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Best Practices for Hiring Graduate Engineers using WeCP Tests
Best Practices for Hiring Graduate Engineers using WeCP Tests

This guide helps WeCP customers make informed and effective decisions when hiring graduate or fresher engineers during a recruiting program

The WeCP Team avatar
Written by The WeCP Team
Updated over 2 months ago

Recruiting fresh graduate engineers is a nuanced process, especially when using tools like WeCP that provide comprehensive technical and communication assessments. While these tests provide critical data points, making final selection decisions can still feel overwhelming due to the many factors that must be considered. This guide will walk you through the best practices and study from 1000+ businesses for making informed and balanced hiring decisions after conducting both technical and communication assessments.

Step 1: Understand their Technical Levels

Using WeCP's technical tests, candidates can be categorized into three distinct levels:

  • Level 1 (Implementation Mindset): Freshers who are proficient at writing code to build and ship features. They focus on translating requirements into working code but may not consider optimization or scalability.

  • Level 2 (Optimization Mindset): These engineers not only build features but also ensure the code is robust, efficient, and handles edge cases. They think beyond functionality, ensuring performance and resilience under various conditions.

  • Level 3 (Architect Mindset): These engineers design scalable features, ensuring the application can handle industry-level growth and complexity. They consider long-term stability and growth.

Step 2: Understand their English Communication Levels

WeCP communication assessments provide candidates’ communication proficiency on following scale which is also aligned using the CEFR scale:

  • Basic English: Minimal ability to communicate; best suited for technical roles with little to no external communication.

  • Conversational English: Capable of managing everyday interactions and internal team discussions.

  • Fluent English: Strong communication skills suitable for roles requiring regular collaboration or occasional client interaction.

  • Native English: Full proficiency, ideal for client-facing roles or leadership positions where communication is critical.

For example, read more on 👉 "Assessing English Speaking using WeCP"

Step 3: Combine Technical and Communication Insights

After obtaining both technical and communication results, it’s essential to combine these insights to identify the best role for each candidate. Here’s a quick guide based on the candidate’s technical and communication levels:

Technical Level

English Communication Level

How to make selection decision?

Level 1

Basic English

They are suitable for junior developer roles focused on coding, with minimal communication requirements. Internal development tasks with clear, pre-defined instructions.

Level 1

Conversational English

They're Ideal for internal tech roles requiring occasional team discussions but no direct client interactions. Good for general development roles in collaborative teams.

Level 1

Fluent English

They're good fit for tech roles that involve internal collaboration with cross-functional teams, such as a developer working on feature implementation and occasional stakeholder discussions.

Level 1

Native English

They're suitable for leadership roles within technical teams, solutioning for clients, and overseeing development tasks. May take on more complex internal communication responsibilities.

Level 2

Basic English

They are ideal for optimization-focused roles, such as backend development or system performance improvement, where communication is limited to team members.

Level 2

Conversational English

They're good fit for internal optimization roles where the engineer must occasionally explain their work to non-technical colleagues.

Level 2

Fluent English

They're suitable for cross-team collaboration roles, such as system optimization and performance engineering, where engineers need to communicate technical improvements across departments.

Level 2

Native English

They're ideal for client-facing roles or senior developer positions that involve frequent interactions with both internal teams and external stakeholders.

Level 3

Basic English

They may be suited for internal architecture or design roles focused solely on technical solutions without client interaction.

Level 3

Conversational English

They fit internal architect like roles, with moderate communication required to explain designs to technical teams and stakeholders.

Level 3

Fluent English

They're your potential senior architect that involve collaboration across teams and functions, multiple geography, explaining and implementing long-term technical strategies.

Level 3

Native English

They're best suited for high-level architect roles or leadership positions where advanced communication skills are required to discuss system design with stakeholders and clients.

Step 4: Conduct Structured Behavioral Interviews

Candidates could be great at technology and communication but they can still be a bad hire if they don't fit your organization's culture. Conducting structured behavioral interviews help assess how a candidate’s past behaviors align with your organization’s long-term values and expectations. By asking pre-determined questions related to teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability etc, you can better understand if the candidate is a good cultural fit and will thrive in your company.

  • Audit Organizational Priorities: Start by understanding your organization's long-term goals, values, and expectations from the recruitment program. Audit your hiring needs—whether you prioritize innovation, team collaboration, or leadership potential.

  • Draft Interview Questions: Develop interview questions that reflect these goals. Focus on scenarios where the candidate's behavior in past experiences aligns with your company's vision.

  • Align with Company Values: Include behavioral questions that align with your organization's long-term values. For example, questions about how they have demonstrated problem-solving, resilience, or adaptability in a team environment.

  • Reject Red Flags: Use the structured behavioral interview to identify any red flags, such as poor teamwork, lack of accountability, or an inability to grow within the company culture. These interviews will help you identify candidates who are not only technically sound but also a good fit culturally. Candidates who raise concerns in this stage may be better suited for other roles or require further consideration.

Step 5: Offer, Hire, and Onboard

After completing the technical, communication, and behavioral rounds, extend offers to the selected candidates. Ensure that the offer package aligns with industry standards and provides room for growth within the organization. Once offers are accepted, implement a structured onboarding process that introduces them to company culture, team dynamics, and tools necessary for success. A well-planned onboarding phase can significantly improve retention and job satisfaction.

Step 6: Conduct Internal Placement

If your organization prefers internal placement of newly hired talent within different teams, proceed with placing candidates based on the best fit determined by the technical, communication, and behavioral assessment results. If your organization mandates a bridge training program, enroll new hires in the training to fill any knowledge gaps. Upon completion of the training, perform internal placement to align candidates with the teams and projects where they can have the most impact. This ensures that all hires are fully prepared and set up for success in their respective roles.

Using WeCP's tech and english communication assessments and adding a structured behavioral interview, you can make confident, data-driven hiring decisions. If you found this article helpful, please rate this article below.

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