Interview 111 - Questions to ask in a job interview

This employer question is the second most important question during an interview. The importance is driven by the fact that most interviewers remember the beginning and end well compared to the midsection. This question is also the most ignored by students and job seekers alike. The worst answer to give an interviewer is - "I do not have any questions." Such an answer betrays not only the lackadaisical attitude of the applicant but also that the candidate has no interest in the company. In short, not asking questions signifies no passion for the job.?

Try to ask at least 2-3 questions. You can always ask more if you have time. Most interviewers will give you some extra time to ask questions. This additional airtime can help you present the analytical and strategic side of your candidature in case you haven't done that.?

Safe questions:

You should always research the company beforehand and not ask plain vanilla questions. Some questions, though okay, are very generic.?

• "Tell me more about the culture in your team."
• "What is the reporting structure of this team?"
• "What role can a person in the job get promoted to?"
• "What are the day-to-day responsibilities of the position?"
• "What does a day in the life of this role look like?"

Brilliant questions:

If you want to evaluate the company seriously, you must go beyond the sugar-coated fluff you hear when the hiring manager talks to you. You want to keep prodding the manager to give honest but tough insights about the challenges in that role.

• Asking,?"What does success in this role after a year on the job?"?or?"What success criteria will be used to measure success in this job?"?will show you the hard objective criteria to measure success. You can decide if that job is right for you.
• Asking,?"What are some of the challenges I might face in this position"?will give you a good indicator of the problems encountered in that role.
• Asking,?"What keeps you awake at night?"?will give you a good indicator of the problems encountered by that team. If the interviewer is your reporting manager, you can be well assured that their problems will soon be yours.?
• Asking,?"What is something you absolutely love about the job," "What is something you wish was better about your job?"?or?"Is there one thing the company would do better?"?can give you honest answers as these questions are unscripted.
• Asking,?"What does growth look like in this position?"?can give you feedback if this is a career dead end or how further promotions will come by.?

Unique questions:

I recommend a unique approach to answering the question. You want to be a person who is more than just a cog to fit the vacancy. Instead, you want to be someone comfortable looking at the bigger picture and asking where the job fits into the bigger scheme of activities within the company.?

• One way to do something truly unique is to comb through the quarterly and annual reports of the company to uncover strategic, financial, and operational insights about the company. Annual reports present a wealth of information. It is not all about balance sheets and Profit-Loss statements. Some sections are written in easy language to inform shareholders about competition, company initiatives, strategy, etc.?
• Secondly, you can also go through recent media coverage of the company (last three months) to discover shifts in company strategy. Asking questions about layoffs, competition, and manufacturing strategy is guaranteed to create an image that you are not just an executioner but someone who can be promoted to the next level. For example, in some tech companies, the interviewers judge not just how much of a fit you are for that role but also the next role. In short, they check to see if you have the runway to be promoted to the next job. This best practice guarantees that the individual will avoid career stagnation and the company will get a star employee. Leaving such a positive signal during interviews is crucial if you want to negotiate for a higher salary. Companies will only offer high compensation to a person they think can get to the next level.
• You can look at Glassdoor reviews and Teamblind discussions to uncover the latest trends in the company. These portals have honest reviews about the company, teams, and managers you could be working with. Once, when interviewing with Lyft, I learned all about an engineering VP based on Teamblind feedback and could ask pointed questions about his style of functioning based on that.
• Finally, you can search for videos, articles, or public social media feeds of the interviewer to ask questions about topics they keep posting about. Anybody on social media likes nothing better than the audience watching the videos and reacting to them. In this way, asking topical objective questions (connected to the interview) can connect you to the interviewer personally and make you stand out from other interviewees. In one of the interviews with a top food company, I mentioned to the VP interviewing me that I had watched her videos on youtube along with probing business questions based on that video. I could sense her demeanor change with that observation, she was super happy, and I was sure that I had closed the interview exceptionally well.??

Sample recommended unique questions are listed below:

• Looking at the financial numbers, operational expenses are high in the company. Are you folks considering cost-cutting initiatives, or are you focused on pure growth in the upcoming year? How will this impact this team's work?
• Competitor X is all over the news, grabbing your company's market share. Are there lessons your company can borrow from X concerning your work domain?
• Recently the CEO talked about growth in developing countries. Will this new initiative impact work in your team?
• The common Glassdoor reviews about your company are blah-blah. What is your company doing to address that?

Bad questions:

Some questions make little to no sense.

• "What is the compensation for this role?"?Hiring managers think about compensation only after the interviewers have met and selected the best candidate. Also, the recruiter is the person to connect with for compensation questions, not interviewers.
• "What are the company values?"?This information can be easily found on the company website. Refrain from wasting your questions on something so generic (at the company level), which will hardly matter to individual employees.
• "How long have you been a manager"?or?"When did you join the company"?are irrelevant questions for the interviewer from the job applicant. This information is available on the Linkedin profile.?
• "How well did I do in this interview?"?is a question no sensible company manager should answer. If the interview went well, it doesn't mean much. No one interviewer can select their favorite candidate. All interviewers will meet, discuss every candidate and make a democratic decision on whom to choose. No one can predict who will get in on who will not. In addition, if the interviewer gives specific feedback on weaknesses, the company could be sued in court if the job candidate disagrees. Because of legal implications, especially in the US, HR, and interviewers shy away from giving feedback.?

For more such articles, also follow my?Substack?and?Careerbolt?channels.