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Most job hunters equate the word “interview” with something akin to
“inquisition.” They concentrate so hard on thinking of answers to the
interviewer's questions that they overlook the importance of the
questions they themselves can ask.
A recruiter for a major company says, “I hire only people who ask
questions. I can tell more about people by the questions they ask than
by the answers they give.”
The president of a successful mail order business in Cape Town is amazed
by the absence of questions from most candidates. “It shows a peculiar
lack of curiosity and comprehension.” he says.
If you do not ask questions, an interviewer cannot tell if you are
interested in the job, and that may cost you a job offer. Asking the
right questions not only ensures a lively discussion, it makes the
interviewer’s job easier.
Richard Bolles, whose best selling book “What Color is Your
Parachute?” has been a bible for job hunters, suggests you remember
this: “The person who is interviewing you was once on your side of the
desk and will be again. Realise that the interview is a joint
enterprise. It is a disservice to the interviewer to think that he or
she should take charge.”
The best reason to ask questions during an interview is to get the
information you need to make an informed decision should the company
make you an offer. Not all questions are created equal, however, and
there are some you are better off not asking at all.
Here is a list of do’s and don’ts to start you thinking about how to
make your next interview the most successful one ever.
1) Questions about the positions and its responsibilities
Find out specifically what the job is. What will you have to do? Just
knowing the job title is not enough. If your questions have not been
answered before the interview, there should be a point during the
interview when you ask, “What is expected of me in this particular
position?”
One of the areas of particular interest to the candidate is the job
description, which is a good indication of what you will be doing if
you are hired. You should ask specific questions such as “What portion
of the day will I spend typing?,” rather than general ones such as,
“Will I type?”
2) Questions about the qualities and skills the interviewer is looking
for
Tom Jackson, an authority on career planning and author of several
books, suggests asking at the beginning of each interview, “Could you
tell me what qualities you are looking for in candidates for this
position?” Then discuss with the interviewer the ways your capabilities
and experience relate to those qualities.
One woman who works in education thinks the questions she did not ask
definitely hurt her chances. “We talked about almost everything,
including my recent trip to China, but we never discussed the kind of
person they wanted to hire. If I had just asked, “What skills are your
looking for?,” I could easily have related my programme-development
background to the programme-administration position I was being
interviewed for. But because of my passivity, the interviewer never
discovered what I could do. I should have taken more initiative.”
3) Questions about “normal” working hours and conditions
One way of finding out about your hours is to ask questions using
professional language. For example, you might say, “Could you tell me
what kind of work schedule is expected?” or, “What kind of schedule does
the boss usually follow?” rather than, “Is work over at five?” which
sounds as if you can’t wait to leave.
If working evenings and weekends is something you will be expected to do
regularly, you should know it. One bank official answered a question
about normally working hours by saying, “The job is over when the job is
over.” That is a tip off that this is not a “lights-out-at-five”
company.
4) Questions to determine whether the position was created recently
A personnel consultant suggests asking questions such as, “How does this
job fit into the overall structure of the department?”
If you find the interviewer’s answers evasive, it is perfectly
acceptable to ask, “Is this a new position?” If it is, the job may be
fairly undefined, and that could pose a problem if you are the kind of
person who needs to know exactly what is expected of you. But if you
like the challenge of initiating projects and taking charge, you may
thrive in this situation.
A special bonus is that newly created positions often indicate that a
company is growing and expanding.
5) Questions about the normal channels for advancement in the company
Do not forget to ask about career possibilities, if they are important
to you. Many women think it is aggressive to ask about promotion
opportunities. It is not. If you do not ask, you may find yourself in a
dead-end job.
In some companies there is a big distinction between line and staff
positions. Line people tend to accomplish the core processes of the
organisation; they produce the product or are responsible for its
production. In such a company you can literally move right up the
line.
Staff people provide advice and support for the line: they do
accounting, planning and administration. A general question you can ask
that will give you information about the possibility of advancement is,
“What position can this job lead to?”
6) Question whether the company provides training, either on the job or
outside the office
Companies vary in the training programmes they offer their staff. They
can range from walking in on Monday and having somebody throw a company
catalogue at you, to giant conglomerates that are noted for their long,
elaborate training programmes.
If a company is interested in providing training, it may well turn out
to be an employee -orientated company. On the other hand, if you ask,
“How will I be trained?” and the answer is, “Oh, do not bother about
it,” you may find yourself dropped into the company without the
knowledge necessary to do a good job.
7) Questions about periodic performance evaluations and pay reviews
One recruiter strongly suggests that you make sure you know how the
company decides whether you have done a good job or not. How will you be
rated? Do not wait until after you have been hired to find out, for
example, that this particular company does not have pay reviews - ever.
8) Questions about the salary range
There is caveat: Ask about salary only if you are reasonably sure you
are a strong contender for the position and if the interviewer does not
mention the subject. Most experts agree that you should resist the urge
to raise the salary question and that you should let the employer name a
figure first - if for no other reason than that the employer’s figure
may be higher than your.
If the interviewer does not mention money, at the end of the interview
you might say, “We have not discussed salary. Can you tell me what the
range is?”
9) Questions about the next step in the interviewing progress
Is this the first interview of many or will a decision be made based on
this interview?
After a successful interview at a local school board, one woman thought
she had just landed a well paying job. She was very disappointed to
discover that she still had to pass an exam and survive several more
rounds of interviews.
To avoid similar disappointment, as the interview winds down you may
inquire, “Is there any further information I can provide you with?” And
if you are interested in the job, say so. Jobs have been lost because
interviewees did not appear excited. Appear excited. You might say, “I
hope I am one of the candidates you are considering. When can I expect
to hear from you?”
You should avoid asking :
1) Questions that sound as if you are interviewing the interviewer.
You want to pose questions to find out about the job and the
organisation, not the person behind the desk. True, if the person will
be your manager, you probably would like to know more about him or her,
but you will have to put on your sleuthing cap and deduce this
information.
It is inappropriate to ask personal questions about the interviewer’s
educational background or where he or she worked before. This is where
the interview is a one-way street and you can certainly be asked about
your background.
But you can make some personnel comments. Take your lead from the
interviewer. One way of deciding on your course of action is to look
around the office. He or she may have a picture of a favourite dog on
their desk, for example. There is a big difference between mentioning
your own love for animals and asking, “Tell me, why did you go into
personnel?”
2) Questions that will put the interviewer on the spot
Avoid asking questions that the interviewer may have trouble answering
honesty. What are the best and worst aspects of this job? Is this
department considered strong? What are you like to work for? are good
examples of bad questions for most interview situation.
3) Questions that broadcast that you haven’t done enough homework or
research
Avoid asking, “What do you do here?” That is one question guaranteed to
turn off interviewers. It is wasteful to spend time finding out general
information when you could (and should) be asking more important
questions.
Unless you are being interviewed by an obscure organisation, you should
have some idea of what the company does or produces. If you are in
doubt, ask the company to send materials to you when the interview is
arranged, or simply get onto the Internet and show some intitiative by
researching it yourself.
4) Vague questions about the position
“What can I do for you?” is a question to avoid. You should be prepared
to tell the interviewer about your commitments to the organisation and
how you can generate ideas. After all, if you do not know what you can
do, how can you expect an interviewer whom you have only recently met,
to assess your qualifications?
5) Questions that tip the interviewer off to a problem you might have
Do not ask questions such as, “Are people in this department easy to get
along with?” or, “My former employer was bossy, are people here like
that?”
Defensive questions suggest to the interviewer that you have had these
problems before.
6) Questions about the last person who had the position for which you
are now being interviewed
What you really want to know is if the last person who had the job you
are being interviewed for was promoted. Try asking a question about
room for advancement.
If the interviewer volunteers that fact that the last 18 people who held
this job were fired, you will know something about your chances of
success in that establishment. On the other hand, if you find out that
the last person was promoted, you will know there is a chance for
mobility.
7) Questions that imply you already have the job
“Will you show me my office?” and “Who will my co-workers be?” are
questions that do just that if you ask them too early in the game.
Rather hope that the employer offers to discuss work space and
co-workers with you. If not, the time to ask about these things is when
they make you a firm job offer.
8) Questions that cause the interviewer to wonder about your priorities
In this category are questions about benefits and days off. One
recruiter said, “Do not ask questions that make me uneasy about your
commitments to the job. If your first questions to me are “How flexible
are the work hours?” and “Can I work at home?” I am going to be very
concerned.
“I do not like people to ask about pensions or benefits at all,” agrees
a recruiter for a major accounting firm. “It gives me the impressions
that the person is more concerned with fringes than with substance.”
You have every right to know if you will get more than one week’s
vacation or if you will have company-sponsored health, accident or
dental insurance, but save benefit questions until after you are offered
the job.
Sources: Rhodes University Career Guidance Office
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