On an Interview? You Control It. The Questions You Should Ask

Perspective is an important quality in life. Either you are in control of your destination or you are allowing someone or something else be in control of your destination. It is always a choice.

Bringing that philosophy to the interview process is an empowering mindset. It does not mean that you should wrestle with the interviewers for control of an interview session. Think in macro and micro as you consider what I am sharing with you.

For me personally, the quality of the questions an individual asks me helps determine their fit for a role in my organization more so than the answers they give me from the questions that I ask them. I prefer the perspective of an individual interviewing with my firm be, “Does this company and opportunity fit my goals of personal and professional development?” Because if they do, we have a great match.

As you interview the “company”, you are there to gather a body of information in order to eventually make a decision. You are not there as a beggar. It is a process. You will decide ultimately if you feel this is a correct choice for you after gathering your information.

Each of the following questions by themselves are valuable, but when used in harmony, they allow you as the individual to have a better perspective on whether this is a role and a company that you would be interested in pursuing.

Why is this role available?

• Intention - You want to know the reason for it being available as well as the stability of the role.
• You want to determine if this is a replacement and if it is, who was in the role before and why are they no longer in the role? Did they leave the company? Are you able to speak with them when the time is right? How has the role been covered since the person left the position?
• If it is a new position, why has it been created? How has the work been handled up until now and what was the determining factor in making it into a formal position?  In both cases you would also want to know why there was not a person internally available for the role.

What problem are you trying to solve with this role?

• Intention - People hire people to solve problems. What is the immediate problem that they are trying to solve?
• What specifically would the role have the opportunity to solve/do/lead over the first 90/180/360 days? You want to determine if the opportunity will have the resources required in order to be successful. It is also critical to understand where the importance of this role fits into the business plan of the organization.

For me personally, the quality of the questions an individual asks me helps determine their fit for a role in my organization more so than the answers they give me from the questions that I ask them.

The position description/job posting had 5 “Requirements” on it. Why those 5? Can you put those in order of importance?

• Intention – Determine the order of importance of the requirements and why they exist.
• Unfortunately a majority of position descriptions are a cut & paste efforts. Typically there has not been a lot of thought put into the description or requirements. You want to focus the interview on the “what and why” of the requirements so you are able to share your experience specifically towards what the position needs to accomplish.

What unique skills or experiences would I gain by taking this role?

• Intention – You want to know what you will learn and be able to add to your skills and experiences for future opportunities.
• We all want to learn and grow. If we are not being challenged in a healthy way, we tend to lose interest and then work becomes “work”. You also should be interested in what you will become as you invest time into the new role. Do the skills and experiences you gain in the role support your long-term career plans?

The Payoff

These questions should be presented to each person that is interviewing you. If there is not enough time in this session, request a follow up session. If that cannot be scheduled in-person, request a phone call. You need these answers.

The interviewers in the interviewing process all have different perspectives. Gathering those perspectives will give you a truer sense of what the role is and what it will be responsible for. It will also provide insight as to the headwinds of the role.  

No interview process is perfect. Your goal is to collect enough information and perform enough diligence for a truer yes and a truer no.