Electrical engineer phone screen questions: power, building design, controls and hardware
On this page
- Four electrical engineering jobs under one title
- Licensure: when to ask and what to record
- Knockout questions
- Power systems questions
- Building electrical questions
- Controls and hardware questions
- Moves between types, and the questions that test them
- How electrical engineering experience gets overstated
- Rubric and checklist
- Questions people ask
An electrical engineer phone screen should first identify which of four jobs the role is: power systems and utilities, building electrical design, controls and automation, or electronics hardware. Each uses different tools, standards and licenses. Then ask for one design the candidate owned: what they decided, what analysis supported it, and what went wrong in testing or commissioning. For power and building roles, confirm PE status and the states; for hardware roles, confirm the design tools and the last board brought up.
For licensure background (FE, EIT and PE, comity between states), see civil engineer phone screen questions. Mechanical roles are in mechanical engineer phone screen questions. Licensed field electricians are a different screen entirely: electrician screening questions.
Four electrical engineering jobs under one title
| Type | Daily work | Typical tools | PE? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power systems and utilities | Substations, distribution, protection and relaying, interconnection studies, short circuit, coordination and arc flash studies | ETAP, SKM, PSS/E, relay manufacturer software, AutoCAD or MicroStation | Often required for senior and sealing roles |
| Building electrical (MEP) | Power distribution, lighting, fire alarm and low voltage for buildings; panel schedules, load calculations, construction administration | Revit, AutoCAD, lighting calculation software | Often required to seal drawings |
| Controls and automation | PLC programming, control panels, SCADA and HMI, instrumentation, commissioning on site | Rockwell Studio 5000, Siemens TIA Portal, HMI platforms, electrical CAD | Sometimes, for utilities and water |
| Electronics and hardware | Schematics, PCB layout review, component selection, board bring-up, signal and power integrity, EMC testing | Altium, Cadence, KiCad, SPICE, oscilloscopes and analyzers | Rarely |
Licensure: when to ask and what to record
NCEES lists three PE Electrical and Computer exams: Power; Electronics, Controls, and Communications; and Computer Engineering. As of September 2026 it shows Power offered year-round and the other two once a year, which matters when a candidate says they will "take it next month." Licenses are issued by state boards. For power and building roles, record every state, license number and expiry, and check each on the board's public lookup. For hardware roles, do not raise it unless the client does.
Knockout questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| This is a [power / building / controls / hardware] role. How much of your last three years was that work? | A split and a recent project. | The matching work was an internship or a senior design project. |
| The team uses [tool]. How much do you use it now, and on what? | "Daily, SKM for coordination and arc flash studies on industrial sites." | Has "exposure" only. |
| The role requires [PE in state X / FE passed / none]. Where are you on that? | States and numbers, or a timeline with the FE passed. | Calls themselves a PE with no license. |
| The role includes [site commissioning / substation visits / lab work] about [X percent] of the time. Does that work? | Yes, or a clear limit. | Wants a desk-only role for a commissioning-heavy job. |
| The client's work is subject to export control rules and requires [the status the client specifies]. Can you meet that requirement? | A plain answer. | Only ask if the client has confirmed the requirement in writing, and ask every candidate the same way. |
Power systems questions
-
"Walk me through the last short circuit, coordination or arc flash study you ran."
- Strong answer: the facility, how they gathered data, the software, protective device settings they changed, the labels produced, and the standards used (commonly IEEE 1584 for arc flash calculations and NFPA 70E for workplace electrical safety).
- Red flags: ran the software on a model someone else built and cannot say what changed.
-
"Tell me about a protection scheme you designed or set."
- Strong answer: the equipment protected, relay types, settings philosophy, and testing before energization.
- Red flags: only reviewed settings files.
-
"Have you worked on interconnection studies or utility-scale renewables?"
- Strong answer: the study type, the utility or grid operator process, and results that changed the design.
- Red flags: buzzwords without a project.
Building electrical questions
| Question | What a strong answer sounds like | Red flags |
|---|---|---|
| What building types have you designed, and what was your role? | Specific types, sizes and service sizes, and whether they led or supported. | Only lighting layouts, for a lead power design role. |
| How do you size a service and a feeder? | Load calculation per the adopted edition of the National Electrical Code, demand factors, voltage drop, and coordination with the utility. | Copies sizes from a similar project. |
| Which NEC edition did your last project's jurisdiction enforce? | Knows jurisdictions adopt editions on their own schedule and names the one that applied. | Unaware editions differ by place. |
| Tell me about a construction administration issue. | A submittal rejection, an RFI answer, or a field change they resolved with the contractor. | Never visited site. |
Controls and hardware questions
Controls and automation
- "Describe a PLC program you wrote from scratch, not modified." Strong: the process, I/O count, structure of the code, HMI screens and how they tested before start-up. Red flag: only edited existing logic.
- "Tell me about a commissioning problem you solved on site." Strong: the symptom, how they isolated wiring from logic from instrument problems, and the fix. Red flag: always had a senior engineer on the phone.
- "Have you designed control panels, and to what standard?" Strong: panel layouts, wiring diagrams, and the listing requirements the client needed, such as UL 508A for industrial control panels.
Electronics and hardware
- "Walk me through the last board you designed and brought up." Strong: requirements, architecture, key components chosen and why, schematic and layout review, bring-up order, the first bug and how they found it with instruments. Red flag: only did layout from someone else's schematic, described as design.
- "Tell me about a signal integrity, power integrity or EMC problem." Strong: the symptom, measurement, root cause and change. Red flag: "we added a ferrite and it went away" with no understanding.
- "How did your design move to manufacturing?" Strong: design for manufacturing and test, working with the contract manufacturer, first article and yield issues.
Moves between types, and the questions that test them
Electrical engineers often want to move sideways: controls engineers into power, building electrical engineers into utility work, hardware engineers into test or applications roles. Those moves can work well, but the client needs to know which skills transfer and which the candidate will learn on the job.
| Move | What usually transfers | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Building electrical to power systems | Load calculations, distribution design, code knowledge, construction administration | "Have you done protection coordination or worked above distribution voltages?" |
| Controls to power or utility | Commissioning, field troubleshooting, relay logic familiarity | "What system studies have you run, if any, and on what software?" |
| Electrician to engineer | Installation practice, code, field credibility | "Do you hold an engineering degree or FE, and what have you designed rather than installed?" |
| Hardware design to test or applications | Circuit knowledge, instrumentation, debugging | "Have you written test plans or supported customers directly?" |
Ask why they want the change and what they are doing to prepare: a course, a certification, a side project, a transfer they requested. Also ask the practical questions: notice period, other processes and their stage, and what they need in base, bonus and relocation to move. A sideways move often comes with a pay expectation from the old field, so settle it on the first call.
How electrical engineering experience gets overstated
- Running software as doing the study. Ask who built the model and what they changed.
- Layout as design. PCB layout is a skill, but it is not circuit design.
- Editing PLC code as programming. Ask about a program they wrote from nothing.
- Exam passed as license held. Check the board.
- Team product as personal product. Ask which block was theirs.
- Technician work as engineering. Valuable, and sometimes the right fit, but tell the client which it is.
Rubric and checklist
| Area | 1: weak | 3: meets | 5: strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Role type fit | Different type | Adjacent | Same type and industry |
| Design ownership | Supporting tasks only | Owns parts of designs | Owns designs and the decisions behind them |
| Analysis and validation | Cannot explain | Uses standard tools correctly | Checks results and explains a real failure |
| Field or lab | None | Some commissioning or bring-up | Leads commissioning or bring-up independently |
| Licensure (if required) | None | FE passed with timeline | PE in project state, verified |
Before you submit an electrical engineer
- Role type matched: power, building, controls or hardware.
- One design described with the decisions and analysis behind it.
- Tools and current level of use.
- PE status and states verified, if the client requires it.
- Site, lab and travel expectations agreed.
- Any client-specified eligibility requirement asked consistently and recorded.
- Compensation expectation and notice period.
- Consent to submit for this client and role, with the date.
General information, not legal advice. Licensure rules differ by state, and export control or citizenship-related questions carry discrimination risk if asked without a confirmed legal requirement. Confirm wording with the client's counsel.
Ask what they need to earn rather than current salary (see salary expectation questions). Engineering screens are dense with tool names, standards and numbers that are easy to mix up between candidates. Interview Signal transcribes the call on your own computer, with no bot joining, so the submittal can quote what the engineer said about the study they ran.
Questions people ask
Which PE exam do electrical engineers take?
NCEES offers three PE Electrical and Computer exams: Power, Electronics, Controls, and Communications, and Computer Engineering. As of September 2026 NCEES lists Power as offered year-round and the other two once a year. Power and building electrical engineers most often take Power.
Do hardware and electronics engineers need a PE?
Usually not. Board-level design, embedded hardware and semiconductor roles rarely require one. A PE matters most where engineers seal drawings for buildings, utilities, or public infrastructure, and the requirement is set by the state where the work is done.
What is the difference between an electrical engineer and an electrician for screening?
An electrician installs and maintains systems under a state or local license and is screened on license, hours and field skills. An electrical engineer designs systems and is screened on analysis, design ownership, tools and, for some roles, PE licensure. Some candidates have done both, which is valuable for field-heavy engineering roles.
How do I tell a design engineer from a technician on a phone screen?
Ask what they decided, not what they built. A design engineer chooses the architecture, sizes components or equipment and justifies it with calculations or simulation. A technician builds, tests and troubleshoots to someone else's design. Both answer confidently, so listen for the decisions.