For those interested in a career at Burger Consulting Group, it might be helpful to understand a bit about our interview and hiring process.
Understanding of the Construction Industry
Since we solely serve the Construction Industry, and our consultants and project managers are interacting with and providing advice on business process optimization, digital transformation and overall technology strategy, it is critical that those working with us have a strong understanding of the construction industry.
Since our consultants and project managers interact with staff at all levels of our client’s organizations, from a CEO to a Foreman out on the jobsite, gaining credibility quickly is critical to a successful client engagement and this can best be achieved by understanding and having familiarity with the terminology and processes associated with Construction. It’s also important to be a critical thinker, questioning the status quo and challenging pre-defined concepts and procedures to identify the opportunities for efficiency gains and/or risk reduction for a contractor.
Client Engagement Fit
Lastly, being able to translate opportunities for improvement into technical and/or process initiatives, clearly articulating the benefits and drawing consensus on a direction from a diverse set of viewpoints is another critical skill to have. Depending on the type of project, we typically have several projects running in parallel, so having the ability and agility to switch between different client engagements is a core competency. We have all of these in mind as we go throughout the hiring process.
The Interview Process
We also look for a good cultural fit as this is just as important as experience, both for us and an interviewee. Although the process changes slightly depending on the role for which we are hiring, once the potential candidate has been pre-qualified by an external recruiter, in general, they will end up having three separate interviews, as much for our benefit as for them.
The First Interview
The first interview is usually focused on a candidate’s experience for a specific role and here we are looking for both industry experience, experience in the role for which the candidate is applying, their communication style and technical background. This first interview is typically conducted by a senior consultant with the firm. During these interviews, the potential candidate will be asked to provide specific examples of work situations to demonstrate the experience they are presenting.
The Second Interview
If successful with the first interview, for the next, the potential candidate will be teamed up with someone already in their role. Here the potential candidate will be evaluated in more detail for skills and experience required for the role as well as providing them an opportunity to learn firsthand from someone already in their position what the role is like on a day-to-day basis.
The Final Interview
If the potential candidate makes it through the first two interviews, the final interview is usually with the owner of the company. Aside from any additional follow up from either of the first two interviews, this one is usually to assess the cultural fit.
This is very much a guide, as depending on the role we are looking for, and internal staff availability, we may change the sequencing of interviews and even those with whom a potential candidate meets, however, regardless of the sequence or the person conducting the interview, a successful candidate will have been evaluated against the items discussed above. We have found that using this process, by the time a job offer is made a successful candidate will have been able to evaluate us for the degree of fit of the position just as much as we evaluated them.