How Do You Know If They're Right For YOU? - Top 5 Interview Questions
Oscar Brown
Executive Search | Energy & Sustainability Consulting | Connecting Leading Firms with Top Talent
As we all know, interviewing can be a pretty stressful experience. For some, it’s a walk in the park, for most, it is not.
It can feel like you are a performing monkey competing against an unknown jostling crowd of competitors for the role, all trying your darndest to impress what seems to be a hard-bitten bunch of hiring managers casting their judgment from above.
The reality is, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Instead, you are competing with nobody but yourself, and to show yourself in your best light you need to be authentic to yourself, to who you are, what you represent, and most importantly what you are looking for in your next role.
That’s what I’m going to focus on today...
Not how you can represent yourself as best as possible (maybe a story for another day…), but how you ensure that the employer you are interviewing with is the right one for you. You can do this by asking the best, and fairest, questions for the situation (which funnily enough, can show you in a pretty good light!).
You wouldn’t believe how often a hiring manager is blown away by someone’s ability to ask the right questions.
You probably would believe how much easier it is for you to make the right decision having asked these questions.
Of course, it's worth noting what questions you want to ask to depend on what’s important to you as a candidate! So, it's no size fits all...
So below, I am going to give you my top 5 interview questions, and why they’re so important!
no1. What is the current team setup, and where do you see this role fitting into that?/What is the current set-up of the team I would be joining?
This question will allow you to gain insight into your hiring manager and the team they oversee;
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no2. Why did you join? /Why do you work here?/Why have you stayed?
These are some of the best questions you can ask a line manager or potential future colleague. It will allow you to not only find out what this company has offered pre-existing members of your direct team, but it will also allow you to find out what motivates the people whom you will spend a tremendous amount of your time with which is important! For example.
no3. What would I have done over the first 12 months to have been classed a good hire for your team?
This is another favourite of mine…once again this not only encourages the hiring manager to imagine you in the role, it also;
no4. What are the future plans/roadmaps for this team?
no5. ‘What traits do you look for in a successful candidate?’/’What skills do you think I possess to be successful in this business?’
Asking this towards the end of an interview process can do a number of things:
You may notice, all these questions are open-ended and have the purpose of you gaining valuable insights into the company that you are hoping to join. The main purpose of which is to establish whether it is in fact what you are looking for, or not, which is also fine.
Top Tip;
When interviewing the most important thing to remember is that it is, in fact, a two way street. You are not there with the sole purpose of impressing the team, though, you always want to put your best foot forward…You are there to make sure that the role and business are the right fit for you and your future. If they’re not, make sure to let your recruiter know, communicate what wasn’t right and what was right. Politely communicate what wasn’t to your liking and move on. Recruiters want to hear how you found things so they can make sure they're putting the right things in front of you in the future and it is as anticipated as your feedback from the employer.?
Bespoke talent solutions for the Data, Analytics and Technology domains at KDR Talent Solutions
3 年Nice post Oscar Brown! Long gone are the days when it's the company interviewing the candidate. It's a 2 way street like you say!
Data Engineering | ML | AI
3 年Great blog Oscar Brown! In a busy market with plenty of options, these are the types of questions that will help you determine if the business & role line up with your motivations.