HVAC Helper Interview Questions: Your Guide to Hiring the Best

If hiring HVAC technicians tops your to-do list, youre not alone. In a highly competitive job market where experienced workers clearly outnumber new hires, HVAC business owners struggle to find qualified candidates for HVAC jobs.

There are a lot of job opportunities in the HVAC field. In fact, more than 400,000 HVAC technician jobs are expected to open up in just the next 10 years. There are jobs for HVAC apprentices, HVAC service technicians, HVAC installers, and other HVAC jobs like comfort advisors or sales positions that need to be filled.

Instead of going to college and taking on a lot of debt, an HVAC service technician can make about $47,000 a year, which can quickly rise to six figures with just a few years of training and experience on the job.

The Carmel, Indiana company says that new employees can begin as techs, learn the ropes, and then move up to sales, marketing, or even owning their own business. , offices of Carrier, a leader in the HVAC industry. “There are a ton of opportunities, versus getting a four-year degree. ”.

Here at ServiceTitan, we want to help HVAC contractors and other skilled trades contractors (like plumbers and electricians) grow their businesses by hiring great technicians.

Here is a list of 23 interview questions that you can ask potential new HVAC employees so that you can hire the best people for your growing team to do the following:

After that, read our section on how ServiceTitan’s features help HVAC technicians do great work, grow your HVAC business, and get more star technicians by showing them that your company has the tools to help them do their job more efficiently so they can spend more time doing work and less time on paperwork:

Need to see how ServiceTitan’s HVAC software can help you hire the best HVAC technicians and grow your business? Give us a call to set up a free product tour.

Behavioral/Situational Job Interview Questions

• Give an example of an HVAC job where you put speed over safety.
• Did you ever make a customer who wasn’t happy with your HVAC work happy again?
• A customer expresses anger or frustration over a bill. How do you respond?.
• What kinds of safety violations do you see most often, and how could they be stopped?
• Heres a specific HVAC job scenario. Explain your process for handling the call.

When applicants are asked behavioral or situational questions, they can show and tell, with the “show” part getting more attention. Interviewers need to see how well a job applicant can solve problems, follow safety rules, and feel comfortable using technology on the job in general.

1. Describe a specific HVAC job where you sacrificed safety for speed.

It might seem like a trick question to ask this because HVAC safety should never be put aside for speed, but the answers you get can teach you a lot. If an HVAC tech’s only goal is to finish the job quickly so they can move on to the next one, they probably need more safety training and supervision.

2. In previous HVAC jobs, did you ever turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied customer?

Productive and conscientious HVAC techs who go the extra mile play an important role in satisfying customers. Satisfied HVAC clients turn into repeat business, often through simple follow-up calls or word-of-mouth referrals. Techs who listen to customers, explain the process clearly, and teach them what they need and don’t need give better customer service.

3. A customer expresses anger or frustration over a bill. How do you respond?

How an applicant responds to this question tells you a lot about their personality, attitude, and customer-service style. They might not be a good fit if they just throw your company under the bus and don’t take responsibility for how much things cost instead of taking the time to explain in detail how much professional HVAC services cost. They will cost you money in lost business and unhappy customers.

4. What safety violations do you see most often, and how would you prevent them?

Safety is very important in HVAC, whether it’s following the right safety rules in a customer’s home or business or keeping workers from getting hurt on the job. Test a job applicant’s knowledge of HVAC safety, and then use what they say to improve your company’s safety training or get rid of rules that aren’t needed.

5. Heres a specific HVAC job scenario. Explain your process for handling the call.

HVAC techs like to fix things and work with their hands. Give them a specific repair job and ask them to walk you through how they will find the problem and fix it. What do they ask the homeowner or business owner? What tools do they need? How do they make sure they are safe? Does the customer need a follow-up visit?

Look at how they would do the job from beginning to end to get a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses.

Payroll Questions to Ask in an HVAC Interview

• What are your wage expectations?
• Have you ever worked for a company that paid people based on how well they did their job?
• What are your expectations for bonuses or SPIFs?

Most job applicants don’t like to ask about pay, but salary expectations are a big part of why one applicant is better than another. Because of supply and demand, wages are going up, so HVAC business owners need to be ready to pay competitive wages and offer great benefits to get new employees and cut down on costly employee turnover.

For example, if your company pays based on performance instead of hourly rates, new employees need to know how your commission and bonus system works. If you expect HVAC techs to sell more services on every call, be sure to make that clear.

Want more help? Download our “Hire a Tech Checklist” to learn how to write a job description that will get the best HVAC technicians to apply and how to make your website work better for them.

Next, we’ll explain how using our software, ServiceTitan, helps draw the best techs to your business.

Prepared for Interview Questions for Tech 1 & Apprentices as HVAC Technician