How you interact with an employer at the first meeting can be crucial to your employment future.
Maintenance Specialist Interviews provide candidates with the first-ever chance of meeting with the person who may be their supervisor in the coming years. And there is much that you can do to impress him or her during the interview process.
Where does it all start?
From the preparation stage. When you are well-prepared for an interview (from every possible angle), you immediately become a hot favorite of the interview panel.
There is nothing more stimulating than intelligence backed by good sense. If you have had the good sense to practice what you will be saying at the interview, it will be picked up by the person interviewing you. Believe it or not, your body language is a dead giveaway at interviews, so if you want to be deemed confident, make sure that you are prepared beforehand.
Preparation includes going through possible questions that you may be asked and practicing answering them. Practice in front of a mirror if you want but make sure that you do the practice.
The type of questions asked at an interview will be relevant to the position that you are applying for (of course). For a maintenance specialist position, here is a set of interview questions and answers:
4 Common Maintenance Specialist Interview Questions and Answers
1. What has been your biggest achievement as a maintenance specialist so far?
For the Armory Building, I have managed to amalgamate an HVAC system installed in the 60s into the one installed 2 years ago, with virtually no downtime. It was one of the most challenging jobs that I have done as the entire transition needed to be planned on a pretty large scale. But it is a working system now, with a need for minimum supervision!
2. What kind of skill set does a maintenance specialist need?
An analytic mind is foremost. Inspecting buildings to determine maintenance and repair needs and actually finding problems to troubleshoot is demanding work, so one has to have a logical head. Additionally, one needs to be organized and know exactly what materials, tools, parts, and equipment will be used in handling complex maintenance work.
3. How do you make the availability of materials constant?
The trick is not to wait until we run out. I always keep a constant eye out for low stock levels and when they reach 20%, I inform my supervisor so that arrangements can be made to procure them.
4. You mentioned that one needs to have an analytical mind to work in this role. Is physical dexterity important too? Why or why not?
Physical dexterity is definitely important. One has to be on one’s feet for long shifts, bend, stoop and fit oneself in odd places. We have to be physically agile if we want to do our work properly.