Prepare Your Questions To Ask During An Interview In Advance
Read through the list below to get ideas about questions that are typically asked and choose the ones that seem to be most important to you. Choose at least 10 good questions that are the most important to you and relevant to the opportunity. Write your questions on a list you take with you to the interview.
You will likely not ask even half of the questions listed below, but they are a good starting point for developing your own, depending on what is most important to you.
The best way to avoid taking a job you will hate is to learn as much as you can about the job, the organization, your boss, your coworkers, and the environment before you accept the job offer.
So When You Answer What Skills Do You Need To Improve Pick A Real Area Youd Like To Get Better At But Make Sure Its Not Something Essential To The Job
You can choose something youre already pretty good at, but still trying to improve even more. You can choose something that you learned a long time ago but havent used in recent jobs very much.
You can name something not directly related to your work but something youre passionate about learning. For example, maybe youre an Accountant but someday youd like to be a Team Leader, so youd like opportunities to improve your leadership. You could suggest that youd like to lead a meeting or project to begin, just to build out that skill-set over the long term.
Lets look at some example answers and this will start to make more sense
Ill put that Accountant example above as the first example.
What Single Project Or Task Would You Consider Your Most Significant Career Accomplishment To Date
Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired and Hire With Your Head, spent 10 years searching for the single best interview question that will reveal whether to hire or not hire a candidate — and this was the one.
A good answer to this question:
Candidates’ answers will tell you about their prior success and sense of ownership. A great answer will show they are confident in their work and professional choices while being humble enough to show they care about the company’s success. For example, if a candidate built a sales or marketing campaign they’re particularly proud of, listen for them to explain how the business benefited from it. Did it help the company sign a major client?
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What Does This Company Do What Will My Responsibilities Be In This Role
You should have researched these questions before applying for the job, let alone attending the interview. Any question revealing that you havent done any research and arent prepared for the interview will make you seem apathetic and lazy. You should appear well-informed and prepared throughout the interview.
Questions To Ask About The Position:
What would an average day look like in this role?
The question will help you understand what you are signing up for if you are offered the job. If the day-to-day responsibilities of this position are not what you are expecting, it is better to find out now than after youve started.
Is this a new position? If not, how long did the previous employee hold the position?
Knowing whether the previous employee had worked there for years or only a few months can help you ascertain whether it is a rewarding role. If someone held the job for a decade, they probably enjoyed working there, whereas if someone left only a few months after starting there may be some internal issues at the company. For more clarity, you can follow this question up by asking why the previous employee left the role. Were they promoted to a new role, or fired? The answer can inform your opinion of the company.
What kind of challenges would someone in this position face?
This question also allows you to gauge what you will be up against on a regular basis. Every job comes with certain difficulties with this question, you can ascertain whether you are up to the challenge.
What are the most immediate projects that need to be addressed?
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The Right Questions To Ask A Hiring Manager
Many interview tips offer advice on how to answer the hiring manager’s questions. And when you’re interviewing for creative jobs, how you answer the hiring manager’s questions is important. But at the end of an interview, you’ll often hear, “Do you have any questions for me?”
This isn’t a cue to ask about starting salary and vacation days. It’s your opportunity to dig deeper into the company’s culture and show off your knowledge of the organization. Ideally, the list of questions you prepare for the interview tips the scale between “We’ll keep your resume on file” and “You’re hired!”
‘if You Were To Hire Me What Might I Expect In A Typical Day’
Obviously this shows your eagerness about the position, Harrison said, but it also gives you a better idea about what the job will be like on a daily basis so you can decide whether you really want to pursue it. “A frank conversation about position expectations and responsibilities will ensure not only that this is a job you want, but also one that you have the skills to be successful in,” he said.
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Can You Describe The Working Culture Of The Organisation
Asking this question is a great way to assess the working environment of the company and it gives you the opportunity to discover whether you’ll fit in.
From the recruiters response you’ll learn if and how the organisation prioritises employee happiness, of any benefits on offer and what the work-life balance is like.
What Do You Enjoy About Your Job
Everybody loves to talk about themselves and this question enables you to build up a sense of camaraderie with your interviewer. This question requires a personal response, so you could learn a lot from their answer.
You’ll get an insider’s view of the company culture and working environment and you may even get to discover how your interviewer got their start in the business and how they progressed.
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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 Attracted You To Apply For This Position
By asking this question you, as the interviewer, should be able to gauge if job seeker has an enthusiasm for the job opening or if they just applied blindly to the position.
You could also review the experience in their resume with the job opening and ask them how they would react to specific situations.
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Can You Tell Me More About The Team I Would Be Working In
This will help you understand the way the company is structured, who you’ll report to and the department the role sits within. These are the people you’ll work most closely with, so it’s worth trying to find out about the team dynamic and working methods.
Depending on the response, it may also give you the opportunity to mention any experience or success you’ve had working in similar teams – just to give the employer one final example of how well you’ll fit in if you get the job.
Other useful questions to ask at interview include those about:
- performance appraisals
- opportunities or challenges facing the department/company
- company-specific projects or campaigns.
If the employer doesn’t give an indication of what happens next then a good way to wrap up the interview is by asking about the next steps and when you can expect to hear from them.
What Do You Expect Me To Accomplish In The First 90 Days
If you weren’t asked this question, ask it yourself. Why? Great candidates want to hit the ground running. They don’t want to spend weeks or months “getting to know the organization.” They don’t want to spend huge chunks of time in orientation, in training, or in the futile pursuit of getting their feet wet.
They want to make a difference — and they want to make that difference right now.
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‘what Type Of Employee Tends To Succeed Here What Qualities Are The Most Important For Doing Well And Advancing’
This question shows the interviewer that you care about your future at the company, and it will also help you decide if you’re a good fit for the position, Oliver wrote. “Once the interviewer tells you what she’s looking for in a candidate, picture that person in your mind’s eye,” she said. “She or he should look a lot like you.”
What Are Good Questions To Ask An Employer
17 Good Questions to ask your Future Employer Where do you see the company going in about five years? Before you join the company, you should ensure that you know where things are going. What role do you see me playing in the company? At the very onset, you must know what to expect of you when you going to join a company. What major project is the company presently working on? Once you are going to join the company, you should make it a point to ask your future employer about
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Questions About The Position
You should have questions prepared to ask the hiring manager about the position you’re interviewing for. Targeted questions show your curiosity regarding your day-to-day tasks with the company and how they’ll change in the future. Overall, you plan to display that you’re engaged in an interview setting and willing to solve the company’s problems. The best examples include:
- Can do you describe what a typical day is for someone working in this position?
- What types of projects does the department need to be completed right away?
- Can you provide examples of projects I’ll be working on if hired for this role?
- Is there a set of skills and experience you’re looking for from a candidate?
- What features can lead this hire to be successful in this position?
- Is there a skills gap that can be filled by the person who fills this position?
- What are some challenges that employees will face in this role?
- Is this a new position?
- Can these responsibilities change over the next year? If so, how different do you think the responsibilities will be?
- Does this position require travel?
Questions About The Organization
The knowledge that a hiring manager has on a company can determine if they’re the right person to be in a management role. It also depends on how long they’ve been with the company. For example, the hiring manager of a startup might know less than one at a corporation.
- Can you tell me about the founding of the company?
- Where do you see the organization heading in the next 10 years?
- Can you describe the trajectory of the company’s strategy for expansion over the next five years?
- What type of goals is the company trying to accomplish right now?
- What makes you energized about the organization’s future?
- Are you increasing staff in other areas of the company?
- Can you speak more about your product’s growth shortly?
- How would you describe the company’s core values?
- How important is the sales team’s role in helping achieve your goals and continue to scale?
- How has your product’s growth inspired employees within the company?
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The Bottom Line On How To Answer Do You Have Any Questions During An Interview
Gather as much information as you can in the job interview. Decide if you really want this job in this organization working with these people. Then, be prepared for the whole process to take too much time. NEVER stop your job search and wait for a job offer to come. You are probably one of at least three other candidates for any job, and they may well choose someone else or not fill this job.
Who Is The Smartest Person You Know Personally Why
These questions test what the candidate values and aspires to by forcing them to think of a real person they know, and then articulate what makes that person smart.
A good answer to this question:
Ideal answers vary, but could include specific examples of the person they’ve chosen’s ability to think ahead several steps and execute. They could also touch on the person’s decision-making skills, ability to connect, desire for learning, or application of the things they learned.
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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?
Interview Questions About Your Future Manager Or Colleague:
- What’s your favorite part about working here?
- Why did you choose this career and industry?
- What’s your leadership style? What’s my future manager’s leadership style?
- What are some of your biggest worries or challenges these days? What keeps you up at night?
- How did you get your start with your career? How long have you been with the company?
- What has your career path looked like? Is there anything you’d do differently?
- What have been some of your biggest challenges during your career? How did you, or do you, deal with them?
- What do you feel has made you successful working here?
- What is your preferred way of communication? Email, phone, in-person?
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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.
Tell Me About A Time You Disagreed With A Decision What Did You Do
No one agrees with every decision. Disagreements are fine it’s what you do when you disagree that matters.
Show that you were professional. Show that you raised your concerns in a productive way. If you have an example that proves you can effect change, great — and if you don’t, show that you can support a decision even though you think it’s wrong .
Every company wants employees willing to be honest and forthright, to share concerns and issues, but to also get behind a decision and support it as if they agreed, even if they didn’t.
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Questions About Work History
The interviewer will be very interested in your work experience and how that experience might translate for the open position. So expect questions such as:
- Can you please walk me through your resume?
- Why are you thinking about leaving your current job?
- Can you explain gaps in your work history?
- Can you describe a difficult work experience and how you handled it?
- Whats an accomplishment you are proud of?
- Can you give me an example of when you went above and beyond the call of duty in your current job?
- What is a typical workday like for you?
Questions You Should Avoid Asking
The old saying that there are no stupid questions doesnt apply here. Questions that show that you havent been paying attention or havent done your research will make you seem distracted or uninterested. It is important to make sure that your questions are sensible and will reflect well on you as a candidate.
Here are some questions that you should avoid:
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