How to Screen Welders: 9 Questions and What to Listen For Screening Interview Template

What kind of welding do you actually do day to day: structural steel fabrication, pressure pipe or tube, pipeline, aluminum TIG, production MIG on a fixture or in a robot cell, sheet and food-grade stainless, or field repair and maintenance? Which processes do you run, what materials and thickness range, in what positions, and what did you weld last week?

What this assesses: This is the calibration question and it does more work than anything else on the list, because the processes on a resume do not tell you the job. Structural fabrication is mostly carbon steel, flux core or dual shield, heavy plate, fillet welds, and a lot of fit-up. Pressure pipe is a different trade: 6010 or TIG root, 7018 fill and cap, purge on stainless, and an x-ray waiting at the end. Pipeline work is its own world again, usually downhill stovepipe and out in the weather. Aluminum TIG on thin wall is a hand skill that does not transfer to heavy steel and does not come back quickly once it is cold. Production MIG in a cell is a rate job where the fixture holds the geometry and the welder's value is consistency and uptime. Field repair is the one where nothing is clean, nothing is positioned, and the skill is getting a sound weld on rusty material at an angle nobody designed for. Strong answers pick a lane, give a thickness range and the positions they actually run, and are honest at the edges: a structural welder who says they have TIG'd stainless handrail but would not take a sanitary tube job is telling you exactly what you need. Listen for whether they fit their own work or weld what a fitter hands them, because that is a different seat at a different rate. Be cautious with a candidate who claims every process and material at the same level, with I can weld anything, and with one who cannot describe a single part or joint in detail. Do not screen on years alone either. Three years on a good structural crew with a lead who taught fit-up beats twelve years loading the same fixture.

Which welder qualifications do you hold, under which code, and in what positions? Who tested you and when, has your continuity been kept up, and what test would you pass tomorrow morning with no practice?

What this assesses: Most hiring mistakes with welders are paper mistakes, and this question catches them. Learn the position codes so you can read the answer: on plate, 1G flat, 2G horizontal, 3G vertical, 4G overhead for groove welds, and 1F through 4F for fillets. A 3G plus 4G plate test is the common all-position qualification. On pipe, 1G and 2G are rolled and horizontal, 5G is fixed horizontal, and 6G is the 45 degree fixed test that qualifies the widest range and is the one pipe welders brag about. The code matters as much as the position: AWS D1.1 for structural steel, D1.5 for bridge work, D1.2 for aluminum, ASME Section IX for pressure boundary work, API 1104 for pipeline. These are not interchangeable, and a D1.1 plate qualification is not authority to weld on a pressure vessel. The detail almost nobody asks about is continuity. A welder qualification belongs to the employer that tested them and stays in effect while the welder keeps using that process, with a roughly six month gap being the point where it lapses and a log the employer signs as proof. So a certificate from a shop the candidate left three years ago is usually dead paper, and the honest answer is I hold it but I would have to retest. A candidate who volunteers that understands the system better than one who waves a laminated card. Also separate a welding school certificate of completion from a code qualification, because they are not the same document and plenty of candidates present the first as the second. Be cautious with anyone unsure whether their papers are current, with a claim of certifications plural and no code named, and with a 6G claim from someone whose last two jobs were sheet metal. Verify with the issuing body yourself, and plan to test regardless of what the paper says.

You are running flux core on a 1/2 inch carbon steel joint and the welds are coming back with porosity scattered through the cap. Walk me through what you check and in what order. Separately: what do you set your machine at for 1/8 inch 7018 on a vertical-up fillet, and what changes if the same joint is overhead?

What this assesses: The order is the answer. Strong candidates start cheap and likely rather than at the machine: base metal condition first, since mill scale, rust, paint, oil, and moisture cause more porosity than anything else, then shielding, then the consumable, then technique, then settings. On shielding they should know which flux core they are running, because gas shielded wire needs gas flow, a clean nozzle, and no wind, while self shielded wire exists precisely so field welders can work in weather. A breeze of a few miles an hour will strip the shield off a gas shielded gun, which is why an outdoor porosity problem is often just a tent problem. On the consumable, listen for wire condition and storage, a worn contact tip, a kinked or dirty liner, and polarity, because self shielded and gas shielded wires run opposite polarity and a flipped machine throws exactly this defect. Only then travel speed, gun angle, and stickout. On the 7018 question, you are grading method and range, not an exact match to your procedure. A reasonable answer puts 1/8 inch low hydrogen somewhere in the low hundreds of amps and runs toward the lower end of that for vertical up, on DC electrode positive, with a tight arc and either stringers or a slight weave with a pause at the toes to fill the undercut. Overhead means less heat, a smaller faster puddle, and stringers rather than weave so the metal is not fighting gravity. The detail that separates real stick welders is low hydrogen storage: 7018 lives in a rod oven, rods that have sat out in humid air get reconditioned or thrown away, and a welder who has never heard of that has not done code work. Be cautious with a candidate who answers the porosity question by turning the machine up, who gives no numbers at all, or who cannot name one thing they would check before touching a dial.

A print calls a 1/4 inch fillet with the symbol below the reference line, plus a flag and a circle at the kink. What does that tell you and where does the weld go? Then tell me the last time you worked to a written WPS. What was on it, and what did you do when somebody told you to run differently than the procedure said?

What this assesses: This separates a welder who can work off a drawing from one who needs a lead standing over them. The symbol reading is objective: below the reference line means the arrow side, above means the other side, the number to the left of the fillet symbol is the leg size, the flag means field weld, and the circle at the kink means weld all around. Strong answers also mention intermittent welds called out with length and pitch, the tail that points to a procedure or specification, and pulling the groove angle, root opening, and land off the detail view rather than guessing. On the procedure half, a candidate who has done code work will talk about the WPS without being coaxed: process and filler, diameter, polarity, amperage and voltage range, travel speed, preheat and interpass temperature, pass sequence, and joint detail. They know preheat is not optional on thick or higher carbon material and that interpass temperature limits exist on stainless for a reason. The most useful part of the answer is the conflict. A welder who says the lead told them to run hotter so they ran hotter is a liability on anything inspected. The one who says they asked for the WPS, went to the inspector or the engineer, or got the procedure revised has worked somewhere that cared about the paperwork matching the metal. Be cautious with a candidate who has only ever worked from verbal direction and parts somebody else tacked up, and with one who treats a procedure as a formality that slows the job down.

How do you know a weld of yours is good before anyone else looks at it? Then tell me about a weld that failed: a bend test, a visual, an x-ray, a hydro. What was the defect called, what caused it, and what did you change after?

What this assesses: Quality judgment is what separates a welder who produces inspectable work from one who generates rework. Strong answers describe real visual checks: leg size and profile against a fillet gauge, undercut, overlap, crater cracks at the stop, arc strikes on the base metal, and the tie-in at starts and restarts, which is where most porosity and lack of fusion hides. Listen for correct vocabulary, because the words tell you where someone trained. Lack of fusion and lack of penetration are different defects with different causes. Undercut, porosity, wormholes, slag inclusions, and cracking all have specific fixes, and hydrogen cracking showing up a day later on thick or high carbon material is the one that scares people who have seen it. Credit a candidate who knows the inspection alphabet and what each method catches: visual, dye penetrant for surface indications, magnetic particle for surface and just below on ferrous material, ultrasonic and radiography for internal, hydro on pressure work. Distortion control is a quiet marker of experience: tack sequence, back stepping, skip welding, clamps and fixtures, and not overwelding a 1/4 inch fillet into a 3/8 inch one, which wastes wire and pulls the part. On the failure, every welder with real hours has failed a bend test or had a shot come back rejected, so a candidate who claims none is either newer than they say or managing you. The answer you want names the defect, owns the cause, and describes what changed in their technique or prep. Be cautious with a story where the inspector, the material, or the fitter is the entire explanation and nothing changed afterward. Ask it of every candidate the same way and score it against one [interview scorecard](/glossary/interview-scorecard) rather than rewarding the smoothest storyteller.

What rate or standard were you held to, and how was it measured? Tell me about a week where the schedule and the quality standard were pulling against each other, and what you actually did.

What this assesses: Shops hold welders to output as well as quality, and this is where a lot of otherwise capable hands wash out in either direction. Strong answers treat a number as normal and name the one they lived with: pieces per shift, first pass yield, reject or repair rate, arc on time, footage. Then they describe the honest ways to go faster, which are almost all upstream of the arc: better fit-up so the gap is consistent, less overwelding, staging and sequencing work so the machine is not waiting on a crane, using a positioner so a joint can be run flat instead of vertical, moving from stick to wire where the procedure allows. Equally important is where they will not trade: skipping prep or preheat, grinding a cap to hide a defect, running above the procedure's amperage to move faster, or welding over tacks they know are bad. A welder who says plainly that they would rather tell the foreman the schedule is wrong than bury a defect is giving you the right answer, and it is worth noticing whether their past shop made that possible. Be cautious with a candidate whose only experience is one-off or hobby work with no rate at all, with one who dismisses production metrics as management noise, and with one who volunteers that they cut corners when it gets busy, because that is scrap and rework on your floor. Also be a little cautious with the opposite extreme, the perfectionist who cannot tell you how long a joint should take, since a shop seat has to clear both bars.

You are cutting and welding on a repair inside an occupied building, and the next job is inside a tank. Walk me through the hot work, the fire watch, and the confined space. What changes about your ventilation and your respirator when you move from carbon steel to stainless or galvanized, and which safety cards do you hold with their dates?

What this assesses: Welding causes fires, burns, asphyxiations, and long term lung and neurological damage, and this one question covers all four. On hot work, the answer should include a permit, moving combustibles or shielding them within about 35 feet, checking the far side of the wall and the floor below because sparks and conducted heat both travel, having an extinguisher at hand, confirming sprinklers are in service, and a fire watch that stays after the arc stops. [OSHA's welding, cutting, and brazing rules](https://www.osha.gov/welding-cutting-brazing) require a fire watch for at least half an hour after the work ends, and many site permits and the NFPA 51B hot work standard push that to a full hour, so a candidate who names a specific duration is a candidate who has signed permits. On the tank, listen for a permit, isolation, purge and ventilate, continuous atmosphere monitoring rather than one reading at the start, an attendant outside, and taking the stinger or torch out and shutting the gas off at the bottle when they leave for break. The answer that should stop you cold is anyone who suggests ventilating a space with oxygen, which has killed people. On fume, stainless is the one that matters most: welding it produces hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen with its own OSHA standard at 29 CFR 1910.1026 and an exposure limit far below what a box fan in a doorway will achieve. Galvanized gives off zinc oxide and metal fume fever, and manganese in ordinary mild steel fume is the hazard nobody respects. The answer you want puts local exhaust at the arc or a fume extraction gun first, then supplied air or a powered respirator where extraction cannot reach, with a fit test and a medical clearance behind it, not a nuisance dust mask and a bandana. Ask for cards with dates, OSHA 10 or 30, confined space, hot work or fire watch, respirator fit test, and any site specific training, and verify them yourself. Be cautious with a candidate who has never stopped a job over anything and with one who talks about burning through the smoke.

What do you bring beyond laying a bead: fit-up and tacking off a print, layout, cutting (plasma, oxy-fuel, track torch, band saw, iron worker), grinding and finishing, rigging a part into position? Have you worked off a positioner or in a robot cell? Do you own your hood, lens, jacket, gloves, and hand tools?

What this assesses: Most shops are paying for a fabricator who welds rather than a welder who waits on a fitter, so this question often decides the rate. Strong answers describe fitting and tacking their own work from a print, with the fit-up vocabulary to back it: root opening, land, bevel angle, backing bar, and the point that bad fit-up causes most of the defects people blame on technique. They name the cutting processes they actually run and roughly what thickness, and they can talk about squaring and measuring an assembly rather than just welding whatever is clamped in front of them. Rigging matters the moment parts get heavy, and a welder who can set a part safely with a chain fall or a crane is worth more than one who waits for someone with the hook. Positioner and robot cell experience is a genuinely different skill set, more about loading, consistency, touch-up, and knowing when the cell is drifting, so ask what they loaded and what they did when the robot started missing. On gear, listen for a hood with the right shade and a clean lens, an FR jacket and proper gloves, pliers, chipping hammer, wire brush, and often a grinder. Set your own tool expectation before you score this, because plenty of good welders work in shops that supply everything and own little beyond a hood, and demanding a kit somebody does not have is a real barrier for a candidate between jobs. Be cautious with fifteen claimed years and no cutting, grinding, or fit-up at all, which usually means a narrow production seat, and with a candidate who cannot describe a single part they built start to finish.

This job runs [shift and hours] with [overtime expectation], and is [in the shop / in the field within X miles / out of town with per diem]. Step one is a weld test on [process, material, thickness, position] using our machines, and you would bring your own hood and hand tools. Are you current on that process and ready to test? Do you hold [the specific card or qualification the job requires]? The work means standing, bending, kneeling, climbing, lifting up to [X] pounds, and working in heat under a hood, which you would do with or without a reasonable accommodation. We run a pre-employment drug screen and a background check. What hourly rate are you looking for, and when could you start?

What this assesses: Most welder hires that fail inside a month fail here rather than at the arc, so put all of it in the screen and say the uncomfortable parts plainly. Name the weld test first and in detail, including process, material, thickness, position, and who supplies what. No-shows and failed tests both drop when candidates know what they are walking into, and a welder who is current on dual shield but has not run a 6010 root in two years will tell you now instead of in your booth with a test plate burning. Be honest about shift and overtime, because shops lean on Saturdays during a build and people hear whichever version suits them. If the work is in the field, say the travel radius, the per diem, and how long the out of town stretches run, since that is a different job than a shop seat at the same wage and it is the most common reason a good hand quits in month two. Union hall versus open shop is a real fork rather than a preference. Ask for a rate instead of guessing, because a 6G pipe welder and a production MIG welder do not price the same and a shop paying structural wages will not hold a pipe welder no matter how well the interview went. Ask the physical part exactly as written, as job demands with the accommodation language, and stay out of health history. Name the drug screen and background check directly, because some of the [candidate drop-off](/glossary/candidate-drop-off) at this question is people selecting themselves out, which costs you nothing on day one and costs a week once they are scheduled. Then run the whole thing as a [structured interview](/glossary/structured-interview) so a pipe welder and a sheet metal TIG welder land on the same rubric, and use [asynchronous screening](/glossary/asynchronous-screening), because the welder you want has a hood down until 3:30 and will never answer your call at one in the afternoon.