Hi Joe!
I have to agree with John wholeheartedly!!!
So let me get this straight; You say that you test them first, then you interview them? if this is correct then, you should first interview, and provide a written test to find out whether or not the candidate has the required experience and knowledge in order to perform their duties...
Now mind you, the test should'nt be one that is made up of questions that only an engineer or technician with instant access to reference materials could be capable of answering correctly...
The AWS S.E.N.S.E. program has I believe three categories or levels of written tests for welders... They are: Entry level, Advanced and Expert level. Contact the AWS Education Product Development department:
Director Chris Pollock.. cpollock@aws.org or call the main number and connect to extension 219.
You can also look at the AWS WeldAcademy by visiting:
http://www.weldacademy.com for an online training course that might interest you.
Finally for the USA, you could do a search for the NCCER (Sorry for not having their website at hand but, I will include it later)training materials and there you could get more info regarding some of the training requirements necessary to become employable for work as a "Qualified welder" as we say here in the good old US of A... Oh yeah, I almost forgot, The Hobart Institute of Welding Technology may be able to assist you in the appropiate training materials for either inhouse training or whatever you plan on starting.
Now as far as the UK is concerned, get in touch with The Welding Institue or TWI and thet should be able to better assist you...
If you do'nt find any help there then, post an inquiry in the UK welding forum... you should get some good responses there. Now I do'nt remember their website offhand but, if you do a google or yahoo search, I'm sure you'll find it...
May I ask what country you're enquiring from?
Respectfully,
SSBN727
Run Silent... Run Deep!!!