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5 Tips for the Perfect SOLIDWORKS Candidate

CAD PDM

5 Tips for the Perfect SOLIDWORKS Candidate

You’re hiring for a new position and you’re looking for a SOLIDWORKS person. How do you find the right person?

For this, there is no textbook answer. But I have interviewed a number of people and I’ve been interviewed at a bunch of companies. I’ve been tested and I’ve given tests. I’ve seen disasters happen. I’ve tried to warn others about some of them and I’ve been responsible for some. I’ve also seen pleasant surprises. I don’t feel like I’ve seen it all, but I’ve seen a good amount. Please consider this more of a sharing than an answer guide.

First, SOLIDWORKS isn’t that difficult anymore. Back in my old CAD glory days, someone really needed to know some tricks, but the software is now getting more robust. I would say that a stable company with a healthy onboarding program, career growth plans, established training programs and reasonable product development cycles doesn’t really need to worry about this skill per se. It might be better for a company to use testing as a talking point rather than a filter and use a personality test/character review as a real indicator of the potential of a candidate.

However, most companies don’t work that way. Companies could be hiring for an anemic engineering department or because of the need to launch a product in an unreasonable amount of time. Testing can help assure that the candidate can come in and start performing on day one.

So, step one is to figure out what you want/need. No matter what, you want to get a good person. The cost of hiring a bad person is astronomical.

The first screening should always be the resume. I love seeing SOLIDWORKS certifications; however, I would still test. SOLIDWORKS has a great certification program, but it’s not foolproof. SOLIDWORKS does not verify the person taking the test by their picture identification, for example. You’re never 100-percent sure you’ve got the right person.

Additionally, I suspect it must be possible to cheat—one person showed up with a Certified SOLIDWORKS Professional (CSWP) status but didn’t know how to shell or draft a part. Fortunately, I caught this because we did a SOLIDWORKS test.
If you do use this as a screen, I would say:

  1. The Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate status is good for basic core skills (entry-level drafter or simple modeling skills).
  2. The CSWP is good for advanced core skills.
  3. The Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert is good for a department leader or instructor.

The current market favors companies that are hiring right now. There are tons of qualified applicants out there. I’ll let you figure out how to get them to apply, but I generally set up job posts until I have about 300 resumes. With my first screen, I get it down to 10 candidates. This takes me about two to three hours. Yes, that’s less than one minute per resume.

Whenever I see something on a resume that concerns me, I just eliminate the candidate. Lots of resumes take less than 10 seconds. I’ve seen recent engineering grads (one year or less out of school) that claim 10,000 hours of CAD. Hmm, that’s 50 hours/week for four years. Sorry, I’m not buying that.

I would also advise candidates against revealing strong political or personal views by listing the clubs/activities they are in or awards they have received. Whatever your views may be, you have to consider that the person reading your resume may not be similarly inclined and may use this opportunity to eliminate you from contention.

The second screen (if it’s available) is references. When you reach out to these references, ask some tough questions like: What has this person done? Have you ever seen this person in a difficult situation? How did they handle it? How well do you know this person? This takes my list of 10 down to three to four people in about two hours.

At that point, I’ll generally bring in all of them for an interview.

Remember, you eventually want to work with one of these people, so it’s not about intimidation or giving them a “gotcha” question. It’s about seeing if the job is a fit, and it will only work if both of you feel like it’s a good deal.

You should figure out what you want to do, but here are some tips that I’ve developed over the years. Please note: I’m an active SOLIDWORKS user. If you’re hiring for a skill set that you don’t have any experience for, be careful. This will still work, but you may want to really bring in someone part time or have them moonlight to make sure you’re getting what you want.

It has been my experience that most people who hire an engineer who are not engineers don’t understand what a long-term play this is. Engineers and CAD users are not miracle workers. Product design and development is a long, brutal and painful process (if done correctly).

Tip #1: Always test a candidate.

It’s like a test drive. You want to make sure you know what you’re getting. There are three tests I generally give (I typically interview engineers who design parts for new consumer products that will go directly into manufacturing):

  • The first test is to model a part.
  • The second test is to review a drawing.
  • The third test is verbal and based more on skills needed for the job (for example, sheet metal, brainstorming or using product data management [PDM]).

Actually, all the tests end up being verbal—but more on that later. My format is to first interview them for 15 to 20 minutes. Then I give them the first test for 15 minutes. Then we talk about the test for 15 minutes. Then I give the second test for 15 minutes. Then I give the final test for another 15 minutes. At that point, I’ll introduce them to other people (perhaps have them interview with them) and give them a tour of the facility.

 Tip #2: Give a hard test.

My format is usually to give them a vacuum-formed part, a pair of calipers, a ruler and 15 minutes. Those parts usually have thin features, draft and some great rounds (see Figures 1 and 2).

The key here is to give a part that can’t be done by 99 percent of the engineers within 15 minutes. I wouldn’t give them a set of existing drawings (or a Model Mania part) and have them model a part from it. That isn’t realistic for the jobs I’ve interviewed for. Don’t hover over the person. Leave them at your computer.

Test core skills in modeling only. Don’t test database or specialty-type stuff (like mold tools). Don’t have them brainstorm an idea or a solution. That is a completely different skill set.

Figure 1. Test sample #1: vacuum-formed part.

Figure 2. Test sample #2: injection-molded assembly.

 Tip #3: Don’t worry about the part.

I’ve seen some companies that grade the finished part. I don’t think that’s a good idea. The most important part is the follow-up conversation. Use it as a conversation piece and let them do the talking. Here are the leading questions I use (and what I’m listening for):

“How’d it go?” Do they give you excuses? Do they smile because they are confident in their skills and they like the challenge? Note: I don’t eliminate anyone because they screwed up building the part. I do like using it to see how they respond to pressure.

“Tell me what you were thinking.” Are they okay with admitting failure? Did they put any design intent in? Is the design robust? One candidate didn’t have anything done and he said he didn’t know how to get started. Is that the kind of guy you want? Someone who won’t just try something?

“How would you manufacture this? What material is this?” Do they know anything about manufacturing?

“Why didn’t you do this?” How do they handle criticism? Can they defend themselves or do they flop over?

“How long would it take you to finish this part and submit a drawing?” Are they good at estimating time? Do they underpromise and overdeliver? It would take me about three hours to model and detail the vacuum-formed part in Figure 1. I would estimate two days in case I ran into any problems, or if any other work came up, as well as to sleep on it and review my work before I submit. If I had to do the part again (or one similar to it), I would be able to reduce that time in half.

Tip #4: Give them a drawing and ask for a peer review on it.
I usually find a pretty complicated drawing that has already gone through approvals. Sometimes I’ll put some errors in there just to see what they catch, but most of the time, it becomes more of a discussion about notations, what to put in for quality checks and what to put in for manufacturing.
The key is to let them do the talking. Ask them questions: What do you think of this tolerance? How would you measure this dimension? Is this redundant information? Should it be removed?

Tip #4: Give them a drawing and ask for a peer review on it.

I usually find a pretty complicated drawing that has already gone through approvals. Sometimes I’ll put some errors in there just to see what they catch, but most of the time, it becomes more of a discussion about notations, what to put in for quality checks and what to put in for manufacturing.

The key is to let them do the talking. Ask them questions: What do you think of this tolerance? How would you measure this dimension? Is this redundant information? Should it be removed?

Tip #5: Ask questions about specific CAD tools and your business’ best practices.

Brainstorming is a good example. “How do you come up with your initial design?” PDM. “What part numbering systems have you used in the past?” Prototyping. “Tell me about something you’ve prototyped before. What was the process?” Sheet metal. “Can you identify these welding symbols?”

Testing a candidate’s skills is like watching them play a soccer game. I’m not sure it matters if they score—I want to see if they cheat and play dirty or if they play a hard, smart and good game. I want to see how they think and what they enjoy doing. I really don’t care if they win or lose. I care if they are going to be players with character. That’s the long-term play.

That’s what works for me. If you are a CAD manager, I’d like to hear what works in your company by your comments below. If you are a CAD user who has been through a wringer like this, let me know your thoughts too.


About the Author

Jim Lucas is currently a design engineer at a medical device manufacturer.

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