Entry Level Electrical Design Engineer – Switchgear & Generator Control Systems
Posted Aug 31, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Describe a time you had to coordinate between two groups, like production and engineering, who wanted different things from a design.
What they are checking: comfort acting as a bridge between departments with competing priorities
Tell me about a time you found an error in your own design or someone else's during a review. How did you handle raising it?
What they are checking: attention to detail and willingness to speak up even if it creates friction or delay
Tell me about a time you had to explain a technical decision to someone who wasn't an engineer, maybe someone in manufacturing or a customer.
What they are checking: communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences
What does 'whatever it takes to get the job done' mean to you in a role where you might be pulled between the office and the manufacturing floor?
What they are checking: flexibility and willingness to work hands-on in a shop environment, not just at a desk
What would you do
Say you're partway through a design and purchasing tells you a component you specified is discontinued. What do you do next?
What they are checking: how they handle disruptions to a design mid-project and whether they loop in the right people
You've got three projects due around the same time and one customer suddenly changes their spec. How do you decide what gets your attention first?
What they are checking: prioritization skills and whether they have a real method versus just working harder
If you had to design something involving a new technology you'd never worked with before, like a grid interconnect requirement or a PV integration, how would you go about learning what you need to know?
What they are checking: self-directed learning ability, important since this is a fast-moving technical area
About the work
Walk me through how you'd read a customer's technical specification for a piece of switchgear and turn it into a bill of materials.
What they are checking: whether the candidate can translate ambiguous written requirements into concrete component selections
Tell me about a project where you created a schematic or wiring diagram from scratch. What tools did you use and how did you check your own work before handing it off?
What they are checking: hands-on familiarity with AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Pro-E, or Eplan and whether they self-review before others catch mistakes
What do you know about NEC, NFPA, and UL standards like UL891 or UL1558, and how would you make sure a design you're working on actually complies?
What they are checking: depth of code knowledge versus surface-level familiarity, since compliance isn't optional in this work
How would you approach designing a one-line diagram for a medium voltage switchgear project versus a low voltage one? What changes in your thinking?
What they are checking: whether they grasp the practical differences between voltage classes, not just terminology
What experience do you have with lab test equipment like oscilloscopes or function generators, and can you walk me through a time you used one to troubleshoot something?
What they are checking: hands-on lab experience versus purely academic exposure
Practice this interview out loud.
Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at Generac from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.
Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Generac.