As a hiring manager, it’s important to ask the right questions to potential candidates for a construction crew. Centered around safety, reliability, and expertise, the following interview questions for construction workers will help you uncover the best of the best hires.
Interview Questions For Construction Workers
Tell me about a suggestion you made on the job that was implemented.
It’s paramount to find candidates who take the initiative and make their voice heard on projects. Dig deep on this one — how did the job turn out? How did the team react?
Discuss the biggest roadblocks you’ve encountered during a project. How did you resolve them?
Overcoming obstacles — perhaps related to safety, communication, demanding projects, or difficult team members — is part of the job. As one of the best interview questions for construction workers, this allows the candidate to reflect on challenging experiences. What did they learn from it? Look for a candidate who shows initiative and worked through the issue, rather than removing themselves from the situation altogether.
What would you do if a customer had a problem with the quality of your work?
It’s hardly possible to satisfy everyone all of the time. However, construction crews must ensure a client is happy with the end product. If a customer has issues with the quality of a candidate’s work, then the candidate should always confer with the customer to determine what went wrong. What measures would they take to correct the problem?
How familiar are you with reading and interpreting blueprints and electrical drawings?
There’s nothing more important than being able to understand blueprints and electrical drawings in the construction industry. Because all construction-related activities depend on these two things, if a candidate cannot read and interpret these, they can’t plan and execute successful construction activities. You might even ask the candidate to take a look at some sample blueprints to search for possible problems and ask them to describe what they’re seeing.
Have you ever been injured on the job? If so, what happened? What would you do differently now to prevent the injury from happening again?
You should also follow this up by asking another one of the best interview questions for construction workers: What safety training have you completed? Safety is a major priority for any construction professional. What did the candidate learn from a past safety slip-up? Did any approaches to the work change after the accident?
When have you had little or no direction on a job? How did the situation turn out?
These things happen often in construction. Construction workers each have their own specialties, and sometimes they lack direction from clients and supervisors. Does the candidate make use of their own judgment as much as possible, while also staying in touch with customers to ask for feedback? Look for a potential new hire who strikes a balance between using best judgment and confirming details with supervisors and whoever writes the check.
What other interview questions for construction workers would you add to this list? Let us know — and be sure to contact TruPath to find the best construction hires for your operation.
As a trusted recruitment source for more than a decade, TruPath has the industry knowledge and a proven model to help our partners feel comfortable in their search for a candidate.
Through our TruProcess, we are able to consistently deliver exceptional candidates that help organizations continue down successful paths. Contact TruPath today in order to tell us about your staffing needs.