How to Screen Process Engineers for Real HAZOP Experience

A resume that lists "process engineering" and "HAZOP" as bullet points is not a qualification, it is a claim. The distance between a process engineer who has facilitated a HAZOP study and one who has attended a handful as a subject matter expert is significant, and it does not show up in a keyword search. It shows up in a structured technical conversation that asks the candidate to walk through a study they actually ran.

Separate facilitation from participation before the call

Most process engineers have sat through a HAZOP. A much smaller number have facilitated one: managed the node-by-node walkthrough, kept a multidisciplinary team on schedule, and translated deviations into actionable recommendations that survived a client review. Ask directly which role the candidate played on their most recent studies, and expect a specific answer, not a general one.

• Ask how many nodes the candidate has personally facilitated versus attended as a discipline representative
• Ask what software they used to log the study (PHA-Pro, PHAWorks, or a client-specific template) and how they handled action tracking after the session closed
• Ask about a deviation the team disagreed on and how it was resolved
• Ask whether they have carried recommendations through to closure or only through the study itself

Use SIL assessment as a second, independent checkpoint

HAZOP and SIL assessment are related but distinct disciplines. A candidate strong in HAZOP facilitation may have only peripheral exposure to layer of protection analysis or SIL target-setting under IEC 61511. If the role requires both, screen them separately rather than assuming HAZOP fluency implies SIL fluency.

Validate P&ID fluency with a document, not a description

Ask the candidate to walk you through a redacted P&ID they developed or significantly revised, explaining a control philosophy decision embedded in it. Engineers who have only reviewed P&IDs produced by others tend to describe the document in general terms; engineers who have developed them explain specific design tradeoffs, like why a particular interlock sits on the safety instrumented system rather than the basic process control system.

Weight recency over total years of experience

Process safety practices evolve, and standards get revised. An engineer with five recent years of active HAZOP facilitation on live capital projects is generally a stronger hire than one with fifteen years of experience where the last HAZOP they led was a decade ago. Ask when their most recent facilitation occurred and on what type of unit.

Bring in a technical reference for senior roles

For senior process safety hires, a peer-level technical reference call, ideally with someone who sat on a HAZOP team the candidate facilitated, adds a dimension HR references cannot. Ask that reference specifically about how the candidate handled a disagreement during a study, since that is where facilitation skill is tested.

Build the scorecard before the first candidate is submitted

Define what a passing score looks like on facilitation depth, SIL assessment familiarity, and P&ID fluency before candidates start moving through the pipeline. Without a scorecard, evaluators drift toward whichever candidate interviewed most recently rather than the one who is actually strongest against the role.

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