Free tools · Hiring

sageful Free tool · Hiring

5 questions for your next tech interview, that show who will stay.

For the owner or manager interviewing for a field or service role. Print one per candidate and take notes on it.

10 minutes to prep, a 30-minute interview, and 5 minutes right after to score it.

Your answers save in this browser only.

Why it matters

Annual technician turnover runs 21% in electrical, 18% in plumbing and 16% in HVAC (ServiceTitan, 2026). A lot of that is decided in the interview, when an owner who badly needs a body on a truck hires the first person who shows up on time and seems decent.

Most interviews ask about skills. Skills can be taught. What is hard to change is why someone leaves a job, how they handle a bad day, and whether what they want lines up with what you offer. These five questions get at those, and the follow-ups get past the rehearsed answer.

The real test is simple: if the reasons they left their last job are true of your company too, they will leave yours for the same reasons. Better to find that out now than in week three.

How to use it

  1. Before the interview, do the Before you start checks. The first one is the most important: write down why your last few people left.
  2. Fill in the boxes at the top. Have this sheet in front of you, not in your head.
  3. Spend two minutes on easy small talk, then tell them: I am going to ask five questions, and there are no trick answers. I just want to know how you work.
  4. Ask the five questions in order. After each, use one follow-up. Then be quiet and let them fill the silence.
  5. Take short notes in their words beside each question. Do not score during the interview.
  6. Leave five minutes for their questions, and tell them honestly what the hard parts of this job are.
  7. Right after they leave, fill in the score table and the decision. Your memory blurs fast, especially when you interview several people in one day.

The worksheet

Before you start

The five questions

  1. 1. Tell me about a job you did not like doing but finished anyway.Listen for: they finished it, and they do not blame everyone else. Worry if they cannot think of one.
  2. 2. What made you leave your last job?Listen for: is that reason true of your company too? If so, they will likely leave you for it.
  3. 3. What would make you quit here in the first month?Listen for: a specific, honest answer. It tells you exactly what to get right in their first 30 days.
  4. 4. Walk me through how you would handle a customer who is yelling at you.Listen for: stays calm, listens first, knows when to call someone. Worry if they want to argue or walk off.
  5. 5. What do you want to be doing in two years?Listen for: does your company have a path to that? If not, say so, and decide together if it still fits.

Follow-ups, one after each answer

  1. What happened next?Gets them from the story they rehearsed to what really happened.
  2. What would your old lead say about that?A fair answer here is a good sign. Every story has two sides.
  3. What did you learn from it?Listen for something specific, not a line from a poster.
  4. Can you give me one more example?Use it when the first answer was vague or sounded too good.

Score it right after, 1 to 3

QuestionScore (1 to 3)Good sign or worry, in a few words
1. Job they did not like
2. Why they left
3. What would make them quit here
4. Yelling customer
5. Two years from now
Decision: hire, second interview or pass

Notes: their words, and what to cover in their first 30 days if hired

Free from Brian LeSage · Sagefulsageful.app/free/interview-questions
Example: a made-up 10-person plumbing company

Before interviewing for a service plumber, the owner of Clearline Plumbing writes down why her last three left: two were tired of being on call every weekend, one wanted to run his own jobs and never got the chance.

Candidate A has great skills and says he left his last job because they kept putting him on call. Clearline's on-call is every other weekend. She tells him that straight. He says that still does not work for him. They both save a month.

Candidate B has less experience. Asked what would make her quit in the first month, she says being left alone on jobs before she is ready. Asked about two years out, she wants to run her own service van. The owner scores her higher, hires her, and writes in the notes: no solo work until she passes the ride-along sign-off, and talk about a van path at 90 days.

Common mistakes

  • Talking more than the candidate. Fix: ask, follow up once, then be quiet. They should talk at least two thirds of the time.
  • Hearing a reason for leaving that matches your company and ignoring it. Fix: say it out loud and ask how they would feel about it here.
  • Overselling the job. Fix: tell them the two hardest parts. The ones who stay are the ones who knew.
  • Scoring days later from memory. Fix: fill in the score table in the five minutes after they leave.
  • Hiring for skill alone. Fix: skills can be taught. Weigh questions 2 and 3 as heavily as their experience.
  • Forgetting what they told you once they are hired. Fix: put this sheet in their file and use their answer to question 3 in their 30-day plan.

Make it yours

  • Entry-level or first jobSwap job for school, sports, a family business or any responsibility they have had. The questions still work.
  • Office, front desk and dispatch rolesChange question 4 to a caller who is upset about a bill or a late tech, and listen for patience and follow-through.
  • Lead or foreman rolesAdd: tell me about a time you had to correct someone on your crew. Listen for whether they did it directly and privately.
  • Phone screensAsk only questions 2 and 3 on the phone. If the answers fit, bring them in for the rest.

Use it with

A new tech's first 30 days, one week at a time.Open →A new tech's first day, in 7 checks.Open →Before a new tech runs a job alone, they show you these 5 things.Open →

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