We have all made the mistake.

You interview a robotics engineer. Their resume is flawless. They have ten years of experience with Fanuc and ABB. They can write complex path planning algorithms in their sleep. They know the difference between a singularity and a joint limit. During the technical whiteboard session, they blow your team away with their knowledge of kinematics.

You hire them on the spot.

Three months later, you are sitting in a meeting with your HR Director figuring out how to fire them.

Why?

Because the maintenance team refuses to work with them. Because they yell at the operators when a machine faults. Because they hide information to make themselves look indispensable. Because when the line goes down, they panic and blame the electrician instead of fixing the code.

In the recruitment world, there is an old saying: "You hire for hard skills, but you fire for soft skills."

This is doubly true in industrial automation. Unlike software development, where an engineer can sit in a quiet room with headphones on, a robotics engineer works in a loud, chaotic, and dangerous physical environment. They have to interact with everyone from the Plant Manager to the forklift driver.

If they lack the emotional intelligence to navigate those relationships, their technical brilliance does not matter. They become a "net negative" to your operation.

The problem is that technical people are often terrible at interviewing for soft skills. We tend to focus on the code and the hardware. We assume that if they are smart, they will figure out the people part. That is a dangerous assumption.

This guide will teach you how to interview for the "invisible" skills. It will show you how to spot the "Brilliant Jerk" before you make an offer, and how to find the engineer who will actually elevate your team culture.

The "Floor Test": Respect for the Operator

The single most important relationship in any factory is the one between the Engineer (the person who designs the machine) and the Operator (the person who runs the machine).

A bad engineer thinks they are superior to the operator. They think the operator is just a "button pusher." When the machine crashes, the bad engineer rolls their eyes and says, "It was operator error."

A good engineer knows that the operator is the subject matter expert. They know that the operator listens to the machine for eight hours a day and knows exactly which sound means a bearing is loose.

How to Test For It: Do not ask generic questions like "Do you work well with others?" Everyone says yes to that.

Ask this instead: "Tell me about a time an operator or technician suggested a change to your code or design. What was their suggestion? Did you implement it? If not, how did you explain why?"

What to Look For: You want to hear humility. You want to hear a story where they admit they learned something from the floor team.

Green Flag: "The operator told me the HMI button was too small to hit while wearing safety gloves. I didn't think of that, so I redesigned the screen to make it friendlier for them."

Red Flag: "I had to explain to them that the code was correct and they were just using it wrong."

If a candidate shows contempt for the people on the floor during the interview, do not hire them. They will destroy morale within a week.

The "Translator" Skill: Communication to Non-Techs

Robotics engineers live in a world of acronyms. TCP, degrees of freedom, Cartesian coordinates, payload inertia.

But they have to report to Plant Managers and Operations Directors who care about OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), cycle time, and ROI.

If your engineer cannot translate a technical problem into a business problem, you are going to have constant friction. When a line is down, the Plant Manager does not want to hear about "servo mismatch errors." They want to know how long it will take to fix and what you need to get it done.

How to Test For It: Use the "Grandmother Test" during the technical interview.

Pick a complex concept they just explained, like a PID Loop or a Vision System calibration.

Say this: "Okay, that makes sense to me technically. Now, pretend I am the VP of Finance. I have zero engineering background. Explain to me why we need to spend $5,000 on this specific camera lens instead of the cheap one. Explain it in plain English."

What to Look For: Can they switch contexts?

Green Flag: "The cheap lens can't see the part when the sun comes through the skylights in the afternoon. If we use the cheap one, we will have to stop the line for an hour every day at 2 PM. The expensive lens filters the light so we can keep running."

Red Flag: They just repeat the technical specs louder. "Well, the focal length and the aperture are superior..."

You need an engineer who understands the "Why," not just the "How."

The "Panic" Factor: Emotional Regulation

Industrial automation is high-stress.

When a main robotic cell goes down in an automotive plant, it can cost the company $20,000 per minute. The radio is screaming. The production manager is standing over the engineer's shoulder asking "Is it fixed yet?" every thirty seconds.

Some engineers thrive in this environment. Others crumble.

You cannot afford an engineer who freezes or lashes out under pressure. You need someone who becomes calmer as the chaos increases. We call this "Low Neuroticism."

How to Test For It: You have to probe for their worst days.

Ask this: "Tell me about the most catastrophic failure you have ever been involved in. The time when everything went wrong. Walk me through the timeline. What was your emotional state at hour one versus hour four?"

What to Look For: You are looking for a systematic approach to chaos.

Green Flag: "It was stressful. I took a breath, cleared the area so I could focus, and started isolating variables one by one. I told the manager to give me ten minutes of silence so I could diagnose the issue."

Red Flag: "It was a nightmare. The maintenance guys were shouting. I just started trying random things in the code hoping it would work."

You are also looking for ownership. Watch their language carefully. Do they say "We messed up" or "I messed up"? Or do they say "They messed up"?

Candidates who blame external factors for every failure will never improve. Candidates who own their mistakes are the ones you can trust with your keys.

The "Curiosity" Index: Adaptability

The technology in robotics changes every six months. If you hire an engineer who is an expert in 2020 technology but refuses to learn 2025 technology, you have a depreciating asset.

You need to assess "Coachability" and "Curiosity."

Many senior engineers get stuck in their ways. They might love Rockwell PLCs and refuse to learn Siemens. They might love text-based programming and refuse to use new "No-Code" teaching pendants.

How to Test For It: Ask them about the last thing they learned that was not required for their job.

Ask this: "Tell me about a new technology or tool you learned in the last year. Why did you learn it? How did you go about it?"

What to Look For: You want to see a spark of genuine interest in the field.

Green Flag: "I kept hearing about Python for data analysis, so I took a weekend course on Udemy just to see how I could pull data from our PLCs. I built a little dashboard for myself."

Red Flag: "I only learn what the company sends me to training for. I'm too busy for other stuff."

In the era of AI and rapid innovation, the ability to unlearn old habits and learn new ones is the most valuable soft skill an engineer can possess.

The "Lunch" Interview: The Ultimate Vibe Check

This is a tactic that few companies use, but it has a 100% success rate in filtering out bad cultural fits.

Do not just interview the candidate in a conference room. Take them to lunch. But do not take them alone.

Invite a junior member of your team or a peer from a different department (like a maintenance supervisor) to join you.

Watch how the candidate treats the waitstaff. Watch how they treat the junior engineer.

There is a psychological phenomenon where people "mask" their personality when talking to a boss or a hiring manager. They put on their best behavior. However, they often drop the mask when talking to someone they perceive as "lower status."

What to Look For:

Do they make eye contact with the junior engineer?

Do they ask the junior engineer questions about their work?

Do they dominate the conversation?

Are they rude to the server if the order is wrong?

If a candidate ignores your junior engineer and only talks to you, do not hire them. That is how they will behave in meetings. They will ignore the input of anyone they don't think is important. That destroys team collaboration.

The "Safety" Mindset

In software, a bug crashes the app. In robotics, a bug can crush a human being.

Safety is not just a set of rules. It is a personality trait. It requires a specific type of diligence and a refusal to cut corners, even when under pressure.

How to Test For It: Ask a question that invites them to cut a corner.

Ask this: "We have a deadline coming up. We need to bypass the safety gate interlock just for today to get the testing done faster. The risk is very low because no one is near the cell. How would you handle that request from a manager?"

What to Look For: This is a pass/fail question.

Green Flag: "I would refuse. I cannot bypass a safety circuit. It is illegal and unethical. We will have to find another way to speed up the testing, or we will have to miss the deadline."

Red Flag: "Well, if it's just for a few hours and we are careful, I guess I could jumper it out."

You want an engineer who is stubborn about safety. You want someone who is willing to say "No" to you. That stubbornness saves lives.

The "Documentation" Discipline

Documentation is the most hated part of engineering. It is boring. It takes time. It isn't flashy.

However, an engineer who documents their work is an engineer who cares about the team.

An engineer who refuses to document is selfish. They are hoarding knowledge so that they become indispensable. They are saying, "I am the only one who knows how this works, so you can never fire me."

How to Test For It: Ask to see a sample of code or a project they worked on.

Ask this: "If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, how would the next guy know how to fix your code? Walk me through your commenting strategy."

What to Look For: You want to see empathy for the future user.

Green Flag: "I comment every major rung. I create a 'Read Me' file for every project that explains the variable mapping. I assume the person coming after me knows nothing."

Red Flag: "My code is self-explanatory. If they are a good engineer, they can figure it out."

"Self-explanatory code" is a myth. It is usually an excuse for laziness or job security.

Hiring the Whole Person

When you hire a robotics engineer, you are not just hiring a brain. You are hiring a human being who will be under high stress, working with expensive machinery, in a team environment.

If you focus 90% of your interview on technical questions and only 10% on soft skills, you are setting yourself up for failure.

You need to flip the ratio.

You can verify their technical skills with a test or a certification check. That is the easy part. The hard part is peeling back the layers of their personality to see how they react when the chips are down.

Use the "Floor Test." Use the "Translation Test." Take them to lunch.

Look for the candidate who is smart but humble. The one who respects the operators. The one who stays calm when the alarm sounds.

That is the engineer who will not just build a robot. They will build a department.

Tired of the "Brilliant Jerks"?

We know that cultural fit is just as important as technical fit. When we vet candidates, we don't just look at their GitHub or their certifications. We dig into their soft skills. We ask the hard questions about conflict, failure, and teamwork before we ever send the resume to you.

If you are looking for engineers who are not only talented but are also great teammates, let us handle your next search. Contact us today to find the perfect fit for your culture.