Questions To Ask In An Interview: Final Thoughts
When youre thinking about questions to ask an interviewer, remember that your goal is to appear like someone who has done their research on the company, is enthusiastic about the position, and eager to get started.
You dont want to raise any red flags or sow seeds of doubt or negativity about your qualifications or professionalism.
To help avoid this, when it comes to questions to ask in an interview, you should not ask about salary and benefits just yet.
Wait until you are in the final steps of the interview process to negotiate your compensation package with the hiring manager or HR representative.
Now that you are prepared with strong questions to ask in an interview, dont forget to practice aloud to help build confidence when the big day rolls around.
Pamela Skillings
Chief Interview Coach
Pamela Skillings is co-founder of Big Interview. As one of the country’s top interview coaches, she has helped her clients land dream jobs at companies including Google, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan Chase
Work Habits And Working Style Questions To Ask Job Candidates:
- How would you describe your work style?
- What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?
- If you had to choose one, would you consider yourself a big-picture person or a detail-oriented person?
- What are your strengths as an employee?
- What are your weaknesses as an employee?
- When were you most satisfied in your job?
- What can you do for us that other candidates cant?
- What were the responsibilities of your last position?
- Give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond the call of duty at work.
- What was the last project you led, and what was its outcome?
- Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?
- How do you handle working with people who annoy you?
- Have you ever been on a team where someone was not pulling their own weight? How did you handle it?
- Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback. How did you handle it?
- If I were your supervisor and asked you to do something that you disagreed with, what would you do?
- Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no possible way that you could finish them.
- What did you dislike about your least favorite former supervisor and/or coworker?
- How would your previous co-workers describe you?
- Can you give me an example of a time you worked through a conflict with a coworker?
Follow The Star Interview Method
STAR interviewing refers to a method of answering a question with a clear outlining of a situation, task, action, and result.² This method helps to produce a logical and easily understandable answer in the context of your experience. So, if you are posed with the question Can you tell me about a mistake youve made on the job and how you handled it?, you might respond with the following:
Situation: Our Yelp! Reviews started gradually declining last year, and so our manager told us to start paying much closer to the way customers interacted with us towards the end of their meals.
Task: On one particular occasion, I asked a customer how his meal was, and he politely said fine. However, I could tell something was wrong, so I wanted to see what I could do.
Action: I asked the customer if there was something else I could do for him, and after a brief hesitation, he mentioned he has received the wrong side dish with his order. Unable to fix it at that point, I apologized, then asked my manager if I could send the guest home with a free dessert and a coupon for his next visit. My manager approved, and I presented him with the gifts and apologized again.
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What Is Your Greatest Weakness/strength
If you have any weakness like can’t work for long hours, handling too much pressure is difficult or getting tired very early etc, be genuine and don’t fake it. But do say that you have ability to overcome your weaknesses, the interviewer just want to know whether you can work and handle any situation overcoming your weakness.
General Effectiveness And Workplace Interaction
9. How would your co-workers at your current job describe your interaction with them and your general effectiveness in your work performance? How would your co-workers describe you?
What you want to know:You want to understand how the candidate thinks that their co-workers view their interactions. You also want to assess how co-workers like working with the candidate. These questions give you an idea about the candidate’s assessment of their effectiveness in their current job and in relationships with co-workers. Past practice can predict future results.
My co-workers in the past appreciated that I am a team player and a person of integrity. I believe that they’d tell you that they respect me and the contributions I made. I made efforts to share the glory when the team was successful and I never threw anyone under the bus. They’d also say that I was reliable and accountable.
10. How would your current boss describe your work and contribution?
What you want to know: You want to understand how the candidate perceives the support and opinion of their current employer. This question tells you about the candidate’s interaction with their current boss. It also informs you about how well they accept criticism and feedback. If the interaction with the applicant’s current employer is positive and uplifting, this can shape the job applicant’s expectations of their new work environment.
12. How do you go about continuing to develop your professional skills and knowledge?
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How Does The Company Determine Salary Levels Or Ranges For Remote Workers And Is It At All Different For In
Why ask it: Companies with remote workers have several different ways they might determine salary levels. Typically, its based on either the companys location, the workers location, or another metric like the national average. Knowing how they calculate their pay rates gives you solid information to make informed decisions if/when youre negotiating salary requirements.
What Is The Star Method In Interviewing
The STAR method is an interview technique that organizes answers to behavioral questions into a structured response format as follows:
Situation: Describes a specific situation that pertains to the question. Outline the particulars of the circumstance.
Task: Explain the objective.
Action: Illustrate the steps and actions taken in order to achieve the desired goal. Be as detailed as possible and focus on individual contributions.
Response: Relay the outcome of the action and evaluate results.
This interview structure ensures that the interviewer receives comprehensive answers that provide a more complete picture of applicants work styles. Though situations should ideally be from past jobs, entry-level applicants or candidates pursuing career changes may draw on from experiences from school, internships, volunteer work, or other industries.
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Career Goal Questions To Ask Job Candidates:
- Why do you want this job?
- Where would you like to be in your career five years from now?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why are you leaving your present job?
- What salary are you seeking?
- Whats your salary history?
- If I were to give you the salary you requested, but let you write your job description for the next year, what would it say?
- What are you looking for in terms of career development?
- How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
- What kind of goals would you have in mind if you got this job?
Which questions do you think are most helpful when it comes to hiring new employees? Have you had better luck focusing on personality or work experience? Id love to hear your thoughts in the comments, or on Twitter
Questions About Next Steps
10. Whats your timeline for next steps?
This is a basic logistics question, but its useful to ask because it gives you a benchmark for when you can expect to hear something back. Otherwise, in a few days youre likely to start agonizing about whether you should have heard back about the job by now and what it means that you havent, and obsessively checking your phone to see if the employer has tried to make contact. Its much better for your quality of life if you know that youre not likely to hear anything for two weeks or four weeks or that the hiring manager is leaving the country for a month and nothing will happen until shes back, or whatever the case might be.
Plus, asking this question makes it easy for you to check in with the employer if the timeline they give you comes and goes with no word. If they tell you that they plan to make a decision in two weeks and its been three weeks, you can reasonably email them and say something like, I know you were hoping to make a decision around this time, so I wanted to check in and see if you have an updated timeline you can share. Im really interested in the position and would love to talk more with you.
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What Will Be The Biggest Challenge For The Person Filling This Position
This question gives you insight into what you might be walking into, as well as the opportunity to explain how you are qualified to handle the challenge. Only elaborate if you truly are qualified, and avoid asking the question simply to allow yourself to brag. Remember the interviewers answer will tell you a lot about the prospective position, and you want to focus on listening to their response versus plotting the next words out of your mouth.
Sometimes what an employer considers a challenge is exactly the excitement you might be looking for, but if there truly are no challenges, you might want to consider if the job will be fulfilling enough for you.
If the challenges seem unreasonable or outside of your control, you may want to consider if youll be entering a losing battle, or take the opportunity to ask them what assistance you would have in tackling the challenge. Their response can tell you a lot about the teamwork dynamics of the company and how much autonomy youll be expected to perform under.
A follow-up or alternative question here could be, What is the number one skill someone would need to be successful in this position?
Hiring Process Questions To Ask In An Interview
One of the hardest parts of job searching is the constant unknowns. Hiring process questions are good questions to ask in an interview to give you a sense of whats going to happen next, how quickly they are looking to fill the position, and give you an opportunity to finish the interview as strongly as you started.
17. What are the next steps in the interview process?
This question shows that you are eager to move forward in the process. It will also help you gain important information about the timeline for hiring so that you can follow up appropriately.
18. Do you have an ideal start date in mind?
This is another way to get an understanding of their timeline and when you can expect to hear from them.
19. Are there any further details I can provide that will be helpful?
This question allows your interviewer to circle back to anything that concerns them about your experience or resume without phrasing the question negatively such as asking, is there anything that concerns you about my fit for this role? You dont want them to be thinking of reasons not to hire you, but you do want to have the opportunity to explain yourself if the interviewer has doubts about your qualifications.
20. Do you have any further questions to ask me?
This can be a less-detailed alternative question to the above. It leaves the door open for the interviewer to ask for clarification on one last thing before concluding the interview.
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When Was The Last Time You Promoted Someone Within Your Team And Why
Why ask it: This question can provide insight into what the hiring manager considers to be the most important traits, skill sets, and achievements to progress within the company. Plus, it also gives intel on career progression within the organization and how often employees are able to move up through the ranks.
Why Do Hiring Managers Want You To Ask Questions
Why is not asking questions at the end of the interview a missed opportunity and why are hiring managers disappointed when interviewees dont ask questions?
Because asking questions not only gets you vital information about the job youre interviewing for, it also shows that youre willing to go the extra mile to get that informationespecially if you not only come in with well thought out questionsbut tailor those questions as well!
Remember, the ultimate goal is always to be the PERFECT CANDIDATE and that means doing a little extra work before you even get to the interview. By asking the right questions, you are turning the table on the interviewer and taking control of the room.
While this might seem at first like a bad idea, its actually a brilliant move.
When you ask tailored questions, youre showing the hiring manager that youre willing to do what it takes to get the job.
Psychologically, youre proving to the hiring manager that youre a go-getter and go-getters get hired!
Speaking of psychology, what does a hiring manager think of someone who doesnt ask questions?
Remember our little mock scenario above where our candidate seemed eager to wrap up the interview and get out of there? That can make a hiring manager reluctant to extend the offer of a job.
Who wants to hire someone who seems like theyre more interested in running away than investing a little more time into finding out what the job is really all about?
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Have You Applied For Any Other Positions
If the interviewee has been applying for other positions, is a good idea to see what types of positions they have applied for. Are the positions similar to your opening or totally different?
If you speak to a candidate who is applying for many different types of positions in many different fields it may give you an indication that the candidate does not really know what kind of job they want and are just seeing whats out there.
Can You Tell Me About A Time When You Had To Deal With A Difficult Customer And What You Did In The Situation
All restaurant employees have to deal with rude or difficult customers at one point or another, yet that timeless saying of the customer is always right never fails to reign supreme.
Interviewers want to know how you handle a very real, stressful part of the job. Its not uncommon for employees dealing with particularly unruly or disruptive customers to involve management, and citing an example of this shows you know when and how to escalate if necessary.
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Stay Interview Questions That Top Employers Askyour Browser Indicates If You’ve Visited This Link
This is a great case for prioritizing the underutilized stay interview and learning which stay interviewquestions are most effective. When quit rates rise, conducting stay interviews with your top-performing employees may help you uncover solutions to your retention problems that you hadn’t otherwise considered.
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What Is The Last Question That I Should Ask Before Leaving An Interview
Before leaving, the final question that you should ask is when youre likely to hear back from the panel on the outcome of the interview. This simple question will show the interviewer that you are keen to pursue the role after meeting with the panel and learning more about the position.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, for more useful tips on how to prepare for your interview, make sure you visit the career advice section of our website.
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How Could I Impress You In The First Three Months
This is a good question to ask at the end of a job interview because it shows potential employers that you’re eager to make a positive contribution to the organisation.
Pay close attention to the recruiter’s response as it will tell you how they want you to perform and will highlight particular areas of the job you should be focusing on during the first few weeks of employment.
Whats The Companys Approach To Supporting Work
Why ask it: The answers received from this question will help you determine if the company really does support work-life balance and in what ways. Asking about any new things theyve done as a result of the pandemic will tell you if the company is responsive to the ever-changing needs of its workforce.
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Name A Work Accomplishment That Makes You Proud
With this line of interview questioning, you will learn about the job seeker in more depth and get a better idea of the types of work they have achieved from their previous and current company.
This also gives the interviewee an opportunity to showcase some of their strongest qualities and any leadership skills they may have.
