Director level job – Solidworks test at interview?

Design Discussions design employment
16

I think you handle it well.

2 other approaches…

  1. look at the young designer and ask them how long it would take and what would be their approach then provide insight in how they could do it better… And then after 30 minutes inform the interviewers that you as a director would delegate that kind of work to your staff as the opportunity costs to have someone like you doing that work day in day out is not worth their money that will be paying you.

  2. (i mind has changed if you think the parts would take 4 hours) but i would have asked the designer if they wanted a Sketch model, A model for prototyping or a model for production, what where they using this model for, what where the project time constraints and the project needs… all the questions that as a director i would be asking.

I would have probably taken option 2 (but like you i would not have modeled the cad unless though it was something i could hammer out in 20 minutes or so. And i am a pretty damn good with SW) I truly would have wanted to talk to the hiring manager or who my boss would have been to (more politely put) find out what the hell they were thinking… more and more i see posting for Design Director with 4-6 years experience and experts at everything under the sun… If they truly need a director then they are probably going to be in trouble, and or they just dont have a clue.

As for designbreathings response perhaps he is simply playing devils advocate and trying to provide a pov from the company interviewing you, if that is what they are thinking then they could have handled it very differently. I am cautious because of being burned once hiring a designer who when i asked if that was their work they said yes. After hiring them i n noticed a lack of creativity when i challenged them and did some digging they responded “yeah the sketches where my work, i never said i came up with the Design”

I think the biggest miss is that they didnt tell you about what the onsite interview process was going to be and entail… because as you stated had you known you would have not flown.

Still would love to know who this is… but that is just my curiosity. In the end i think you did the right thing and also dodged a bullet.