Imagine this. It was Taco Tuesday and that was yesterday. Unfortunately for you, you woke up to Why-did-I-eat-so-much Wednesday and the results are disaster has befallen your indoor plumbing as a result. The caboose you have unloosed, that log cabin you tried to build, yes, that abomination that you just downloaded to the city has effectively sullied your castle. The mighty king is temporarily dethroned…but alas, there is hope! You call a plumber.
So, when Jimmy the plumber shows up and you open the door to let him in, what is the first thing he is going to do? He is going to ask a few questions to diagnose the problem.
But wait, you are the hiring manager hiring him to fix a problem. Jimmy is the expert, or at least you trust that he is based on the reviews that you read. In any case, this is the mindset one must have going into an interview. You, the interviewee are the expert and the most important thing you can do is to diagnose the problem that necessitates the hiring manager to be calling for a plumber, because ain’t no one giving up on Taco Tuesdays!
What are the questions that you need to be asking? We are going to break these down into several categories. We are going to find out everything we can about this position, but we are going to start broad and filter it down to the finer details by the end of the interview.
Most likely, the first part of the interview is going to be the interviewer asking you all of the usual questions. What are your strengths, weaknesses, and nasty habits? What would your ex-spouse say about you if I asked them? What’s the worst thing that you ever drank to during a game of “I never”?
Then you are asked, “do you have any questions for me?” Hoo boy, do I have questions for you?
Remember the notebook you brought? The one in the nice holder with your pen? The notebook where you hopefully have written down all of your questions and left enough space to write down the answers to those questions? That notebook. Well, open it up because things are going to get pretty interesting.
The best way to categorize your questions are as follows in this order:
- The industry
- The company
- The position
THE INDUSTRY: Let’s start with the industry. This is where you ask questions about the company but as they relate overall. Some questions to ask might be:
What in your view is the company’s standing in the industry?
Who are the top competitors?
What changes or trends do you see happening over the next 10 years that could affect the company positively / negatively?
These are good questions because you are also trying to find out how viable the company is and how viable the industry is. For example, if it is a stagecoach or typewriter company, it’s probably not going to be very viable. Bonus if you have done market research and can demonstrate your knowledge by asking pointed industrial questions.
THE COMPANY: The company questions offer you an opportunity to find out about the company’s culture, work environment, and direction. These are the questions you are going to ask that will hopefully help you to find out if this is a good fit for you. These are the questions that I like to ask during an interview:
Describe to me the company’s culture.
How long have you worked here?
What keeps you here at this company?
What other positions is the company looking to fill?
What has been the largest change to happen here since you started? How do you view that change?
THE POSITION: This starts with what I think is the single most important question of the interview. You are going to learn a lot by asking this one question. If you ask no other questions, always ask this one:
How did the position come available?
This should dovetail into some interesting conversation with more follow up questions. If it’s a new position, that indicates growth on the part of the company. If it was because someone left, find out how long they were with the company. Find out how many other people have worked in that position prior to your potential predecessor. If the position has had a lot of turnover that could be a red flag that the demands are too high for the position or perhaps the pay is too low, or maybe it’s just a crappy place to work. In any case you are now gaining insight into the position.
Another important question is “who will I be directly reporting to and will I have anyone I will be indirectly reporting to?” If you have 8 people you are reporting to then the management structure of the company might be a cluster.
Now, that that’s out of the way you can start asking specific questions about the responsibilities, requirements and demands of the position. Finish by asking about the growth prospects of the position. Ask how it may change in the next 5 years.
Also, make sure to ask if this is going to be your manager what his or her management style is. No one wants to get stuck with a bad boss. You cannot always discover this in the interview process, unfortunately. You do have the right just as the interviewer does to ask questions to try and determine that you are not making a career mistake just as they do not want to make a hiring mistake.
QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD NEVER ASK: Finally, yes there are some questions you just do not ever ask in an interview. If this is a first / second interview, do NOT ask about salary and benefits. If the interviewer brings it up simply reply “thank you for letting me know,” and move on to the next question. That is something that should only be asked in a salary negotiation. Other questions not to ask:
- What is the Christmas party like?
- Are you pregnant?
- Anything that the EEOC bars companies from asking about you, you should probably stay away from asking the interviewer. Ethnicity / national origin / sexual preference / marital status. Personally, I think asking those types of questions in a job interview is unprofessional anyway.
Basically, just don’t be an asshole.