Job Interview as a junior Control Engineer

Good Morning Everyone,

I know there are tons of control engineer, PLC programmer and president of some automation companies on this forum. I am looking for an advice from you guys and I would appreciate if you can take out few mins and pass some valuable information.

My education background: Engineering in Electronics (3 Years)
Major: Automation and Robotics technician diploma (2 years)

I was/am so much passionate about electronics, embedded system programming, PLC, and robotics. but unfortunately, I could not end up working as PLC programmer or Control engineer or something similar because of my Immigration status in Canada ( I was on work permit during that time). To survive, I start working as a CNC programmer for 4 years and it was great learning for me. Last year, I got my permanent residency and then I start looking for jobs as a junior PLC programmer or automation technician. A company hired me as a CNC programmer but promise to send me on training to learn PLC skills because they do not have any PLC programmer in-house. I went to ABB rapid programming courses and Rockwell automation programming courses and now comfortable with PLC a little bit. But my passion is to work around PLC 24/7 which I am not getting at my current workplace. I started applying for jobs and get an interview for junior control engineer at machine building company in Ontario.

Today is my interview and I am looking forward to it but my question is,

As I don't have much experience in this industry or I would say I may know a little bit more than recent graduate. What should I expect in an interview and How can I convince my message that I am so much passionate about this industry but don't have much experience in it and looking for a chance.

I am writing a post on this forum because I am expecting some of you may take interview at your current workplace and I want to know what do you always look for when hiring a junior control engineer or a person who doesn't have much experience in control engineering field but looking for a chance to sneak in.

Thank you everyone for reading this post.

Any advice will be appreciated

Have a great day!

Best,

Congratulations on your interview. Before the interview, make sure you know everything about the company. How they make their money, what industry that they are in, what jobs that they have done.
The interview is also about how the company fits you, as well as how you fit the company.
Come with a list of questions that you would like to be answered. Ask how a typical day of work is within the company, so you can get an idea of how much time is spent on design, troubleshooting, programming, documentation, etc.

Hope this helps you out.
Regards,

Thank you Garry! I am doing my research about the company That was great advice though!

Most PLC interviews will include asking you to write a program on the spot, so knowing enough about PLC programming to hand write a program is very important. Review the stuff that you've learned about indexing and different ways to control processes because they will almost certainly give you a flow sheet and ask you to write a program for it. I wish you luck at your interview!

gclshortt said:

Congratulations on your interview. Before the interview, make sure you know everything about the company. How they make their money, what industry that they are in, what jobs that they have done.
The interview is also about how the company fits you, as well as how you fit the company.
Come with a list of questions that you would like to be answered. Ask how a typical day of work is within the company, so you can get an idea of how much time is spent on design, troubleshooting, programming, documentation, etc.

Hope this helps you out.
Regards,

Click to expand...

Definitely everything he mentioned. I typically have about 3 questions ready to ask the interviewer. It shows interest plus tenacity. One thing I try to ask is how the position became open as well (someone quit, expanding, etc).

I'm always very honest in my interviews. I am confident, but also honest about my short comings if asked. I don't want to get hired on with their expectations much higher than my actual skill level.

Thank you LoganB! Appreciate your help and advice
Cheers!

jacoffey85 said:

I'm always very honest in my interviews. I am confident, but also honest about my short comings if asked. I don't want to get hired on with their expectations much higher than my actual skill level.

Click to expand...

Excellent advice.

Thank you jacoffey85 and TC714,

I agree with this point and I don't wanna get hired on with their expectations higher than my actual skill.

As it is the position for Junior Control Engineer and I think they might be looking for recent graduate or someone who have at least one-year manufacturing experience. I don't know much information about the job responsibility yet because I applied for junior Automation Technician and ask my friend to give reference and next day, they invited me for an interview of junior control engineer.

I hope things will go Well and I just want to explain to them I am looking for a chance to sneak in this industry and have a little bit of PLC experience.

I also printed out my recent PLC program to show my programming level.

Thank you again for the advice!

Best,

In addition to the previously offered advice, you should be prepared to talk about your current job and why you are leaving it. For example, your employer trained you in PLC programming, but you are not using these skills. To me, this seems like a disconnect, though I understand conditions change and people move to different roles.

don't say "sneak into" ...

say "break into" instead ...

the mental picture is different ...

Mispeld said:

In addition to the previously offered advice, you should be prepared to talk about your current job and why you are leaving it. For example, your employer trained you in PLC programming, but you are not using these skills. To me, this seems like a disconnect, though I understand conditions change and people move to different roles.

Click to expand...

Sure I will!

Thank you

Ron Beaufort said:

don't say "sneak into" ...

say "break into" instead ...

the mental picture is different ...

Click to expand...

I got it!

Thanks though

Ask a lot about the projects they are into, their website may list plenty of companies but not necessarily what they did for them. Also, they may be involved in upgrade projects or new builds, etc, etc...

I find that the questions you ask are probably the most important part as it shows that you are shopping for a job, not standing in line waiting to be picked... this makes you attractive as it shows that you are driven and not desperate. No that being desperate hinders on your capabilities, but it doesn't look nice. Also, any PLC work will likely involve travelling. Question how is travelling handled such as who pays for travel time (you or will you be paid), how is the travel done (your car or company car?) or if by plane if they have any limit at which they'll bump you to a comfortable seat and most importantly where are the destinations. Travelling for 12 hours on economy regularly gets old really, really fast. Don't be specific, but try getting to the bottom of this as well as resting when coming back from a trip to a customer site.

I understand the desire for a certain job, but this will definitely be something that will make a difference in the future for you.

cardosocea said:

Ask a lot about the projects they are into, their website may list plenty of companies but not necessarily what they did for them. Also, they may be involved in upgrade projects or new builds, etc, etc...

I find that the questions you ask are probably the most important part as it shows that you are shopping for a job, not standing in line waiting to be picked... this makes you attractive as it shows that you are driven and not desperate. No that being desperate hinders on your capabilities, but it doesn't look nice. Also, any PLC work will likely involve travelling. Question how is travelling handled such as who pays for travel time (you or will you be paid), how is the travel done (your car or company car?) or if by plane if they have any limit at which they'll bump you to a comfortable seat and most importantly where are the destinations. Travelling for 12 hours on economy regularly gets old really, really fast. Don't be specific, but try getting to the bottom of this as well as resting when coming back from a trip to a customer site.

I understand the desire for a certain job, but this will definitely be something that will make a difference in the future for you.

Click to expand...

You mentioned very important points! I will keep these questions in mind too!

Thank you!

An interview should look for three things:
Can? Will? Fit?

CAN you do the job? So your skills here are limited, but sell the skills that you have and sell your ability to grow and learn more skills. I can overlook lack of experience/ability if I believe you will gain it.

WILL you do the job? There are many people out there with the skills that still don't do a good job. Companies want to hire people that take ownership and follow through to get things done. This has to do more with the type of person you are (not about your skills or training). We have all seen people with no degrees be highly successful and people with many degrees be failures. You should be able to give examples from your personal life that show these qualities.

Will you FIT with the company? Will you fit in with the culture and work well with your fellow employees? How do you get along with others? Handle conflict? Will you be a good employee that people will want to keep? Asking questions about the company shows that you desire to be part of the company (not just looking for a paycheck).