What Kind Of Questions Do You Ask In An Interview

Can You Tell Me About A Stressful Work Situation And How You Overcame It

Keep in mind that stories are more memorable than facts and figures. This is also an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your human side and how you’re willing to take the initiative without being asked.

Example:It was the first day of my boss’s two-week vacation. Our agency’s highest-paying client threatened to leave because he didn’t feel he was getting the personalized service we promised him. I spent my lunch hour on the phone with him, talking through his concerns. We even brainstormed ideas for his next campaign. He was so grateful for the personal attention that he signed another six-month contract before my boss even returned from her trip.

Know The Questions To Ask In An Interview

Once you have managed to stay cool, calm and collected during the interview and answered all the questions clearly and concisely, you may feel able to breathe a sigh of relief. However, your job is not yet done! At the end of the interview, you will be asked if you have any questions.

Saying no at this juncture will effectively end your chances of getting the job as candidates are expected to ask a few intelligent questions. It is a great way to show that you have researched the company and industry and it also shows you to be a curious and proactive individual precisely what a new employer is looking for.

Additionally, these questions will help you get a better sense of whether the job is right for you. Below, we look at a selection of the best questions to ask at the end of an interview. As an added bonus, we also look at some questions you should NEVER ask.

The Biggest Question Of All In An Interview

When the interview is over and all the other questions have been asked , its time to ask yourself the biggest question of all, Do I want to work for this company?

Only you can answer that question, but if you know the best questions to ask an employer in an interview then youll be able to get all the information you need to make the right decision.

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Questions About Your Professional Development

Professional development questions demonstrate if this position has a high potential for growth. This is an important factor, especially if you want to spend your career working for this company.

• Can you explain the training process for the employee entering this role?
• Are there training programs available to employees interested in advancing their skills?
• Do you offer professional development programs for employees?
• Are there opportunities to represent the organization at industry conferences?
• Are there formal or informal mentorship programs offered by the organization?
• Do you offer tuition reimbursement for skills learned outside of the workplace?
• Would you say this position has multiple career paths?
• Can you define the opportunities to be promoted in the company?
• If my goal is to learn a new skill, is it possible to learn it from another employee within the company?
• How long do you think it will take to adapt to this new role?

Working At The Company

When youre thinking about whether to accept the job, consider the type of company youd be working for and the principles driving the company.

If youre unsure about these details, ask your interviewer, so you can decide whether youd feel comfortable working there.

Good Interview Questions to Ask Include:

Red Flags

If the interviewer is unable to answer these questions, the company may suffer from organizational problems, or is hiding problematic company practices that are causing people to leave.

Look online for company reviews to get a better idea of what the company is like, and see if the interviewers answers line up with what former employees are saying.

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Unique Interview Questions To Shake Up Your Hiring

Are you asking unique interview questions?

Or, just the same old, everyday, run-of-the-mill ones?

Unique interview questions are designed to probe beneath the surface to get you the valuable knowledge you require to make the best hiring decisions.

In this article, youll learn what the most common interview questions are, why you should ask unique questions, the uncommon questions you should be asking candidates, and so much more!

What Are The Performance Expectations For This Position Will That Expectation Change The Longer I Am Doing The Job

This is a two part questionbut knowledge is power and the more you have, the better off you are! You want to make sure you and your employer establish early on what they expect from you performance wise and not just for the immediate future. If this is a job you plan on sticking with for a period of time, make sure early on that you know what they want you to do and if that will change over time.

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Questions To Ask At An Interview

There are endless possibilities for questions to ask during an interview. Some may be unique to certain industries. For example, for a role involving manual labor, you might ask about outdoor working conditions. Others are broader in scope. When determining what questions to ask, consider the appropriate areas of discussion such as training, the role, the company or the interviewer themselves.

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What Are The Expectations For Me Within The First Year

When asking questions, consider long-term goals as well. When company goals align with yours, it creates a platform for long-term employment.

Sample answer:“Within a year, I’d like to see you excel within the position. I need to see you mastering objectives, providing exceptional customer service and impressing your direct supervisor. Due to his retirement, we’ll need a new department head sometime next year and the company prefers to hire within. There are no guarantees, but it’s something to consider if you want to stay with us for a while.”

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What Are Your Goals For The Future

The best way to handle this question is to express how this role aligns with your ultimate goals. If the company has a core value that matches yours, you can include it in your answer.

Example:One of the reasons I’m interested in working for a fast-growing startup company is that I’ll have the ability to wear many hats and collaborate with a variety of departments. My ultimate goal is to lead a marketing department.

What Are Companies Looking For When Interviewing Job Switch Candidates

The technical evaluation is mostly done through aptitude and coding rounds, however, there are still technical interviews one must sit for. But, let us first focus on the non-technical interview or HR round that every candidate has to go through.

Yes, technical interviews are important as well, but they do not evaluate a candidates personality or behaviour and can mostly be cracked with a good preparation strategy. We will talk about technical interviews as well, but first, let us cover what the HR department and employers are looking for when interviewing you.

In order to sail through the HR interview with ease, you must first upgrade your business communication skills and portray yourself to be as confident as you can be. A positive attitude is appreciated everywhere and is also generally associated with honesty. You must be as honest as you can throughout the interview as HR managers have been in this field for a long time and will definitely know if you are lying.

Being honest represents you as potentially a loyal employee who will stick with the organisation for a longer duration and also not get involved with any illegal activities. You must also speak good things about your previous employers and colleagues as you are associated with the traits you describe other people with. This will also ensure the company knows that you will never speak bad about them, even if you leave the job eventually.

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Questions You Absolutely Must Ask During A Job Interview

No two job interviews you take are ever going to be the exact same.

As such, there is no concrete list of questions you simply must ask. More to the point, there are myriad questions it would be outright wrong to ask in one interview in some cases. Asking about travel accommodations when you are applying for a warehouse management role, for example, probably wouldnt make much sense.

But in almost every interview, a variation on these 10 questions, a few of which have follow-ups to consider based on the reply you get, will almost always be applicable and advisable.

1. What are a few of the most important functions of this job, both in a typical day and bigger-picture?

You should, of course, already know the answer to this question to a large degree. Knowing the answer to most of these types of questions in advance will most often align with the hiring managers expectations. After all, you should have done your research before applying, and the list of responsibilities is usually listed in the job posting. Still, its a topic you must understand fully before taking any job, so dont be afraid to ask, perhaps with a qualifier like in your opinion at the start of the query or that someone on the outside may not know fully at the end.

2. What is the work-life balance and the companys culture like? How is the value of work-life balance demonstrated and protected?

3. Why is this job opening available now?

9. What brought you to this company?

How Do You Deal With Tight Deadlines

For interviewees, their most ideal answer should be a version of this: I review a list of tasks and analyze what are the most urgent and critical matters. I put the most urgent ones on top of the list.

Next, I focus on each task with complete concentration until I finish it before moving on to the next urgent task.

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How Does The Company Represent Its Core Values

Use this question to learn about the company’s culture, core values, and commitment to them. Be sure to research its values before your interview and consider prefacing this question by sharing what you understand about the company’s culture and values. The answer may help you learn how the company’s actions support its verbal claims and determine if their values align with yours.

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Choosing The Best Questions To Ask

Now that we have the categories outlined, we can start really drilling down with these questions to ask the interviewer. Yes, we sort of roughed out quite a few when we described the categories, but those are general questions. The questions you want to ask are going to be specificresearchedand tailored!

But you just gave me seven categories! If I ask a question out of each category its going to take forever! Im sure the hiring manager is going to get sick of me long before I get a chance to go through all my questions Or worse, what if my questions are dumb and the hiring manager thinks Im an idiot? Nobody wants to hire an idiot!

First off, take a deep breath and relax. We promise, the hiring manager isnt going to get tired of youand we already established the fact that youre more likely to look like an idiot for not asking questionsbut yes, that is a lot of categories to coverwhich is why making sure youre asking the right questions is so important.

How do I know which questions are the right questions to be asking?

Ahh, so glad you asked! The easiest way to figure out which questions to ask at an interview is to start out by asking them before you get to the interview.

As youre preparing for your interview and doing your research on the job and the company, make sure youre also taking notes about things youd like to ask about. Remember too that the best questions are the ones that lead to discussion and back and forth between you and the interviewer.

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Questions To Ask About The Team

Next, ask one or two questions about the specific team or department youll be joining. These questions are best asked of the hiring manager, since theyll be most familiar with this particular team.

Whereas, an HR person or recruiter should be able to give you some general company information, and can be asked the questions from the previous section.

Here are the best questions to ask the a hiring manager about the group or department youd be joining:

Why Is The Position Available

This may appear to be a very simple question but the answer could give you a fantastic insight into what its like to work for the company. Perhaps the last person was fired or quit this may suggest the job has a high turnover rate which is not a good sign. Maybe the last person was a bad fit it is always a bonus when you follow an employee that performed poorly as you look good in comparison!

Alternatively, the previous occupier of the job may have been promoted which is obviously excellent news as you may be in the same position yourself one day.

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Make Sure You Look Through The Section Above Called Opinion

Here, youll find opinion-based questions which are GREAT because you can ask the same questions to multiple people.

Heres why this is great

If you interview with three or four people in a day, that final person is still going to expect you to ask good questions. And they will NOT be happy if you say, Sorry, the first three people answered all my questions.

So opinion-based questions are the best solution to making sure you never run out of questions to ask in an interview.

There are other opinion-based interview questions to ask mixed into the list above too, for example:

• What do you think are the most rewarding or gratifying aspects of working in this position?
• What excites you the most about the companys future?
• If you could change one thing about the company, what would it be?

Types Of Questions You Should Ask During An Interview

To be successful, you should ask a range of questions during the interview to show your interest and further demonstrate your ability. It’s best to write down a list of top questions regarding the position, the interviewer’s career path, etc. and bring it to the interview. Here are the types of questions you should ask in an interview and why:

• Questions about the position
• Questions about your professional development
• Questions about the hiring manager
• Questions about your job performance
• Questions about the organization
• Questions about the department where the open position is located
• Questions about the company culture
• Questions about the next stage of the interview process

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Questions You Can Ask

What type of work will you be doing?

• Can you tell me more about the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of this position?
• What would a day in the life of a _____ with your organisation look like?
• What challenges will I have in this job?

What training and progression opportunities are there?

• What kind of induction or training programme will I complete when I begin the job?
• Will there be opportunities for increased responsibility?
• Is there a regular performance review? How is this organised?

What are the people like?

• Can you tell me about the team I will be working with?
• How big is the team I will work with?
• Does the team work closely with other teams?

Whats the organisation like?

• What is the culture of the organisation like?
• What are the biggest challenges and opportunities the organisation is facing right now?
• Where do you see the organisation headed in the next few years?

What Type Of Employee Tends To Succeed Here And What Qualities Are The Most Important For Succeeding Here

This question sheds light on whether the organisation has a clear idea of who they want to employ in the role. Hopefully, the ideal candidate looks a lot like you and if you feel like youve missed something they mention in response, you can always email the interviewer later to reiterate how well you think youll fit in.

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What Are You Looking For In An Employee

Use this question to learn about what the company looks for in candidates aside from the qualifications listed in the job description. The interviewer’s response may provide insight regarding the company’s values and its expectations for employees. Evaluate their answer to ensure working for this company and in this position is the right choice for you.

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‘is There Anything I’ve Said That Makes You Doubt I Would Be A Great Fit For This Position’

“If you can find the courage to put your interviewer on the spot, it can help you get a quick read on the situation, provide you with valuable feedback on your candidacy, and give you the opportunity to address any objections the hiring manager may have while you still have that person’s full attention,” Amanda Augustine, a career advice expert for TopResume, previously told Business Insider.

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