Great Interview Questions To Ask A Hiring Manager
Add these questions to your interview checklist.
Whether you’re looking for your first job or are a seasoned professional, a positive impression during the interview is key to getting an offer.
When you ask a hiring manager insightful and good questions during a job interview, it’s a great way for you to demonstrate your professionalism, thoughtfulness, and commitment. Unfortunately, many candidates trail off when it comes to questions to ask a hiring manager or interviewer.
In my experience, that blunder is due to either lack of preparation, or the stress of the interview. How do you set yourself up for success during the hiring process? Keep in mind that the best interview questions are ones that emerge naturally from the conversation. You may find it helpful to jot down notes that can prompt questions to ask in an interview. Brainstorming beforehand and coming in with a few prepared questions can be effective, as well.
I want you to end the interview in a powerful and impactful way. Asking questions should be a two way street. Here are some sample questions to inspire your own brainstorming session.
Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Job
Let’s start with what you shouldn’t say .
Don’t talk about how your boss is difficult. Don’t talk about how you can’t get along with other employees. Don’t bad-mouth your company.
Instead, focus on the positives a move will bring. Talk about what you want to achieve. Talk about what you want to learn. Talk about ways you want to grow, about things you want to accomplish explain how a move will be great for you and for your new company.
Complaining about your current employer is a little like people who gossip: If you’re willing to speak badly of someone else, you’ll probably do the same to me.
What Salary Are You Seeking
When you’re asked, “What salary are you seeking?” it is to your advantage if the employer tells you the range first. Prepare by knowing the going rate in your area, and your bottom line or walk-away point. One possible answer would be: “I am sure when the time comes, we can agree on a reasonable amount. In what range do you typically pay someone with my background?”
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Questions To Ask During An Interview
If you think a companys culture will be important to your job satisfaction, its crucial that you determine if you are aligned on culture during an interview and before you accept an offer. According to the Jobvite survey, almost 30% of job seekers have left a job within the first 90 days of starting and 32% of those respondents said company culture was a reason for leaving within the first three months.
Employers care about culture fit, as well. In 2008, Harvard Business Review reported that Zappos offers new hires more than $1,000 to quit after their first week in hopes of keeping people who are energized about the company and aligned on values.
If youre interviewing and want to keep culture in the forefront of the conversation, these interview questions can help you determine if youre a good match.
What Was Your Salary In Your Last Job
This is a tough one. You want to be open and honest, but frankly, some companies ask the question as the opening move in salary negotiations.
Try an approach recommended by Liz Ryan. When asked, say, “I’m focusing on jobs in the $50K range. Is this position in that range?”
Maybe the interviewer will answer maybe she won’t. If she presses you for an answer, you’ll have to decide whether you want to share or demur. Ultimately your answer won’t matter too much, because you’ll either accept the salary offered or you won’t, depending on what you think is fair.
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Can You Tell Me More About The Day
Asking this question enables you to learn as much about the role as possible. The interviewer’s response will provide insight into what skills and experience are needed, and will also help you decide if the role is right for you.
The answer will give you an idea of what the employer’s expectations are, so if you’re offered the job there should be no surprises when you start.
There Are Some Things You Can Do To Make The Transition Easier:
- Group the questions according to topic. For example, if you want to ask about writing skills, list all these questions together. Then, if a candidate answering one question touches on another question in your list, you can easily say Actually, I was planning to ask you about that. Tell me more about. This applies to similar skills as well for example, list organizational interview questions and leadership interview questions one after the other.
- Ask prompting questions. Candidates will use their experiences, knowledge and thoughts to back up their answers. Most of the time, youll have something to ask about those thats relevant to the role. For instance, you can say something like You mentioned that you did this project with a team of designers. We actually have a great team here that youll be working closely with should you be hired. How would you feel about this?
- React like you would in a social situation. If somebody told you at a party that theyre currently working on a cutting-edge face recognition program, how would you react? You might say something like That sounds fascinating. Tell me more or Whats the program like? Its OK to respond this way during an interview, as long as you make sure the conversation doesnt stray from the job youre hiring for.
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If I Were Hired For This Position Would I Be Going Through Any Training Prior To Actually Starting The Work
This is a great question to askespecially if you are concerned about your ability to do the job. With the right training, an employee can quickly be brought up to company speed. If no training is offered and youre not sure you know enough to do the jobthis would also be a great time to get clarification on that.
What Does Growth And Career Development Look Like
If youre the type of employee who wants to grow with your role, youre likely interested in companies that invest in that growth. While many people can be happy excelling in the role they are in, if youre focused on upward mobility you may want an office culture that invests in training, conferences or enrichment opportunities. Theres nothing less motivating than a job that has no opportunities for growth, so pay special attention to the interviewers answer.
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What Is Your Culture Like Here
One of the first questions to ask in an interview should be about the companys culture. This makes a great first impression because it shows your interest in their values and working environment. A better understanding of the working environment will make you think about how your personality fits within their culture.
What Are Your Salary Requirements
What They Want to Know: Questions about salary can be tricky, especially if you don’t know what the job pays. One approach to answering this question is to say you’re flexible, based upon the entire compensation package including benefits.
I average around $39K annually, and I know from online salary calculators that the approximate salary here for professionals with my experience ranges from $38K to $40K. But Im open to negotiation, depending upon your benefits package.
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Question #: Is There Anything About My Background Or Resume That Makes You Question Whether I Am A Good Fit For This Role
This question displays that youre highly invested in the job and committed to understanding your prospects as a candidate. Plus, it will also allow you an opportunity to respond to any potential concerns. Lastly, this question is best to ask at the end of the interview to gauge where you might stand within the job process.
Reason #: Show Your Motivation For The Job
As stated in this free course, your interviewers are asking themselves 2 key questions during the interview:
Can you do the job?
Are you a good fit?
The first question can you do the job? is, of course, mainly answered with the infamous case interviews.
However, your interviewers will try to answer the second question are you a good fit? all along the interview, including by assessing the questions you ask them.
Paragraph 6 of this article shows you some sample questions to ask that will express your motivations to excel as a Consultants.
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Questions About The Role
Working out whether the role is right for you is part of assessing security, so you dont have to leave after a few months and find yourself back in the job market.
According to Leah Lambart, Career Coach at Relaunch Me, asking questions to understand the role will help you determine whether youre the right fit.
Ideally, you dont want to accept a job that isnt going to suit you at all, only to find yourself in a bad situation six months later, she says.
Asking the following questions will help you determine if the position is a good fit for you in the long run:
1.What kind of person is most likely to succeed in this position? Or, more specifically, what are the key skills and characteristics required for success in this role?
Its nice to think were a good fit for a job were interviewing for. Rather than assuming this, asking a question like this allows you to determine whether you are a good fit for the role on offer. Is it what you anticipated based on the job description? Are you successful because you have the right personality, strengths, skills, and experience?
2.How do you measure success in this role?
3.What opportunities for learning and development are available in this role?
These questions will help you understand what the career path may look like and ensure you have a good sense of what the role may lead to in the long run, Lambart says.
Behavioral Interviewing: Assessing Past Action
Employers use behavioral interview questions to assess your past and future performance. An interviewer will ask you to provide an example of a time you demonstrated a particular skill required of the position. Likewise, an employer may ask how you handled or faced a specific situation or assignment. Your past performance serves as a strong indicator of future performance. By asking you to elaborate upon your prior professional experiences, employers can assess whether you possess the requisite skills for the position.
When presented with a behavioral question during an interview, frame your responses using the STAR method, which consists of the following:
- Situation or Task: Provide context for the interviewer. Provide a brief overview of your position. Explain the problem or issue you faced while completing a specific project. You should seek to humanize the situation for the employer by providing relevant details.
- Action: Describe the steps you completed or skills you used to address the problem or issue. Use this opportunity to highlight strengths and skills you could bring to the position.
- Result: Summarize the result or lessons learned while addressing the issue.
Keep your answers specific, focused, and succinct. You should seek to engage the interviewer and demonstrate why you are the best candidate for the position using concrete examples.
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Good Questions To Ask During An Interview And Why To Ask Them
When you’re interviewing for a new job, it’s important to ask the person interviewing you questions about themselves and the company. This reinforces your interest in the position and demonstrates your desire to learn more. Reviewing common questions to ask may help you prepare for your interview and ensure you ask the right questions. In this article, we discuss examples of good questions to ask during an interview and why to ask them.
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What Is Culture Fit
Culture fit is the alignment of a companys core values and culture with its employees. Often, its easiest to know what culture fit is when there isnt one, like someone who prefers silent concentration joining a company with a shared playlist playing across the office or an extreme extrovert stuck in a silent cubicle all day.
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What Percentage Of Employees Was Brought In By Current Employees
Employees who love their jobs naturally recommend their company to their friends and peers. The same is true for people in leadership positions — people naturally try to bring on board talented people they previously worked with. They’ve built relationships, developed trust, and shown a level of competence that made someone go out of their way to follow them to a new organization.
And all of that speaks incredibly well to the quality of the workplace and the culture.
Ask Questions To Close The Sale Or Uncover Objections
Use your judgement about the interviewer and the situation. Some interviewers will like this approach and the confidence you are demonstrating by asking these questions, but others may not.
Do what feels comfortable and appropriate to you.
- If you had to choose your finalists for this position today, would I be included?
- Based on our conversation today, do you believe I can excel in this position or do you have areas of concern?
OR, the least challenging, but still useful
- Do you have any other questions for me?
These can be tough questions to ask, but hearing their responses allows you to respond and overcome any objections they might have. If you do not do this, and they do have objections, then you will be one of those who gets the rejection letter.
If they answer these questions , those answers will give you an indication of how well you did in the interview and perhaps an opportunity to clarify a question they might have about your qualifications to do the job.
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What Are The Next Steps In The Interview Process
This is not only a question you can ask to show youre interested in where the hiring process is going to go next, its also a great way for you to get some reassurance. Nobody likes waiting to hear back from a company and getting nothingat least this way youre prepped for how the process will continue and what to expectand when.
B Teamwork Interview Questions
- Describe a group project you worked on. What was your role and what did you achieve?
- Has your team ever failed to reach a goal? If so, what went wrong and what did you learn from that experience?
- Tell me about a time you had to work with a colleague you didnt get along with.
- Imagine you have submitted a piece of work that you thought was finished, but a colleague returns it to you with multiple corrections and comments that would take you hours to address. What would you do?
- Your manager hates your latest work. What do you do?
- Describe a time you were assigned new tasks How did you adapt?
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Questions You Should Never Ask In An Informational Interview
Good informational interview skills go a long way in aiding your job search but bad informational interview questions will instantly weed your chances out.
Professionals work on a tight schedule with little or no time to spare. Therefore make the most out of the limited time that you have in gathering the information but in the right way.
Choice of words, phrasing, and timing become cardinal in the success of an informational interview.
Whats The Most Interesting Project Youve Worked On In A Past Position
Ask this interview question to determine if the applicant would likely enjoy the work available at your company. Do the types of tasks they find fulfilling align with the job description for your position? Making sure employees find their work professionally satisfying is one of the most important factors in retention.
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Tell Me About Yourself/your Work Experience
Begin your answer with an overview of your highest qualification then run through the jobs you’ve held so far in your career.
You can follow the same structure as your CV, giving examples of achievements and the skills you’ve picked up along the way. Don’t go into too much detail – your interviewer will ask you to expand on any areas where they’d like more information.
Questions To Ask Interviewers At The Start Of The Interview
At the start of the interview, understanding the people who are interviewing you will help you provide answers appropriate to the persons role in your work life. You will also become a bit more comfortable talking with the interviewer, hopefully turning the interview into a discussion rather than a series of questions and answers.
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‘can You Tell Me Where The Company Is Going’
“If you’re talking to the leader of a company, that’s a great question to ask them, because they’re in the best position to tell you that,” Robert Hohman, the cofounder of Glassdoor, previously told Business Insider. “They should be able to articulate that really clearly. And it should be inspiring.”
