Questions to Ask during a Job Interview
When you go on a job interview, the person offering the job is called the interviewer. But if you want to get the job, you too need to ask questions. Ideally, the interview itself will raise questions for you to ask. But whether that happens or not, it’s a good idea to have questions in mind that you can ask, because if you fail to ask questions, you’re communicating to your interviewer that you haven’t prepared, aren’t too bright, or have no independent thought process.
Here’s a selection of questions from various websites that can get you off to a good start.
Monster.com suggests you ask the following: What kinds of processes are in place to help me work collaboratively? What’s the most important thing I can accomplish in the first sixty days? Can you give me some examples of the most and least desirable aspects of the company’s culture? How will you judge my success?
For some questions relating to what your potential job has to offer, check out about.com, which lists these: How would you describe the responsibilities of the position? How would you describe a typical week/day in this position? What is the company's management style? What are the prospects for growth and advancement?
Carole Martin pens some helpful questions over at jobdig.com: Considering there are a lot of companies laying off right now, how has this company been able to maintain the workforce and continue to hire new employees? Could you tell me about the way the job has been performed in the past? And, what improvements you'd like to see happen? How would you describe the culture or spirit in this company? What are the challenges I would face in this position over the next three months?
Closing the interview strong is important too, and these suggestions from Forbes are useful: Is there any reason why you wouldn’t hire me? As an employee, how could I exceed your expectations? How could I help your company meet its goals? What excites you about coming into work?
This last question is a role-reversal question that can help you learn about the hiring manager and find ways to establish common ground.
Don’t bombard your interviewer with an overdose of questions. Instead, select just a few and practice asking them so you don’t mutter and stutter when you ask them.
Have you come up with any unusual or useful questions in your own job interviews?
