Get A View Of The Future
Asking questions about the growth of the company and its employees is a good idea for two reasons. I always ask what a company’s goals are for the next five to ten years. It gives a good perspective on what their values are and how I may or may not fit with a company, says Diane Kulseth, another young professional. Plus, asking about the future of the company and opportunities for your own growth shows that youre committed and eager to learn. You can ask:
- Where do you see this company in the next few years?
- What can you tell me about your new product or plans for growth?
- What training programs are available to your employees?
- Are there opportunities for advancement or professional development?
Will I Have Access To Continued Training And Education In This Role
The question shows your dedication to expand your knowledge and self-improvement. It also helps you to see if your potential employers support their employees’ personal and career development. You also learn the type of support they offer, for example, financial support or giving you more time to develop yourself. You may also ask if you need to undergo training before you can attend to your duties.
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.
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Outline The Process On How You Set Goals
Your best employees are generally driven and goal-oriented. This question will help ensure they have the ability to not only reach goals you would set for them but set their own goals to achieve as well.
The top candidates will be able to explain their goal-setting process in detail, how they set up their goals, break goals into smaller tasks, and measure their success once completing them.
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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Where Does Your Company Expect To Be In 5 Years
An individual or organization needs to ask themselves this question. The question is a little challenging to answer and it makes you stand out. Your interviewer’s answer helps you determine if the company’s objectives align with your career goals. While it’s not a must for all the objectives to align for you to accept the position, it helps you understand the company’s direction.
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Why Do You Want This Job And Why Are You A Good Fit For It
One of the most important questions you can ask your interviewee is why they want the job. Their answer can express their interest in the job opening, skills for the job duties and passion for the job’s purpose. It’s important an employee cares about what they do so they can perform their job with enthusiasm and a strong work ethic.
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What Is The Best Part Of Working For The Company
This is one of the most open-ended job interview questions for employers. It is based on the person you ask and their experience within the company. The hiring manager may like the bonus structure the most while your direct supervisor could enjoy the atmosphere of the workplace. This is another question that you will want to ask multiple people, if possible, to see what the team values and how they view the organization. If you get a variety of answers, you know there are multiple benefits to working for the company.
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Good Questions To Ask At The End Of The Interview
As the interview winds down, or when the interviewer has indicated that the interview is ending, you need to ask these end-of-the-interview questions.
Tell the interviewer that you are very interested in the job and enthusiastic about joining the organization. Then, finish by asking these questions.
Questions About Professional Development Career Paths And Future Opportunities
Markman says its critical to understand what growth and career development will look like in the job. You want to be sure that you can see yourself not just in the role youre currently applying for but that there is a career path at the organization that youre excited about.
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Questions About The Position
1. How will you measure the success of the person in this position?
This gets right to the crux of what you need to know about the job: What does it mean to do well, and what will you need to achieve in order for the manager to be happy with your performance?
You might figure that the job description already laid this out, but its not uncommon for a job description to be the same one an employer has been using for the last ten years, even if the job changed significantly during that time. Companies often post job descriptions that primarily use boilerplate language from HR, while the actual manager has very different ideas about whats most important in the role. Also, frankly, most employers just suck at writing job descriptions , so its useful to have a conversation about what the role is really about. You might find out that while the job posting listed 12 different responsibilities, your success in fact just hinges on 2 of them, or that the posting dramatically understated the importance of 1 of them, or that the hiring manager is battling with her own boss about expectations for the role, or even that the manager has no idea what success would look like in the job .
2. What are some of the challenges you expect the person in this position to face?
3. Can you describe a typical day or week in the job?
4. How long did the previous person in the role hold the position? What has turnover in the role generally been like?
What Traits Do I Need To Succeed In This Position
There are certain traits that most employers want in their employees. Examples include teamwork, good communication, critical thinking and strategic planning. However, some companies value these traits more than others. There might also be specific soft skills that they want. Learning about the traits will help you prepare for your future role.
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Nervous About How To Answer Interview Questions
Another interesting read is The Key to Landing A Job Interview Secrets Employers and Headhunters Dont Want You to Know, which gives you the inside track to interviewing process. Lastly, we also have The Job Interview Problem Solver: 10 Sneaky Questions Interviewers Ask to Determine if You Are a Good Culture Fit, or Get That Job!: The Quick and Complete Guide to a Winning Interview and How to Answer Interview Questions.
Be Considerate Of The Hiring Manager
Time is valuable, especially when you are a hiring manager or employer juggling more than 20 job interviews each week. Don’t waste their time with frivolous conversation or questions. Research the company, job, competition, and market before arriving for the interview. Ask fresh questions, which means you shouldn’t ask for information easily found on the company’s About Us page. Hiring managers interpret these redundant questions as you not doing your homework. They want candidates to ask stimulating questions and prove they care about the company and the position instead.
On the other hand, keep in mind the time constraints. Your first interview question always should be about time I have a couple of questions for you. But I don’t want to keep you from your obligations. How much time do we have? This shows respect and consideration. If the interviewer informs you they are pressed for time, limit your questions to the information you really need to know .
Before you can impress the hiring manager in an interview, your resume needs to get you in the door. Does your resume have what it takes to land your dream job? Check with our free critique today!
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What Is Your Leadership Style
It’s better to ask this question to your potential boss rather than a recruiting manager or human resources representative. The question will trigger them to think before they can answer. Moreover, it’s a question they don’t hear often. It’s a genuine question because their management style greatly influences your success at the company. Moreover, ask who you’re going to report to if you get the job. Assess the answer for how they manage employees and for aspects like rewards.
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What Are Your Company Values And How Do They Impact The Work Here
Many candidates will ask employers about the role and the company in general. For example, theyll ask, What will the typical day here look like?
Thats not a particularly creative or unique question to ask the interviewer, though. Theyve heard it over and over.
And theyve also heard generic questions about the company culture.
So thats why youll benefit from this unique question, which is a bit more creative and combines the two topics.
With this question, youre asking about their values and exactly how they impact the daily work environment. This will make the interviewer think a bit and impress them, plus itll provide you valuable info in your job search as you try to find a role and company that youll enjoy.
One word of caution here, though: Dont ask the employer any questions that can be answered on their company website. So, for example, if the employers top values are listed on their website About page, you could rephrase the question and say:
I saw on your website that some of your core values include integrity, openness, and community involvement. Can you describe how that translates into the everyday work here, and my role?
Thats an example of a fantastic, creative question to ask an interviewer that shows a high level of thought, effort, and research.
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What Is A Typical Day Like At
Asking about operations and learning the lay of the land shows your dedication to the company and attention to detail. Hiring managers often will start by explaining basic schedules, events, and projects. Don’t expect or push for detailed explanations about clients and projects. They still have to protect intellectual property. Focus more on the company’s culture, atmosphere and the people. Ask about newsletters, company picnics, and other initiatives meant to bring the company together. Executives love to brag about their connection with the team, so they should be happy to answer this question.
What Is The Exact Start Date
Employers typically understand that you need to give at least two weeksâ notice at your current job. A potential employer who wants you to start immediately and wonât allow you to give sufficient notice at your other job might be waving a red flag regarding their flexibility and company culture. On the other hand, a potential employer whoâs hesitant to give a date may be dealing with internal issues that could cause problems in actually moving forward with the hire.
On top of a verbal start date confirmation, make sure your offer letter includes the agreed start date so everyone is on the same page. Once that date is confirmed, you can decide when to give official notice at your old job.
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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 To Ask: What Are The Companys Immediate And Long
Why ask: Hopefully, the employer was clear about their remote work plans in the job posting. But, if not and the interview didnt clear it up, you can ask about remote work during the interview.
However, blurting out, Can I work from home? may not be the best choice. Instead, consider a more subtle and indirect question, like, Does everyone work onsite every day, or will some of my coworkers work remotely? Setting up the question this way puts the focus on how youre expected to work with colleagues instead of where you are working.
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What Changes Or Innovations In The Industry Are You Most Excited About
This is a unique question that demonstrates your keen interest in the industry. It shows that you’re informed of the latest updates and advancements, highlighting your knowledge. This question also allows you to see how the company responds to these industry changes, which is essential for business longevity.
Why Is This Position Open Now
While theres a risk that this question could put the interviewer on the defensive if the last person in the role left on bad terms, asking this question can help you understand important information about the team. You could ask Is the role brand new, and if so, what prompted its creation? If youre pursuing an established role, you might want to know how many people have held the position lately. If theres been a revolving door of people in the role and high turnover on the team, that might be a red flag.
Theres a lot of really good intel that you can glean from that question, Wiacek said.
You could even ask Where did the previous person in the role go? Did they stay at the company and climb up? Wiacek added.
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When Do I Have To Give You My Decision
When job hunting, most professionals apply to multiple positions at a given time. This can result in a situation where you receive one job offer, but you also want to consider other potential opportunities. However, you donât want to take so long to get back to the first employer that they rescind their offer. Ask them when you have to give them a decision.
Company Questions To Ask In An Interview
The company being a good fit is just as important as liking the daily responsibilities of your job. Will you feel supported? Do your values align? Do you agree with their policies and treatment of employees? These are all important things to discover when you are thinking through questions to ask in an interview.
7. Describe the culture of the company.
Are you a good fit for this particular organization? Make sure you are comfortable with the culture and the dynamic of the company.
8. Where do you think the company is headed in the next 5 years?
If you plan to be in this role for several years, make sure the company is growing so you can grow with the company.
9. Who do you consider your top competitor, and why?
You should already have an idea of the companys major competitors, but it can be useful to ask your interviewer for their thoughts. Naturally, they will be able to give you the insight you cant find anywhere else.
10. What are the biggest opportunities facing the company/department right now?
This question shows your drive to seize the opportunity and may help you learn more about where the company will be focusing over the next several months.
11. What are the biggest challenges facing the company/department right now?
On the flip side, you may want to ask about challenges. This question can help you uncover trends and issues in the industry and perhaps identify areas where your skills could save the day.
12. What do you like best about working for this company?
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