HVAC Technician Job Interview Questions and Answers

This page provides sample HVAC technician interview questions as well of lots of general advice for your next interview.

HVAC Technician Job Interview Questions and Answers Menu

• Basic HVAC Technician Job Interview Questions

• Technical HVAC Technician Interview Q&A

• HVAC Technical Job Skills & Tool Knowledge

• Behavioral HVAC Interview Questions

• Questions To Ask At The End Of The Interview

• HVAC Interview Questions Downloadable Resources

• HVAC Technician Resume Template

 

Basic HVAC Technician Job Interview Questions

In addition to answering technical interview questions about the HVAC trade, you’ll also want to know how to answer the following general interview questions.

The general questions below have been customized somewhat for the HVAC profession:

This is the more specific version of the interview question, “Tell Me About Yourself“. It can be asked a few different ways, but it is most often used to start an interview.

With all answers, the two biggest things that you want to keep in mind are what the employer is looking for in a technician(using the job listing ad as our guide) and what skills and experiences you have as a technician. So for this question, you will talk about the past 5-7 years of experience and how it relates to the job you are applying for.

If you have more years of experience than that, only use the additional experience if it fits closely with the job duties of the new company. If you have less than 5 years of experience or are just getting started in the field, you will need to rely more on talking about how you’ve grown as a technician through your education while demonstrating the specific knowledge required in the job advertisement.

Your goal for this question should be to lightly summarize your range of skills as an HVAC Technician and how you have applied those skills on actual work sites. For different types of HVAC jobs, you may need to highlight different skills. Again, be sure to review the company’s job listing ad so you know what would be expected of you on day 1 if you were to be hired.

For more general advice on the Tell Me About Yourself Interview Question, click here.

In general, you almost never want to use an HVAC specific job skill when answering this question. Especially skills that they specifically emphasize on the job listing ad.

So as an example, if asked what you most need to improve on or what is your weakest skill as an HVAC Technician you might say, ‘typing’ or ‘typing speed’. This may sound like a completely unserious answer but the original question itself is a bit unfair. The employer is basically asking you to tell them why they should not hire you. It would be like testifying against yourself with no lawyer and no knowledge of the law. Besides, if you feel strong enough in your skills as a technician then it may very well be that a secondary skill like typing IS your weakest skill.

If the employer persists and asks you to name an HVAC skill instead, always pick a skill that you’ve already had some substantial growth in. That way you can talk about how far you’ve already come and how much you’ve learned, even though a particular skill may still be weaker than the others. By the end of your answer, you want to turn the original negative proposition – that you are weak in an area – into a positive one, like that you are able to learn on the fly.

You really shouldn’t say that you have no weaknesses or no areas of improvement. It will come off as extremely arrogant and can give off the impression you can’t adapt to new settings or processes.

 

Before the interview you need to take an inventory of your HVAC specific skills and think of the 3 or 4 things that you do best and have the most experience in. Ideally, these skills will match up with the most desired skills of the employer. Again, consult the original job listing to see if there are skills or knowledge that are requested in more than one area of the job ad.

When you answer, don’t just say the skill and be done with it. Describe specific examples of real-world experience where you have used that skill. Talk about the positive outcomes for your co-workers and your previous employers based on this particular skill. If there are specific tools needed to carry out a certain skill, then talk about those as well.

Ultimately, you want to create an image in their head of you working for them and using your specific HVAC abilities to complete the tasks they need done on a daily, monthly, or yearly basis.

 

When answering this question, you will want to consider the unique situation of the employer asking the question.

For example, a smaller company may expect their employees to stay with their company for a long time and is asking this question to see how loyal you are. A larger company may have more room for upward advancement in the industry and by asking this question is gauging your interest in long term career goals.

 

Technical HVAC Technician Job Interview Questions & Answers

Below you will find some sample interview questions for the position of HVAC technician.

These questions will give you some insight into what hiring managers are looking for in an HVAC technician as far as technical skills go.

These questions are just a small sample of the specific technical knowledge that you’ll need to become a technician.

HVAC Technician Behavioral Interview Questions

You should also be prepared to answer what are called “behavioral” or situational job interview questions. These questions ask you to describe events or tasks you’ve completed at other jobs. The idea is that your past behavior and actions will be one of the best indicators of your future job performance with the new company.

Here are a few of the behavioral style questions you may be asked:

With this question, the employer is looking at a lot of different skills – and not just your technical ability to diagnose and fix a problem. They are trying to get an idea of how you communicate with your co-workers and how you resolve issues.

Think about constructive feedback you may have had to give a subordinate or another co-worker. How did you approach them? Was there a safety issue that made your reaction to the problem different than an ordinary type of mistake?

Walk the employer through what the mistake was, how you fixed it, and how you took steps to avoid further issues in the future.

 

 

 

 

General Behavioral Interview Question Advice

A good behavioral answer will be just like any good story – it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It will address the following three questions:

• What was the problem?
• What did you do about it?
• What was the outcome?

When you answer behavioral questions you should always be telling a story. You’ll need to prepare beforehand and think of a few different scenarios from your past employment. Use situations with positive outcomes wherein your actions helped to create the good outcome.

Organize the scenarios in your head so that you know which tasks & accomplishments are appropriate for each question.

Remember that the point of a situational question is to find out what you’ve done in the past. How would you explain what you’ve done before? Be enthusiastic and don’t sell yourself short. These questions are often the most important in seeing how an employee values their work.

 

HVAC Technical Job Skills & Tool Knowledge

In any given job interview, you may be asked about your prior use of tools or in what capacities you’ve used certain tools before. You may also need to talk about your general understanding of HVAC concepts and ideas.

Below are just some of the tools & knowledge you may need to talk about during an HVAC technician interview.

HVAC Technical Skills & Abilities

• Ability to read blueprints
• Attention to safety & regulations
• Willingness to work in a variety of uncomfortable environments
• Reading all instructions with a thorough and detailed eye
• Ability to use many common power and hand tools
• Deep mechanical understanding, knowing how to troubleshoot and problem solve

Hvac Technician Tools

In addition to these skills, there are also various tools you will need to have an understanding of to be a good HVAC technician.

You can list these tools in a skills section or describe how you used them under your work experience.

HVAC Interview Questions to Ask

It’s a common practice for employers to ask you if you have any questions for them at the end of the interview. You should always be ready to ask some questions, even if just to show more interest in the job and the company. You may need to do a bit of research on the company to understand what type of questions to ask.

It’s also a good idea to ask any questions about the job you’re unsure of, like the hours or pay structure (if it hasn’t been mentioned yet).

Here are some example hvac interview questions to ask at the end of your next interview:

 

HVAC Technician Interview Questions Downloadable Resources

If you’d like the information from this website on the go or would like to share it with a class of future technicians, below are various PDF files than can be downloaded and printed for free.

If you’d like to purchase custom made forms, you can get in touch by clicking here.

 

HVAC Technician Resume Template

Looking for a new start on your resume? Check out this skills based resume template, perfect for anyone in a technical job.