Crafting concise, targeted, enthusiastic, and positive responses to the interviewer’s questions gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the company and industry and to show how your qualifications would help you fit right in. Asking concise, targeted, and well-crafted questions gives you additional chances to demonstrate the extent of your research, to build on whatever rapport you’ve established, and to align what you know and can do with what the company needs. These questions, by their very nature, proclaim that you are interested. Likewise, the complete lack of questions will undoubtedly convince most interviewers that you are not interested. Asking questions early and often transforms a stilted, traditional “Q & A”session— with you being the “A” into a conversation. And a conversation is how you explore areas of common interest, trade comments, and chat rather than “talk.”In other words, the way you establish the chemistry that is one of the vital factors in landing any job!
These are certainly not questions you would ask any interviewer during interview. But, in my mind, they are far more important than the other 14 questions, they are the questions you must ask yourself before accepting any job.
1. Can I do the job? Are you really qualified? Be honest with yourself, because if the answer is “no,”sooner or later it will not be a secret to your boss!
2. Do I want the job? They may love and want you, but you’d better be sure this is a job you can be passionate about. If not, but you plan to take it anyway, you should at least be honest and know you are compromising for a reason that is valid to you . . . like, you have to eat.
3. Does this job fit in with my long-range plans? The more solid and thought-out your long-range goals, the easier it is to create a directed and targeted career path rather than simply a series of jobs that fail to build upon one another. Just as you can and should take charge of the interview, you must control your own career path. Make sure you have honestly analyzed whether this job fits in with your own goals.
4. Will I fit in? Did you like your prospective boss? Did you like the people you’ll be working with? Those you’ll be managing? A job is not simply a set of functions; it’s a collection of environments created by all the other people that work at the company. You may be totally qualified for and challenged by the job itself, but if you can’t stand any of the people, how long do you think you’re going to last?
5. Can I live on what they want to pay me? If your ideal job won’t even pay the rent or the mortgage, you have a problem. But the biggest problem is if you haven’t bothered to think about your financial needs at all.
6. Do I feel secure taking a job at ________? Doubling your salary may be wonderful. Stock options could make you rich. Or you could find yourself back on the street in a month if you haven’t bothered to ask yourself this question. Always evaluate the compensation package in concert with your analysis of the health of the company. It doesn’t matter how much they promise to pay you if they’re heading toward bankruptcy.
Presuming you have positively answered the first six questions and are prepared to take the job if it is offered, use the next 14 questions to cement your position and assure yourself that you are making the right decision.
7. Given my qualifications, skills, and experience, do you have any concerns about my ability to become an important member of this company? Probably not—if you didn’t meet the summary of qualifications forwarded to Human Resources, you wouldn’t be talking to anyone. But it never hurts to ask a question designed to uncover hidden objections.
8. What are your goals in the next few years? This question can be directed to the Human Resources screener or the hiring manager (HR). If you did research on this topic prior to the interview, you should have information to pose an informed follow-up question once you receive an answer.
9. Do you anticipate any cutbacks in the near future and, if you do, how will they affect my department or position? While hiring new employees is typically a sign of a company’s prosperity, the past few years have given us examples of businesses that have added too many staff too quickly. . . and had to “divest” themselves of many of those new hires soon thereafter. Although the person answering this question cannot predict the future, his or her answer, combined with your own analysis of industry trends, should give you a decent indication of whether there are layoffs in the company’s future.
10. Could you describe a typical day in this position? This ought to clear up any misconceptions you have about the job. It can be used to address questions about travel, telecommuting, and interactivity. If you are someone who enjoys an interactive working environment, you will want to know whether the prospective job keeps you chained to your cube all day, with all communication occurring via e-mail, or involves a steady stream of face-to-face meetings, client contact, and a constantly ringing telephone.
11. Why is this job available? Is this a new position? New positions imply growth. Any company growing now may well be one you want to work for. A new position may also give you more input into your job description and duties. On the other hand, you could also find out that the job is available because the last three people who held the position quit or got fired, which should give you pause.
12. How would my performance be measured in this position? How is the department’s performance measured? Particularly if the salary is not exactly what you desire, the performance review process will indicate how the company handles bonuses and raises. The answer to this question will tell you what is expected of you, as well as how much responsibility you have over the rest of the department and how departmental performance is tied to your individual performance.
13. How would you describe your management style? Even if you are comfortable with the job, the department, and the company and have had most or all of your questions about them answered never underestimate the importance of your boss’s “style,”the corporate culture, and how you will mesh with both.
14. What kinds of people seem to succeed in this company? This is a not-so-veiled attempt to define yourself according to the attributes the manager cites, presuming, of course, that the type of person she describes isn’t so remote from your own personality as to be laughable.
Checkout our post on 9 Key Interview Tips You Need to Prepare Well For Upcoming job Interview
Checkout our post on 9 Key Interview Tips You Need to Prepare Well For Upcoming job Interview
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