The In-Person Interview

Research

• Recent project awards. Market sectors. ENR ranking if it applies.
• Ownership structure — private, ESOP, PE-backed, family. Who they self-perform for and who they sub to. Any recent acquisitions.
• Look up everyone you're scheduled to meet. Where they came from. How long they've been there. Find one thing they've built that you can ask an intelligent question about.

Bring

• Clean copies of your resume — more than you think you need
• Your certifications: NETA level, OSHA 30, PE, PMP, CxA, EIT, state licenses
• A reference list, typed, with current phone numbers and permission already secured
• A short project list with values, scopes, and dates
• Boots, hard hat, safety glasses, and hi-vis if there's a site tour

Showing up unequipped for a jobsite when you're interviewing for a jobsite role is its own answer.

Arrive

• Ten minutes early. Not thirty — thirty is awkward and it puts pressure on the host. Park, sit in the truck, walk in at ten.
• Be decent to the front desk. That feedback gets passed along more often than candidates realize.

In the room

• Match your answers to their problems, not to your history. They don't need your career story. They need to know if you can staff a 40 MW build with a schedule that's already three weeks tight.
• Use the STAR structure without announcing it. Situation, what you did, what it cost or saved, what happened.
• Have questions about the work. What's the biggest risk on the current project? How is the commissioning team structured? What has turnover looked like on this crew? Who has had this role before and where did they go?
• The site tour is still the interview. Ask about the schedule. Ask about safety performance. Notice things.

Close

Ask for the job. Not a speech — a sentence. “This is the work I want to be doing. What's the next step?”

Ask about timeline. Ask if there's anything about your background that gives them pause. That last question is uncomfortable and it will win you jobs, because it gives you the only chance you'd otherwise never hear.

The point

Do the homework before you get on a plane.