Interviewing for a Fruit and Vegetable Harvester/Picker

What can we do for you?

For farmers who grow crops, harvesting is the whole essence of their business. Finding the right people to pick the fruit you have meticulously grown, or to harvest the vegetables from your fields, is of the utmost importance. You may believe that almost anybody can do the job, but that would be a mistake. As with any other type of work, certain character traits and skills are necessary in someone who will do the job well. Interview Quizzes can help you find the right people when you are recruiting, thus saving you time and money.

Fruit and vegetable pickers are vital farm workers. 70,000 of them are needed to bring in the UK’s harvest each year. The vast majority of these (99%) are usually foreign nationals, but with the impact of Brexit, there is a shortage of labour. With such demand for employees, it is important that your business finds the ideal candidates. That’s where we can help.

What makes a good fruit and vegetable harvester/picker?

Fruit pickers and vegetable harvesters need, first of all, to be available to do seasonal work. They must also be reliable and willing to withstand inclement weather. No matter how windy, cold or wet it is, your crop still needs to be brought in. As well as these, there are some other skills you want to find in your employees. Here’s a list of some of them:

• Quick learner. The job does not require a formal education or qualifications. But that does not mean that anybody can do it. There are techniques to learn and health and safety rules to follow, and applicants must be able to pick these up quickly.
• Eye for detail. Harvesters and pickers get a close-up view of your crops. They should inspect each one for signs of disease or parasites. It is their responsibility to sort good product from bad to make sure no substandard fruits or vegetables are sent to the consumer.
• Dexterity. The job is a manual one and your employees will work with their hands. Sharp tools may also be required, and they must be able to use these quickly but in a safe manner. In some cases, they might be required to work at heights, picking fruit and placing it in a container without falling. Hand-eye coordination is an essential skill.
• Fitness and stamina. Most crops are picked from low lying plants, so workers spend a good deal of their time bending down. The work is also non-stop, so they must be fit and have good stamina to keep up the pace without tiring.
• Speed. To harvest crops quickly enough, your staff need to be fast. Most are paid for what they pick, but that will not produce more work from someone who cannot work at a fast pace. Your workers will need to be naturally fast.

Finding the best helpers for your business

Once you have a list of job applicants, our quizzes can get to work. Choose four subjects from our comprehensive list and they will narrow down the field, meaning you do not have to spend much time deciding which ones to invite to a job interview. Which quizzes should you choose? That is, of course, your decision, but here are our recommendations:

English Basic - To test how well candidates can communicate with others and also a measure of how well they can understand and follow instructions.

IQ - A good way to find out who is a fast learner, but also who has attention to detail and concentration.

Maths Basic Numeracy - Finds how able candidates are to perform simple maths in their heads. Useful in working out how long it will take them to pick the required amount of product, and to speed up or pace themselves accordingly.

Science Basic - This test shows you how well potential employees understand simple aspects of science. They don’t need to be Einstein, but understanding ideas like how plants grow or how parasites and rot can affect plants is a useful trait to have.

Interview Questions

There are some things that quizzes just can’t detect, like fitness, reliability, or hand-eye coordination. These traits are for you to discover in the next stage of your recruitment process, a face-to-face interview. However, what we can do is save you many man hours sorting through a pile of application forms. We know you have much better uses for your time than that.

Conclusion

We can't decide who is best for you, but we can provide the tools to help you MAKE BETTER DECISIONS, FASTER.