job interview?!

chiggers · Nov 16, 2009

Going for a job interview on wednesday for an electrical surveying job for a company that installs voltage reduction equipment (industrial enviroments). The interview is with 2 of the company's head tech guys for an hour! I've done basic electrical surveys for basic electrical installs (domestic & some commercial) but nothing like this .

I would really appreciate any advice as to where i need to sell myself as i know i'm probably the least strong candidate technically out of the 3 called back.

I've looked online for things like templates & examples of survey questions but not really found anything that helps.

Harmonics didn't even really get touched at college, Trend i've not worked on or power factor correction either.

I know the company will give very good training on their products once given a start & from there on in i'm sure i'd be fine but as with all interviews if you don't look like you can do the job you'll never get the chance!

grateful for any suggestions or advice so thanks in advance

Notsosmart · Nov 16, 2009

First of all well done for getting through the reject stage.

Be positive; if you have been called in for an interview then you obviously are of interest to the company.
Be yourself (don't try to BS them) try to build a rapore with the interviewers if at all possible.
Try to show how valuable you would be to the company; dedicated, self motivated, keen to learn etc

Above all be enthusiatic show that you care about the job, position & company ~ do your revision on the company & its products.

Depending on their interviewing experience you will probably get asked why you want the job, what you think the job entails, where you see yourself in 3/5 years & maybe possibly pose some scenarios (stop & think for a minute ~ do not be afraid to not speak for a minute as this shows intelligence)

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

patricklondon · Nov 17, 2009

focus more on what you do know and your ability to learn quickly on the job. God speed my friend

Phil Mumford · Nov 17, 2009

Powerperfecta by any chance? Have a look at their site anyway as it will give you an idea or two. You may wish to familiarise yourself with TQ cable sizes and ratings as this is the stuff used for this kind of work. Not unusual to have paralleled 185mm2 cables or maybe three 600mm2 parallel conductors per phase as some of these units handle 1500 Amps or more.

The containment is usually trunking or tray and the work will probably involve cutting bus bars and switching air circuit breakers. All good fun.

On the bigger installs hydraulic crimping tools will be required and you will come across standby generators and their associated switch gear to think about when switching off.

I have surveyed a few of these and they are OK - take your camera/phone to snap labels. They would have put monitoring equipment on site to measure MD (max demand) and prospective cost savings so the survey is really all about where to site the unit and run the containment/cables.

Watch your main protective device rating as, for example, you may have a 800A MCCB or ACB and they elect to put in a 400A unit as the MD is 350A. Unless you have the adjustment on the main switch to derate it to the 400A range you may have to replace the protective device. Quite an expensive error to make !

chiggers · Nov 17, 2009

Not powerperfecta phil but powerstar, Good to gain knowledge from all sources though. couple of other good points i wasn't aware of as well so thanks

Thanks for advice on interview techniques as well chaps, nothing worse than trying to bs & getting caught out because there's no coming back from that!

Went for an interview as an estates officer for nhs today & got offered the job there & then! Still going to interview tomorrow though because that's the role i want.

Fingers crossed but at least I'll have a job next week either way if not!