The applicant should always remember that any interview is essentially a conversation between two people-the representative of the prospective employer and the applicant. If an engineer is being interviewed for a job in a governmental agency or a large corporation, it is quite likely that the interviewer will be personnel professional whose specialty is the recruitment of technical employees. These representatives maintain continuous contact with the colleges and universities offering programs in civil engineering.
The interviewer may also be a civil engineer who is interested in personnel management, or he or she may be a personnel specialist without any extensive technical background. In any case, the applicant should always remember that the interviewer is the official representative of the prospective employer. Almost certainly, the interviewer will be well informed concerning the capabilities and needs of the organization he or she represents. Finally, the applicant should remember that the interviewer has been trained to evaluate prospective employees.
In most cases, the graduate is brought together with an interviewer by the college placement office. The time and place of the interview will be determined by the placement office in agreement with the representative of the employer. The placement office will usually publish notices concerning the times and places at which representatives of various employers will be present to conduct interviews. The prospective graduate can then register with the placement office for any interview in which he or she has an interest. Usually, the prospective employers will have furnished the placement office with literature concerning their organizations and their requirements; the applicant should obtain such literature and study it carefully.
Then, he or she should make a list of questions that are not answered in the information furnished by the employer.
Interviewers attempt to maximize their efforts when they visit college campuses. Consequently their schedules are likely to be full and rather inflexible. For this reason, the applicant should be sure to arrive early for the interview. Tardiness for a job interview will certainly create a negative impression in the mind of the interviewer and may well lead to the loss of a desirable job offer. The applicant should be sure to dress appropriately; the interview season is a good time to buy new business clothes. During the actual interview session, the applicant should allow the interviewer to guide and direct the flow of questions and the discussion. In almost all cases, the interviewer will have a list of routine questions asked of all job applicants. These questions will usually probe the engineer's interest in the work of the prospective employer, the educational courses or job experiences that were most rewarding, and the applicant's desires and ambitions in regard to future work. The applicant should try to respond to the interviewer's questions in a thoughtful and concise fashion, being careful not to wander into discussions of unrelated topics.
The interviewer usually will give the engineer an opportunity to ask questions; however, if the time for the interview is nearly gone and such an opportunity has not been given, the applicant should interrupt the discussion in order to ask any important questions he or she may have. In all cases, before the interview is at an end, the applicant should be sure that he or she completely understands the conditions of employment involved in a particular job situation. In some instances a job may be offered at the conclusion of a single interview; in most cases, however, the first interview will lead only to a succession of further meetings. Additional meetings may lead to inspection trips. During these trips, the new civil engineer should be careful to remember that the treatment received during an inspection trip or plant visit may not be the same treatment he or she will receive as a regular employee. He or she should be careful to establish a good impression in the minds of prospective employers by prudent and careful conduct during inspection trips. It is important to remember that during such trips not only is the applicant inspecting the prospective place of employment; the applicant is also being inspected by the prospective employers.
Evaluating Job Offers
After the new graduate has gone through a series of interviews and has received a number of job offers, he or she will be faced with the difficult decision of choosing the right job. In evaluating various job offers, he or she should review the factors listed. If possible, the applicant should discuss the offers with experienced friends or with colleagues at her or his place of business or with members of the faculty at school.
When the engineer finally has decided to accept a particular offer, he or she should advise the selected employer immediately and should inform the college placement office. At the same time, the graduate should be sure to notify all other employers who have offered positions that he or she has selected another offer. It is not necessary for the applicant to disclose which offer has been accepted unless he or she wishes to do so.
