Best Interview Questions for Mechanical Engineering Students

Besides whatever theory mechanical engineering students learn throughout their years at university, there are also job interview questions that they have to be prepared for. Most of the time, these questions will be relevant to the acquired knowledge. However, the way interviewers put certain questions may seem ambiguous to candidates. It may also prove to be rather tricky to answer. To avoid unpleasant surprises when faced with interviewers, it is always a good idea to be familiar with the nature of some of the best interview questions for mechanical engineering students.

1. Technical Question

The candidate can be asked to name and briefly explain the various theories of failure under static load. This is quite a challenging question that students often find hard to answer, mostly because they get confused with the different existing theories. Briefly, the theories are the maximum principal stress theory, the maximum shear stress theory, the maximum principal strain theory, the maximum strain energy theory and the maximum distortion energy theory. The maximum principal stress theory is also known as Rankine’s theory. The maximum shear stress theory is also known as Guest’s or Tresca’s theory. The maximum principal strain theory is known as Saint Venant theory. The maximum strain energy theory is known as Haigh’s theory. The maximum distortion energy theory is also known as Hencky and Von Mises theory. Students are expected to provide these details, as well as a brief explanation of each. This is the type of technical question that can be expected in an interview for mechanical engineers.

2. General Knowledge

Another type of question that mechanical engineering students should expect during an interview is the question based on general knowledge. For example, the student can be asked about the difference between technology and engineering. This is a rather tricky question to which students are expected to provide a smart answer. The answer would be that engineering is the application of science, whereas technology shows the different methods of engineering. To gain additional plus point on this question, the student should elaborate further and try to sustain his claim with examples. For instance, the candidate can continue by citing examples. Another common question that falls in the general knowledge category is the definition of mechanical engineering. The student is expected to say that mechanical engineering is a branch of engineering in which we apply physics laws along with material science to accelerate the human process.

3. Behavioral Questions

Interviewers focus on behavior-based questions as well. During this type of question, the interviewers have a pre-defined list of qualities they should assess. These qualities include, but are not limited to, attention to detail, initiative, cooperation, analytical thinking, persistence, dependability and team spirit among others. The best way for interviewers to identify and assess these skills and qualities is through activities. The person may give the mechanical engineering students a simple task to perform and judge the candidate by the method employed to do the work, the time taken and the ease or the difficulty with which the task was performed. Behavioral questions tend to be the hardest and least scoring section of an interview. This is because the candidates get intimidated easily when such qualities and skills are being assessed.

Conclusion

Besides such questions, it is obvious that the interviewers will ask all candidates to say something about themselves, their passion for mechanical engineering, their reason for applying for the particular job, and their relevant experience. However, the technical questions, general knowledge questions and the behavioral questions tend to be the most difficult ones for mechanical engineering students to deal with. Nevertheless, with sufficient practice and proper preparation, this difficulty level should be significantly lowered.