Hiring project engineers

Experienced project engineers may have worked in a number of fields, from pharmaceutical to architecture. Although variety isn’t crucial to success, it could indicate a candidate’s ability to deal with different types of stakeholders and develop ideas to meet their needs. Willingness to tackle unfamiliar and challenging situations may also reveal a project engineer’s commitment to self-improvement.

Project engineers wear many different hats, from leading to outsourcing. An engineer will have professional training, but much of this role involves learning as one goes, so the ideal candidate will demonstrate a good balance of book learning and practical experience.

Because they’re responsible for a wide range of people and materials — and, ultimately, project success or failure — engineers should have excellent record-keeping skills. Strong answers will highlight a candidate’s carefulness and attention to detail. They'll also provide insight into which project management systems and software have been used previously by the candidate.

This question compels candidates to reflect. All project engineers have faced failure occasionally — and the best ones can turn their experience into an opportunity for growth. Perhaps they take a training course or ask a mentor for assistance. What’s important is that they recognize the mistake, learn from it, and apply its lessons to future projects.

New technologies are constantly changing the field of engineering. Good candidates will be able to describe how technology has changed not just a project outcome but also the entire profession. This discussion may include mention of digital blueprints, performance trackers, equipment management tools, and online schedulers.

Safety and budget are the pillars of project engineering, and candidates should be able to demonstrate their awareness and appreciation of it. The ideal candidate will be comfortable keeping project costs in check while ensuring that the team feels safe and supported. This could mean reconfiguring personnel assignments, so that those who have more experience can focus on challenges or liaise with contractors to keep costs down.

Because project engineers must work with stakeholders at all levels — from accounting to management — a sense of teamwork is fundamental. The ideal candidate will demonstrate an ability to solve problems collaboratively and delegate when necessary. Experience in developing a team is highly desirable.

This question gets to the heart of how a project engineer approaches the work. Although decisiveness is vital to this role, a project engineer shouldn’t rush to judgment. The ideal candidate will be confidently able to absorb large amounts of complex information quickly, and will always ask thorough follow-up questions.

Communication skills are essential to this role because a project engineer regularly reports on progress to clients and managers. The best engineers have an excellent ability to communicate both verbally and in writing, as well as a flair for distilling complex information into a few easily understood sentences.