were required to gather a large amount of data, analysed it objectively and made an objective decision or recommendation based on the results.'

Read more sample questions and specific engineering interview tips here before attending any interviews. Good luck and we hope the Olympics makes you a winner in the job stakes!