If you need to hire a new maintenance technician, you want to do whatever you can to ensure you hire the right person. This may consist of checking references, doing background checks, and assigning a professional assessment test. But, there’s arguably no step in the hiring process more critical than asking the right interview questions during the in-person interview.
Not only can you gauge a person’s professionalism during a maintenance technician interview, but you can also get a better feel of their experience, range of responsibilities at previous employers, areas of expertise, and how they would handle various situations should they arise in your company.
Therefore, if you post a detailed job description, job seekers should be able to provide information about their leadership skills, previous experience, and the maintenance tasks and maintenance work they can bring to the job.
Ideally, the job interview is the icing on the cake for hiring managers. Knowing this, properly conducting an interview helps you identify the best candidate for the maintenance position you’re hiring for.
“During the interview, it’s essential to ask thought-provoking questions to draw out applicants and find the best fit. However, it can be challenging to narrow down the right questions to ask within the limited time frame of an interview.”
Forbes
In this post, we list what we think are the best and most common interview questions to ask maintenance professionals.
Top Interview Questions for Maintenance Technicians
How do you go about diagnosing issues with a piece of equipment?
A big part of a maintenance technician’s job responsibilities is recognizing maintenance issues and when a preventive maintenance plan is necessary. While equipment is destined to fail even with the best preventative plan, hire a technician with the technical skills to conduct routine maintenance, prevent equipment failure and unplanned downtime, and be part of a team.
Ideally, with this question, candidates will discuss the problem-solving skills that help them assess and diagnose equipment and what tools and methods help them do this.
What types of tools, programs, or methods are you familiar with?
Are you seeking a maintenance worker with technical knowledge of safety regulations, ventilation systems, electrical systems, and HVAC systems? This question also helps gauge proficiency with computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) and other digital tools that you may expect them to use in their new work environment.
What type of work do you like doing the most?
Employment is a relationship–and there needs to be a good fit between the employer and the employee. So, while a question like this may not be as hard-hitting and specific as others you may ask, the answer should let you know if the candidate will be happy doing work as part of your team. Remember, as an employer, you want to be happy with the candidate you decide to hire. But, at the same time, you want your new employee to be happy working for you too. This will lead to greater overall satisfaction in their employment and better productivity on the job.
What makes you want to leave your current job?
If another company employs the candidate, this is a good question to ask to learn their motivation for wanting to work with you. It may simply be money-related. But if they’re looking for a new challenge with different equipment or feel like they’ve gone as far as they can at their current employer, this could transition into an exciting conversation.
What questions do you have for us?
We suggest always closing with this open-ended question. If a candidate is serious about joining your firm, they will have done homework on your operations and have questions about how things run. While it shouldn’t be a deal-breaker if the response to this question is something like, “No, I think I’m all set,” so long as the candidate continues to engage in conversation, you can think of it as a positive.
Other Interview Questions
While the questions above should be a part of your interview planning strategy, we suggest sprinkling in other questions to get a feel for the candidate’s specific qualifications and work experience. These questions may include:
- What are your strengths and weaknesses as a maintenance technician?
- Can you describe a professional situation in your past when you were proud of how you handled it?
- Can you describe a situation that you didn’t handle well? How would you handle that situation today if you were able to go back to this situation?
- How familiar are you with the type of equipment that we have?
- Are you comfortable accessing manuals or drawings to resolve an issue?
- Do you have any maintenance certificates? Do you aspire to become certified in any maintenance specialties?
- How do you typically plan your day or week?
- How would you rate your time management skills?
- Are you a fast learner when it comes to new equipment and software?
Also, remember that you don’t have to conduct just one interview. For example, if you like a few maintenance technician candidates and want to narrow down the field to your top choice, holding a second round of interviews and possibly even asking candidates to take an assessment test to gauge their knowledge is an appropriate next step.
For your information, popular certifications for individuals wanting to advance their maintenance technician careers include:
- Certified Maintenance and Reliability Technician (CMRT): Offered by the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP), the CMRT certification is awarded to maintenance technicians with demonstrated knowledge and skills in preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance.
- Certificate for Apartment Maintenance Technicians (CAMT): The CAMT certification is offered by the National Apartment Association (NAA). The program is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It’s awarded to technicians who’ve specialized in electrical and mechanical maintenance.
Additionally, the International Maintenance Institute (IMI) offers several training and certification programs that target maintenance technicians. Depending on the type of work conducted, maintenance technicians may be required to secure a license in some states.
Hiring New Maintenance Technicians and MaintainX
Remember, you want to ensure you’re hiring the right candidate for your firm–even if you have to “hire slow.” And, keep in mind, that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “About 152,300 openings for general maintenance and repair workers are projected each year, on average, from 2020-2030.” With many of these openings resulting from workers exiting the labor force, now is the time to consider integrating Industry 4.0 and a CMMS, like MaintainX, into the maintenance workplace.
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Caroline Eisner
Caroline Eisner is a writer and editor with experience across the profit and nonprofit sectors, government, education, and financial organizations. She has held leadership positions in K16 institutions and has led large-scale digital projects, interactive websites, and a business writing consultancy.
